Shared trust grows when we work from aligned expectations. Aligned expectations are mutually clear and confirmed expectations about any aspect of work. These are particularly useful relative to areas like communication, assignments and assistance.
We create aligned expectations by checking out our assumptions about each other. It begins with the each of us offering the questions: "Do you expect me to (be able to)...?" and "What brought you to this expectation?"
This is followed up with clarifications of what we believe we can and can't do relative to these questions, when we can and can't, and why we think we can and can't. Where it becomes clear that certain expectations require action from each of us, we can invite agreements with the question: "Can we agree that...?" If it would help to test the agreement before firm mutual commitments, we can test and critique them and move forward with what we learned from the experiment.
Another key dimension of expectations are those we have about feedback. The feedback conversation begins with sharing what each of us is working on (getting better at.) We then ask for the feedback we would find most useful relative to these growth areas as well as when and how we would prefer to receive feedback. We ask each other if other feedback is welcome, when and how and offer what else could be shared. We confirm everything by summarizing the feedback expectations.