Mike Pelfini — 10 February 2026

Effective team leadership, characterized by promoting and modeling trust, creates the difference between high performing and under performing teams. Building trust is the key to unlocking the independent thinking, autonomy, and smart risk-taking that distinguishes the best teams from low-performing teams.

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Over 90% of leaders believe that trust “improves the bottom line,” according to the PwC 2024 trust survey. But there is a persistent gap in perception between leaders and their teams. For example, 86% of leaders believe their employees trust them, but when employees were asked, the figure is 67%. The 19 point gap is higher now than it was in previous surveys.

One way the “trust gap” manifests itself is in employee engagement, which dropped to 21% in 2025, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace survey. The cost to the economy was $438 billion during the survey period, Gallup reports.

Effective team leadership accounts for “at least 70%” of the difference between highly engaged and less engaged teams, according to another Gallup report. As this report states, “When a company raises employee engagement levels consistently across every business unit, everything gets better.” 

In this article, we examine ways effective team leadership can improve employee engagement and performance starting with trust, which creates the conditions needed for the independent thinking and smart risk-taking that lead to superior teamwork.

Inspiring high performance

The most powerful predictor of team leadership success is the leader’s ability to “inspire[] and motivate[] others to high performance,” writes Harrison Monarth in Forbes. Citing a survey of 1.6 million people, Monarth states that, while inspiring leadership was the most desired quality among respondents, in terms of leaders’ “actual behavior”, most leaders scored low.

The author offers three ideas for inspiring and motivating team members:

1.       Grant autonomy to build trust. Many leaders think trust must be “earned” and treat autonomy as a “reward” for trust. That can lead to a standoff as team members “wait for leaders to show trust by granting [them] autonomy.” Purpose driven leaders know that autonomy is critical to high performance and engagement. They break the deadlock by granting autonomy from the beginning.
2.       Provide “plausible” hope. Monarth writes that employees are worried about whether their skills are still relevant and whether their roles “will continue to exist.” Leaders need to transparently show a believable, or “plausible path” to a positive future. Multidimensional leaders have both a vision for the future and a strategy to carry it out. They emphasize developing “human capital” to create a bridge to the future.
3.       Adopt “Open Source” change. Constant change can lead to skepticism and burnout – or “change fatigue” – among team members. Better outcomes come from “open source” change, in which leaders involve their teams throughout the process. The “open source” approach dramatically increases success rates while reducing change fatigue, according to a Gartner report.

Beyond providing inspiration, great leaders cultivate the conditions that produce two behaviors critical for high performance: Independent thinking and smart risk-taking. Both require a foundation of trust among leaders and team members.

Encouraging independent thinking

Leaders should encourage what Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio of Harvard University calls “rethinking.” As she writes in Forbes, “too many organizations discourage employees from challenging ideas, favoring stability over progress.”  Instead, leaders should create an environment where “questioning assumptions, challenging conventional wisdom, and adapting to change become core practices.”

Here are her suggestions to encourage independent thinking:

1.       Humble leadership. Start with humble leadership, which is based on the simple idea that leaders can benefit from the expertise of team members. Dimeglio writes: “Leaders who model intellectual humility . . . set the tone for a culture where learning is prioritized over ego.” Research confirms that leaders perceived as humble outperform, by a wide margin, those perceived as arrogant.
2.       Adopting different viewpoints. “The best ideas don’t come from echo chambers” but from an environment where ideas are tested, according to Dimeglio. Leaders who can adopt different viewpoints are better equipped to question their own assumptions and see the different sides of an issue. We all filter information through individual beliefs and lenses; recognizing them helps teams make better decisions.
3.       Learning from mistakes. “Mistakes are inevitable,” Dimeglio writes, but many organizations treat them as “failures rather than learning opportunities.” Leaders who develop a strong learning culture have a natural advantage. By prioritizing learning and development – while accepting mistakes along the way – organizations become more innovative, productive, and profitable.

Taking smart risks

Another way team leadership can build excellence is by encouraging team members to take smart risks. Drawing on a survey of 34,000 people, JP Pawliw writes in the Harvard Business Review that there’s a gap between the risks people feel they should take and the risks they actually take.

The “last 8%.” Whether it’s having a difficult conversation, making a difficult decision, or voicing a contrary opinion, most people avoid making the riskiest 8% of choices they face. The author calls this gap the “last 8%.” Unless they close that gap, organizations may fail to adapt to changing conditions or may experience an avoidable crisis.

But the author writes, “When high connection and high courage are both in place, a culture of trust is built that enables people to take more risks – in other words, a last 8% culture.” (Emphasis added.)

These are some ways to close the “last 8%” gap:

1.       Build cohesiveness. Leaders who build team cohesiveness set the stage for high accountability with high care. Cohesive teams show high levels of trust, which leads to a greater willingness to share ideas, accept feedback, and take risks. Research shows that cohesive teams are more productive and innovative than less connected ones.
2.       Develop better communication. Feedback delivered with “high care” can help employees feel valued and heard, “even if they aren’t always agreed with,” the author writes. Delivering “high care” feedback requires excellent two-way communication skills so that team members feel they belong even when difficulties arise.
3.       Prioritize relationships. “Last 8%” organizations strive for results “but not at the expense of relationships,” the author writes. Strong relationships allow people to collaborate and grow. Leaders must recognize that people skills are essential to high performance. Leaders with strong people skills not only inspire others, they also foster individual growth and mentor their team members.

To start the journey of building high performing teams, consider where your organization stands now. A good way to start is to have a dialog with team members about what is working and what can be improved. Remember that everything starts with trust.  Great leaders prioritize trust building as the foundation of organizational brand culture. If you would like to learn more about improving team leadership, please contact us.  

About ForeMeta

ForeMeta prepares leaders for breakthrough transformation. Founded by executive coach and Vistage Chair Dr. Mike Pelfini, ForeMeta focuses on the people who make the decisions—helping CEOs and leaders of small to mid-sized companies and nonprofits deepen their self-leadership, clarify their why, and expand their capacity to lead. 

Through 1:1 executive coaching and thoughtfully facilitated peer groups, ForeMeta helps leaders create new possibilities and more fulfilling results for themselves, their organizations, and their communities. 

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