Trust is the foundation of all healthy relationships. For leaders, it’s the key to motivating action and driving progress.
But even the best leaders face situations that threaten the trust they’ve earned. Some action may have raised concerns about the leader’s commitment to the team; or, a decision was made without securing all team members’ input.
When trust fractures in a team or organization, the natural impulse is to defend, deflect, or minimize. But the leaders who successfully rebuild trust do something counterintuitive: they lean in with curiosity rather than retreat into justification – they step outside their own perspective, when they’re likely feeling defensive, to truly understand another’s experience.
Instead of focusing on what they believe went wrong or defending their intentions, these leaders work to understand how the situation looks through others’ eyes. They ask sincere questions: How did this impact you? What did you need that you didn’t get? What would restored trust look like from your perspective?
The most effective trust rebuilders shift conversations away from blame and toward concrete discussions of competence and reliability. Rather than relitigating past decisions, they focus on specific, observable actions that demonstrate renewed commitment to the relationship.
The genesis of trust is generosity of spirit – the genuine intention to help others. It’s a willingness to consider others’ motivations and concerns as valid, even when they challenge your own perspective. It means accepting that your good intentions don’t negate the real impact of your actions on others.
Trust, once broken, is rebuilt through consistent demonstration, not explanation. Leaders who understand this, focus less on being understood, and more on understanding – creating the foundation for the strong, resilient relationships that drive meaningful progress.
The question isn’t whether you meant to break trust. The question is: what are you willing to do, consistently and over time, to earn it back?
Viewing situations through others’ perspectives is the heart of trust rebuilding – it’s leadership wisdom gained from real experience.
How might these insights help you rebuild trust?