Close the Trust Deficit

We thought we had the trust formula figured out. Then we ran across two statistics that stopped us cold.

Only 19% of employees strongly agree they trust their leadership.

Ask leaders the same question and you get a different answer. 86% believe their employees' trust in them is high.

Let that sink in. A 67-point gap between what leaders believe and what employees experience. That is not a rounding error. It is a blind spot.

Something is wrong in the workplace, and it is costing leaders dearly. When employees don't trust their leaders, the default is suspicion. Fear and self-protection replace confidence and curiosity. Employees stop taking ownership and initiative and play it safe. That is disengagement, and it is endemic.

There is a path forward. The first step in closing the gap is changing how you think about trust. It's not personal. Being trustworthy, measured by character and competence, does not mean people will trust you. Character and competence matter. They are just not sufficient to build high trust.

Transformational trust, the kind that transforms people, unlocks ownership and initiative, and fuels business results, requires a shift in mindset. Specifically, it requires changing how you see other people and how you think about and respond to failure. That's it.

Every failure is a fork in the road. Whether trust grows or dies in that moment depends entirely on how you respond to the other person's failure.

It sounds deceptively simple. That doesn't make it easy. Building transformational trust on your team takes time and effort. The payoff is enormous, in engagement and in measurable business results.

To learn more, check out our new book, Transformational Trust. Get your copy.