Why Trust Fades with Inconsistent Actions

Trust doesn’t come from what you say—it comes from what you do. Leaders often preach collaboration and transparency, but when actions favor output over principles, trust erodes rapidly. Here’s the truth: trust is built—or destroyed—in the small moments of leadership. Inconsistency ends up smelling a whole lot like a lack of integrity, and your reports will absolutely notice if your actions don't align with your words. When a direct report struggles, the easy choice is to avoid the hard conversation. But that moment? It’s your chance to teach, to support, and to build trust. Walking away from an opportunity to have a straightforward conversation robs that individual of a learning experience. A culture that values outcomes over behaviors kills innovation. Teams stop taking risks when mistakes aren’t safe. And there is no reason to favor outcomes (or delivery) at the expense of the behaviors, because they can (and must) exist simultaneously to truly have a high performance team. Leaders must align actions with their words. That’s the foundation of a high-performance, high-trust culture. Leadership without trust isn’t leadership—it’s management. I would love to hear shared stories about the impact that trust--or lack thereof--has had on your team in the past. What’s one action you’ve taken that strengthened trust on your team? What's one action you've seen that damaged trust?

Two words that quietly kill trust, momentum, and leadership itself. Red. Amber. Green. All on at once. I was speaking to a leader last week. He said: “Gopal, I’m frustrated! My boss keeps saying ‘Let’s see’ to every decision. We don’t know whether to move or wait anymore.” I smiled. Not because it was funny. But because I’ve seen this pattern too often. I’ve worked with leaders who unknowingly weaponise two words: “Let’s see.” It sounds harmless. But it sends mixed signals that paralyse teams. Just like this traffic light. ⇢ Should I stop? ⇢ Should I wait? ⇢ Should I move? When leadership doesn’t commit, people don’t move. They hesitate. Second-guess. Spin in circles. And over time, trust erodes. Not because leaders are bad. But because they’re unclear. And ambiguity is exhausting for teams. It drains energy. Slows down progress. It creates a culture where no one knows what good looks like anymore. Here’s what "Let’s see" really does: ⇢ It creates the illusion of openness, but breeds frustration and inertia. ⇢ It pretends to buy time, but slowly sells out trust. ⇢ It sounds diplomatic, but is often fear: of being wrong, of upsetting someone, of being accountable. ⇢ It feels like thoughtfulnes, but your team needs direction, not endless reflection. And here’s the part no one says: The longer you stay in “Let’s see” mode, the more your team disengages. And if you’re reading this thinking: "Maybe I say ‘Let’s see’ too often." Good. That’s the first step. If you truly need more conviction, build it. But don’t hide behind the comfort of ambiguity. Leadership is about making calls when clarity is incomplete. ⇢ Where am I hiding behind "Let’s see"? ⇢ What decision am I postponing, that is costing my team trust? ⇢ Am I seeking more conviction, or avoiding more responsibility? And if you work with a leader stuck in “Let’s see” mode, don’t sit frozen. (I’ve failed here multiple times in the past!) Push for clarity. Ask: By when can we decide? What are we waiting for? What would help you commit? Waiting indefinitely is a choice too. One that costs you momentum. Safe leaders stall. Brave leaders decide. And remember: Leadership isn’t about lighting every path. It’s about choosing one, and walking it first. #careershifts #silentskills #leadershiptruths #decisionmaking #leadershiplessons

Sometimes trust doesn’t break in big, dramatic ways. It breaks in the small, everyday moments, like being left on read after a Zoom meeting, or when follow-ups never come. In my conversation with author Kanika Tolver, I shared one of the seven languages: Follow-Through. To me, consistency is credibility. If you don’t close the loop, you leave people questioning if they can count on you. Here’s the thing: 1. A meeting without clear next steps creates uncertainty. 2. An email with no reply feels like invisibility. 3. Promises without follow-through erode trust, one gap at a time. It’s not just about being responsive; it’s about building a rhythm of reliability. That’s how leaders (and teams) create cultures where trust isn’t hanging on by a thread. Sharing a clip from my chat with Kanika—because if trust is the glue that holds teams together, follow-through is what keeps it from drying out. What’s your trust language when it comes to teamwork (Transparency, Demonstration, Follow-Through, Feedback, Acknowledgment, Sensitivity, and Security)?

One CEO I worked with touted "radical transparency" in company-wide communications and on investor calls. Buuuuut in practice, they operated with carefully controlled information flows - financials were limited to select execs, town halls featured only pre-vetted questions, you get the idea. Behold: the voice-consistency gap! Look, we live in a multi-channel environment. This means leaders are communicating across SO MANY more platforms than ever: all-hands, emails, Slack, investor calls, social, customer communications, press interviews. And each channel creates another opportunity for your message to fragment. From my experience, the most dangerous gaps appear in these three key channels: 1. What your policies state vs. what your actions reward Your employee handbook might champion work-life balance, but if every promotion goes to the person answering emails at midnight? Well, that's the real message. The gap between stated values and operational reality eventually becomes the primary narrative. 2. What you promise customers vs. what you tell your teams When marketing promises "customer obsession" while internal meetings focus exclusively on efficiency metrics, the resulting service inevitably feels hollow. Your team can't deliver authentically on promises they don't believe you actually value. 3. What you said yesterday vs. what you're saying today Screenshots live forever. The consistency of your message over time matters as much as its consistency across channels. Strategic pivots require acknowledging the shift, not pretending the past didn't happen. And, look, bridging these gaps doesn't require perfection, it just requires intentional alignment. So maybe before your next meeting or post, ask yourself: "Does this reinforce OR does it contradict what I've said somewhere else?" I'm curious - where have you noticed voice-consistency gaps creating trust issues in your organization? And which channel alignment is most challenging for your leadership team? #leadershipcommunications #executivepresence #organizationaltrust #corporateculture

I've spent years studying what builds and breaks trust in teams, and one thing is clear: the small, everyday behaviors matter more than grand gestures. Quick check: Which of these trust-eroding behaviors have you observed in your team? ✓ Saying they'll do something but not following through ✓ Arriving late to meetings (or leaving early) without acknowledgment ✓ Interrupting or dismissing others' ideas ✓ Avoiding difficult conversations ✓ Making decisions without appropriate consultation ✓ Speaking about colleagues behind their backs ✓ Responding defensively to feedback In my work with teams across sectors, I've found these "micro-betrayals" gradually erode psychological safety and team cohesion. They're often unintentional, which makes them harder to address—the person breaking trust may not even realize they're doing it. What fascinates me is how differently team members interpret these behaviors. What feels like a minor oversight to one person ("I forgot to send that document") can feel like a significant breach to another ("They didn't value my need for preparation"). Trust isn't just about warm feelings—it's the foundation that makes everything else possible. Research shows that high-trust teams: • Make decisions faster • Implement with greater commitment • Communicate more efficiently • Experience higher engagement • Retain members longer Even more revealing, when one of these trust-eroding behaviors becomes a pattern, team performance can measurably decline within weeks, not months. The good news? Trust can be rebuilt through intentional practices and consistent behavior. I've seen teams transform their culture by focusing on specific trust-building habits and creating accountability structures that support them. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate trust in your current team? What's one thing that could improve that score? If you comment, I'll give you an idea! P.S. If you’re a leader, I recommend checking out my free challenge: The Resilient Leader: 28 Days to Thrive in Uncertainty  https://lnkd.in/gxBnKQ8n

After decades in leadership, I’ve witnessed the fragility of trust firsthand. Team trust is the invisible thread holding everything together, and it isn’t built in grand gestures. It’s earned - or lost - in those small moments when we think no one’s watching. What really stands out to me as trust-breakers are seemingly small events - things like forgetting to acknowledge contributions or showing favoritism in meetings. But it’s these issues that can have seismic impacts on team dynamics. People notice when leaders don’t give credit where it’s due, and they feel unappreciated as a result - creating a domino effect of lower morale and productivity. Here’s a hard truth I’ve learned in my time leading teams: While trust takes years to build, it can evaporate in seconds. The most damaging part? It’s not always about major ethical breaches. Sometimes it’s those subtle, throwaway moments - forgetting to acknowledge contributions, showing favoritism in meetings - that create hairline fractures in the foundation of your leadership. The trickiest part is that once trust is broken, there’s often no way back. I’ve seen talented leaders forced to leave roles not because of dramatic failures, but because they couldn’t rebuild trust after seemingly minor missteps. Ultimately, what I’ve come to realize is that trustworthiness isn’t just a leadership principle. It’s your most valuable currency. Guard it zealously in every interaction, no matter how small, because once you’ve created that bond of trust, your team can do incredible things. #ethics #organizationalculture #businessintegrity

PLAYING FAIR versus PLAYING FAVORITES In my book, Choosing Courage, I wrote about George, a shop manager who faced an agonizing test of principle. Despite his nephew, who reported directly to him, performing very poorly, George’s family was pressuring him to lower his standards or look the other way. George fired his nephew, and the choice cost him his relationship with his sister. But it also deepened the trust the rest of his employees had in him. Turns out, George was on to something: When people describe what undermines trust, lack of consistency is near the top. And nepotism – the hiring of friends or family and then holding them to different (lower) standards – is one of the clearest examples. Research shows nepotism erodes perceptions of fairness, weakens trust and morale, increases turnover intentions among the rest, and even damages reputation with future applicants. The same is true any time we play favorites for other reasons – be it for people more like us or people who are in our identity groups. It’s a natural thing to do. It’s also unfair and deeply damaging to everyone involved: It robs your organization of the best talent, it prevents those you favor from the feedback and accountability they need to grow, and it undermines others’ trust in and respect for you. This isn’t to say we should never work with our friends, family, or others we’re close to. But it does mean we have to be even more vigilant in those cases about fairness and accountability. More generally, if we say that being fair and trustworthy are core values, we better be ready to accept that living them out sometimes involves significant pain, such as losing close relationships like George did. That’s the necessary price of consistency and what it takes to earn the positive benefits that come from a reputation for doing the virtuous things we say we believe in. #fair #trust #values

When Shopify hit 1,000 employees, trust broke silently. Suddenly, no one could ship without 12 meetings. Here’s the simple fix that rebuilt speed and unity: In 2016, Shopify’s engineering org hit a wall. Simple features took weeks. Senior devs stopped talking except through JIRA tickets. Tobi Lütke saw the real issue: trust erodes quietly. So he made it visible with the Trust Battery. Every work relationship starts at 50%. Your actions charge or drain it daily. • Break a promise? Drain. • Deliver early? Charge. • Criticize in public first? Big drain. • Admit fault? Unexpected charge. When batteries hit 0%, collaboration dies. One manager noticed her top dev withdrawing. Turns out his battery had dropped to 15% after she questioned his architecture choice, in front of the team. They rebuilt trust with one ritual: She asked for his input before standups. Within 2 weeks, he was driving discussions again. That’s the genius: make trust a conversation, not an assumption. Shopify embedded this across teams. They now begin retros with battery check-ins. One team discovered their deploy delays weren’t technical. Two leads had 20% batteries after a botched handoff. Fixing the relationship cut 3 weeks from delivery. To use this on your team: - Ask each person to rate trust (0–100%) with peers - Identify the moment that caused the biggest drain - Agree on one action to recharge this week - Re-check before jumping into problems Trust isn’t soft. It’s the invisible system that drives speed. And most teams ignore it until it’s too late. How full are the trust batteries on your team? Want more research-backed insights on leadership? Join 11,000+ leaders who get our weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/en9vxeNk

Your employees don't trust you, and your big promises aren't helping. After multiple years of disruption—including layoffs, shifting work models, and the rise of AI—trust in leadership is at a serious low. Our recent data at Emtrain confirms this: integrity scores dropped 5% last year, and accountability scores fell by 3%. Trust doesn't erode because of tough decisions alone. It breaks down when your team can't predict what you'll do next. Leaders often assume bold promises or inspiring speeches can rebuild trust quickly. In reality, trust depends entirely on predictable, reliable actions. Here's how to rebuild trust through predictability: 1. Make clear, specific commitments for the upcoming quarter—and keep them consistently. 2. Communicate regularly, even when there's nothing new to report. Your consistency signals stability. 3. When unavoidable changes arise, explain why early and clearly, and give your team sufficient notice. 4. Follow through by explicitly highlighting when you've delivered on past promises. I've personally witnessed this approach in action with a client undergoing significant leadership changes. After a rocky transition, the new executive team committed to three measurable goals for the following quarter. They delivered exactly as promised, then clearly communicated the results. Within two quarters, their trust metrics had risen by 12%. Rebuilding trust doesn't happen overnight, but it always starts with one clear, predictable commitment. Choose one promise you can absolutely deliver within the next 30 days—and deliver it without fail. That's how you restore trust. Not with big speeches, but with steady predictability and unwavering follow-through. I'd like to hear from others: What one specific commitment could you make (and keep) to begin rebuilding trust with your team this quarter?

Do you know what I said to a leader I currently coach last week? “You intentionally trust, but you’re unconsciously not trusting.” He laughed hard when he heard it. He couldn’t think of a more precise way to describe himself in leading his team. The reality: ✅ Many leaders genuinely want to trust their teams by: • delegating responsibilities • encouraging autonomy • creating space for others to grow. ❎ Yet, in moments of pressure or doubt, their actions tell a different story: • double-checking work • stepping in too soon • holding back critical responsibilities. This isn’t a lack of integrity but an unintentional disconnect. For this leader: He consciously believed in trusting, but he had unconscious fears, such as: → failure → loss of control → unmet expectations. These fears triggered behaviors that undermined trust. When leaders aren’t aware of this gap, teams notice:⬇️ Trust starts to feel conditional, and collaboration suffers. The solution? Self-awareness. What leaders need to do: → Recognize these patterns → Challenge their fears → Align intentions with consistent actions. That’s when trust becomes authentic, unshakable, and deeply felt. Have you ever found yourself unintentionally undermining trust? How do you bridge the gap? Catherine ♻️ Share to inspire more. Connect with Catherine Li-Yunxia (Transforming leaders, Moving the world) to elevate CEO impact