Developing vulnerability trust in temporary high performance teams

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore one vital aspect of team performance, the development of vulnerability trust in temporary high-performance teams (HPTs), within the context of after-action debriefing sessions. Design/methodology/approach – In-depth interviews were conducted with military aircrew members about sharing vulnerable and personal experiences after action in a war scenario. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the qualitative material. Findings – The study identified six themes that influence the development of vulnerability trust in temporary HPTs: creating familiarity, caring attitude and recognition of other crew members, the power of transparency, fear of rejection, contradictions between team members and the number of listeners in a sharing session. All these themes appeared to have an effect on the development of vulnerability trust. Practical implications – The study shows how vulnerability trust may affect team development and team performance. Social implications – The paper not only specifically provides an insight into the development of trust in HPTs but also helps to broaden the understanding of the importance of trust for team development in general. Originality/value – The paper contributes knowledge on the development of vulnerability trust that is new to research on HPTs, and the study explores how vulnerability trust may affect team development and team performance. The data material for this research has been collected from military operators’ experiences in a war context. Such environments are often shielded from and minimally available for qualitative research.