Team Processes: Trust Building

2. Develop a personal profile for the team.

A personal profile is a document that describes who you are and what you can do (Rusman, Bruggen, Sloep & Koper, 2009). It allows you to show pictures of yourself (formal and in recreational settings). You describe professional strengths, skills, training and interests. This allows other team member to know who you are professionally and to call on your expertise if needed. However, equally important is the sharing of non-work related information. This describes interests, hobbies, and important things and people in your life. The personal profile may have each member write a short narrative telling of a successful or unsuccessful work experience and how it affected him or her. You may share a humorous story, tell of a recent trip, something weird that happened to you or share some aspect of who you are. In the profile you want to provide the other team members the opportunity to get to know you, much as they would if you talked with a colleague in a face-to-face situation.