Building Trust Instead of Control

86% of executives believe employee trust is soaring. (Yet only 67% of employees actually trust their leaders.) I remember confidently walking into our quarterly review. Our metrics were up. Our strategy was clear. I thought trust was high. I was wrong. Here's what was really happening: → Top talent quietly updating their LinkedIn. → Real feedback staying buried in private chats. → Innovation dying in "yes" meetings. → Engagement surveys hiding hard truths. After losing three star employees in one month, I realized: Trust isn't built in fancy workshops or team events. It's cultivated through consistent moments that matter. 10 science-backed trust builders that transformed my team: (And won us an award!): 1/ Kill Information Hoarding (It's Hurting You) ↳ 85% trust transparent communicators. ↳ WHY: In the absence of clarity, fear fills the gap. ↳ HOW: Share board meeting notes company-wide. ↳ Pro Tip: Share bad news faster than good news. 2/ Own Your Mistakes (Like Your Career Depends On It) ↳ Leaders who admit errors gain 4x more trust. ↳ WHY: Perfect leaders are feared, not trusted. ↳ HOW: Share mistakes in weekly all-hands. ↳ Pro Tip: Add what you learned and your fix. 3/ Master Active Listening (Beyond The Basics) ↳ 62% trust leaders who truly hear them. ↳ WHY: Everyone knows fake listening from real attention. ↳ HOW: Block "listening hours." No phone, no laptop. ↳ Pro Tip: Summarize what you heard before responding. 4/ Show Real Empathy (It's A Skill, Not A Trait) ↳ 76% trust leaders who understand their challenges. ↳ WHY: People don't care what you know until they know you care. ↳ HOW: Start meetings with "What's challenging you?." ↳ Pro Tip: Follow up on personal matters they share. 5/ Invest In Their Growth (Play The Long Game) ↳ 70% trust leaders who develop their people. ↳ WHY: Investment in them is an investment in trust. ↳ HOW: Give every team member a growth budget. ↳ Pro Tip: Help them grow, even if they might leave. The Results? Our trust scores jumped 43% in six months. Retention hit an all-time high. Real conversations replaced surface-level meetings. Your Next Move: 1. Pick ONE trust builder. 2. Practice it for 7 days. 3. Come back and share what changed. Remember: In a world of AI and automation, trust is your ultimate competitive advantage. ↓ Which trust builder will you start with? Share below. ♻️ Share this with a leader who needs this wake-up call 🔔 Follow me (@Loren) for more evidence-based leadership insights [Sources: HBR, Forbes, Gallup]

One of the hardest balances to master as a leader is staying informed about your team’s work without crossing the line into micromanaging them. You want to support them, remove roadblocks, and guide outcomes without making them feel like you’re hovering. Here’s a framework I’ve found effective for maintaining that balance: 1. Set the Tone Early Make it clear that your intent is to support, not control. For example: “We’ll need regular updates to discuss progress and so I can effectively champion this work in other forums. My goal is to ensure you have what you need, to help where it’s most valuable, and help others see the value you’re delivering.” 2. Create a Cadence of Check-Ins Establish structured moments for updates to avoid constant interruptions. Weekly or biweekly check-ins with a clear agenda help: • Progress: What’s done? • Challenges: What’s blocking progress? • Next Steps: What’s coming up? This predictability builds trust while keeping everyone aligned. 3. Ask High-Leverage Questions Stay focused on outcomes by asking strategic questions like: • “What’s the biggest risk right now?” • “What decisions need my input?” • “What’s working that we can replicate?” This approach keeps the conversation productive and empowering. 4. Define Metrics and Milestones Collaborate with your team to define success metrics and use shared dashboards to track progress. This allows you to stay updated without manual reporting or extra meetings. 5. Empower Ownership Show your trust by encouraging problem-solving: “If you run into an issue, let me know your proposed solutions, and we’ll work through it together.” When the team owns their work, they’ll take greater pride in the results. 6. Leverage Technology Use tools like Asana, Jira, or Trello to centralize updates. Shared project platforms give you visibility while letting your team focus on execution. 7. Solicit Feedback Ask your team: “Am I giving you enough space, or would you prefer more or less input from me?” This not only fosters trust but also helps you refine your approach as a leader. Final Thought: Growing up playing sports, none of my coaches ever suited up and got in the game with the players on the field. As a leader, you should follow the same discipline. How do you stay informed without micromanaging? What would you add? #leadership #peoplemanagement #projectmanagement #leadershipdevelopment

Stop checking your team's timesheets. Start checking their impact. After 25+ years leading teams, here's what I know for sure: The tighter you hold on, the faster talent slips away. I learned this the hard way, when I tracked every minute of my team's day. Spoiler alert: It killed creativity and crushed motivation. Here's my 7-step system to build a high-trust team: 1/ Master the Art of Letting Go ↳ Define the "what," skip the "how" ↳ Give them room to innovate ✅ Review outcomes, not activities 2/ Kill the "Always On" Culture ↳ Stop praising midnight emails ↳ Ban weekend Slack messages ✅ Set boundaries, watch productivity soar 3/ Create Psychological Safety ↳ Make it safe to fail fast ↳ Celebrate quick recoveries ✅ Turn mistakes into team learning 4/ Hire Smart, Trust More ↳ Recruit for judgment, not just skills ↳ Give full ownership from day one ✅ Let them surprise you with solutions 5/ Enable Smart Decisions ↳ Share the full context upfront ↳ Make your thinking visible ✅ Trust them to course-correct 6/ Build Decision Confidence ↳ Start with small autonomy wins ↳ Gradually increase scope ✅ Watch their judgment strengthen 7/ Show, Don't Tell ↳ Model the behavior you expect ↳ Be first to admit mistakes ✅ Share your learning journey Truth is: Micromanagement is fear in a business suit. Timesheets won't create the next breakthrough. Giving your team space to think differently will. Stop checking time, start trusting talent. What’s one outcome you track that matters more than hours logged? ♻️ Repost to help others build trust. 🔔 Follow me (Nadeem Ahmad) for more.

I recently sat in on an executive team’s weekly meeting, listening to a report-out from one of the business units. The team was clearly in trouble. Metrics were lagging. Customer complaints were up. And worse, you could feel the tension. It was polite on the surface, but the moment the slides ended, the blame started. “We’re not getting enough support from product.” “Sales keeps overpromising.” “People just aren’t accountable.” I’ve seen this movie before. A team starts missing targets, and instead of pulling together, they turn on each other. The instinct is to protect your lane, control what you can, and avoid being the one to blame. So I asked a question I knew would make everyone uncomfortable: “If we’re honest, how much of this is about the metrics, and how much is about how we’re leading right now?” Silence. Eyes on the table. Then, slowly, the truth started to surface. One leader admitted he’d been micromanaging because he was afraid of more surprises. Another said she’d stopped giving feedback because it never felt safe to disagree. Someone else confessed they were spending more time defending their function than solving problems. It was the first real moment of honesty we’d had in weeks. And it made me think about how often we default to control when things get hard: More status updates. More dashboards. More layers of approval. But control doesn’t build trust. It doesn’t create safety. It doesn’t help people do their best work. So instead of another round of slides and excuses, we tried something different. We used a version of the Stress Test described in Keith Ferrazzi’s excellent book, Never Lead Alone. The exec team abandoned their normal 25 page QBR "death by powerpoint" deck, instead used a short, focused document, three pages, answering three questions: What have we achieved? Where are we struggling? What’s coming next? No big group presentation. No polished deck. Just small groups, honest conversation, and space to ask the real questions: What are we afraid of? Where are we avoiding accountability? What would we try if we weren’t worried about failing? By the end of the session, the team looked different. People were still concerned - but they were no longer performing for each other. They were problem-solving WITH each other. It was a reminder: If you want to raise psychological safety by miles, you don’t need another training. You need to stop managing perception and start surfacing truth. So much of leadership comes down to one simple shift: Move from large-group presentations to small-group conversations. It sounds obvious. But it’s one of the hardest, and most transformational changes you can make. Because when people feel safe enough to admit what isn’t working, they finally have the freedom to fix it. What’s one place this week where you could trade control for trust?

I lead Marketing. I’m also a perfectionist. So yeah, not micromanaging is hard as hell as a leader. I care about the work. A lot. But I also know the quickest way to kill trust, creativity and team energy is to hover, tweak, and control every step. Use this list to zoom out every once and awhile. → Let them finish before I jump in Even if I think I can help, I wait. → Don’t rewrite it just to make it sound more like me Their voice matters. My ego doesn’t → Ask their take before I share mine Otherwise I’m just directing, not developing. → Let them run with ideas I wouldn’t choose It’s not about being right. It’s about what works. → Stop checking the doc 10 minutes after assigning it It’ll get done. Chill Evan. → Stay out of their calendar unless they ask Trust includes time. → Don’t get in the weeds unless they’re lost Being informed doesn’t mean being involved. → Only give feedback that moves the needle Nitpicking is insecurity in disguise. → Slack less, listen more I don’t need to be in every loop. → Let silence happen No need to fill every pause with suggestions. → Ask, “What do you need from me?” Not “Here’s what I would do.” → Don’t rescue too fast Struggle is part of growth. Let it breathe. → Celebrate effort and ownership Not just polished end results. → Say thank you more than “here’s what to change” Gratitude builds more than critique ever will. → Remember how it felt to be micromanaged Then do the opposite! 👇 Leadership isn’t about control. It’s about creating the space for people to thrive. Still learning. Still catching myself. Still working on it.

#1 mindset shift I’ve made as a founder: Hire people who are better than you at something. And then step aside. Here’s the trap many leaders fall into: They bring on top talent… but spend all their time trying to manage it. High-performance teams don’t need micromanagement. They need clarity, trust, and space to lead. Want to build a high-performance team? 📌 Here’s how to actually let smart people lead: 1) Hire for strengths that challenge your blind spots. ↳ Don’t look for copies of yourself. Look for what you lack. 2) Give them problems, not tasks. ↳ “Here’s the challenge” leads to better thinking than “Here’s the checklist”. 3) Make disagreement safe. ↳ Innovation starts when people feel safe to say “I see it differently.” 4) Ask their opinion early and often. ↳ You’re not the only one with answers. Show you want their perspective. 5) Share the big picture. ↳ If they know the “why,” they’ll figure out the best “how.” If you hire brilliant people just to hand them instructions… you’re wasting their potential. And yours. Because your job isn’t to have all the answers. It’s to build a team that finds better ones. Trust your people. Then get out of the way. ♻️ Repost if you believe leadership is about empowerment, not control. ☝️ And follow me, Victoria Repa, for more people-first leadership insights.

Trust is built in drops and lost in buckets, and we’re running out of buckets. If you're leading teams through #AI adoption, navigating #hybrid work, or just steering through the tempest that is 2025, there's a crucial factor that could make or break your success: #trust. And right now, it's in free fall. Edelman's Trust Barometer showed an "unprecedented decline in employer trust" -- the first time in their 25 years tracking that trust in business fell. It's no surprise: midnight #layoff emails, "do more with less," #RTO mandates, and fears of #GenAI displacement given CEO focus on efficiency are all factors. The loss of #trust will impact performance. The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) research shows high performing organizations have 10-11X higher trust between employees and leaders. Trust impacts #engagement, #innovation and #technology adoption, especially AI. My latest newsletter gets beyond the research and into what leaders can do today to start rebuilding trust You can't command-and-control your way through a complete overhaul of how we work... Trust is a two-way street. Leaders need to go first, but we also have to rebuild the gives-and-takes of employer/employee relationships. Three starting points: 1️⃣ Clear Goals, Real Accountability. Stop monitoring attendance and start measuring outcomes. Give teams clear goals and autonomy in how they achieve them. 2️⃣ Transparency with Guardrails. Break down information silos. Share context behind decisions openly - even difficult ones. Establish guardrails for meaningful conversations internally (instead of rock-throwing externally). 3️⃣ Show Vulnerability. Saying "I don't know" isn't weakness–it's an invitation for others to contribute. The word “vulnerability” seems anathema to too many public figures at the moment, who instead are ready to lock themselves in the Octagon with their opponents. But what’s tougher for them: taking a swing at someone, or admitting to their own limitations? This isn't just about CEOs. Great leaders show up at all levels of the org chart, creating "trust bubbles:" pockets of high performance inside even the most challenging environments. If you're one of those folks, thank you for what you do! 👉 Link to the newsletter in comments; please read (it's free) and let me know what you think! #FutureOfWork #Leadership #Management #Culture

Leadership is often seen as a quest for results, goals, and outcomes. But my experiences in the 7 countries I worked have taught me a different truth: the greatest work of a leader is not in driving performance but in nurturing the human-BEING within their organizations. 🌿 During my years as the main leader (CEO) in Venezuela at Bayer and Roche, and later in India at Roche, I discovered that creating safe spaces for people to be themselves and explore their purpose was the most transformative approach to leadership. It was through this nurturing that trust, collaboration, and innovation naturally emerged. Creating Safe Spaces ✨ In Venezuela, amidst economic and political challenges, we went beyond survival as a business. We prioritized creating an environment where employees could reflect on their values, explore their emotions, and build trust. ✨ In India, a country deeply rooted in spirituality and community, this approach took on a new meaning. We connected team members to their personal and professional purposes, showing how their work aligned with Roche’s broader mission to positively impact humanity. This alignment fostered a shared vulnerability and strengthened team bonds. Lessons from Ancient Philosophy The principles that guided me as a leader weren’t born from traditional management theories but from ancient philosophies that center the being. 1️⃣ Vedanta: In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, “You have a right to perform your duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions.” This wisdom guided me to encourage my teams to focus on their purpose and values, knowing that success would follow. 2️⃣ Taoism: Laozi teaches in the Tao Te Ching, “When you let go of who you are, you become who you might be.” Letting go of rigid roles and embracing authenticity in leadership allowed my teams to flourish. 3️⃣ Buddhism: The Dhammapada reminds us, “If you light a lamp for someone else, it will also brighten your path.” Leadership is not about control; it’s about empowering others to grow. Key Takeaway The most significant work of leadership is creating environments where people can thrive as human beings. By nurturing the being within your teams, you foster trust, collaboration, and meaningful growth—both personally and organizationally. 💬 How do you nurture the human side of leadership within your organization? Let’s reflect together in the comments! #Leadership #PurposeDriven #HumanCenteredLeadership #Trust #Collaboration #Growth #MindfulLeadership #LaraReflections

People often ask me for quick ways to build trust on a team. I have a dozen solid go-to moves, but one stands out because it’s dead simple and nearly always works. You’ve probably heard of the “connection before content” idea—starting meetings with a personal check-in to warm up the room. But let’s be honest: questions like “What’s your favorite color?” or “What five things would you bring on a deserted island?” don’t build trust. They just waste time. If you want a real trust-builder, here’s the question I use: “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄?” That’s it. One question. And here’s why it works: 𝟭. It creates vulnerability without forcing it. You can’t answer this question without being a little real. And when someone’s real with you, it’s hard not to trust them more. You see the human behind the role. 𝟮. It unlocks practical support. Once I hear your challenge, I can picture how to help. I feel drawn to back you up. That’s the foundation of real partnership at work. 𝟯. It increases mutual understanding. Sometimes we feel disconnected from teammates because we don’t know what they actually do all day. When someone shares a challenge, it opens a window into their work and the complexity they’re navigating. If you’re short on time, allergic to fluff, and want something that actually bonds your team—this is your move. Ten minutes, and you’ll feel the shift."

Trust is the bedrock of any high-performing team. As someone who has led multiple organizations and coached executives across industries like real estate and nonprofits, I’ve seen firsthand how trust—or the lack of it—can make or break a team. Drawing from my experiences, failures, and lessons learned, here are three key strategies to build trust within your organization, inspired by insights from Patrick Lencioni’s *The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team*. 1. Set the Tone as a Leader Trust starts at the top. As a leader, you cannot expect your team to foster trust if you’re not actively modeling it. This means creating a culture where openness and collaboration are valued over perfection. I’ve failed in this area before, believing I had to have all the answers. But I’ve learned that projecting invincibility sends a message to your team: “I don’t need you.” That kills trust. Instead, lead by example. Ask for input, listen to your team’s ideas, and show them their voices matter. Building trust isn’t about being flawless—it’s about being authentic and approachable. 2. Embrace Vulnerability Patrick Lencioni emphasizes that trust is rooted in vulnerability, and I couldn’t agree more. For many leaders, admitting mistakes or sharing challenges feels counterintuitive. We’re conditioned to think we need to appear perfect. But perfectionism builds walls, not trust. When you make a mistake, own it. Share it with your team, not to dwell on failure, but to highlight that errors are part of growth. By openly discussing your challenges and uncertainties, you create a safe space for your team to do the same. This vulnerability fosters a culture where learning from mistakes is celebrated, not hidden, strengthening trust across the board. 3. Invest in Relationships Trust doesn’t happen by accident—it requires intentional effort. One of the most effective ways to build trust is by getting to know your team members as individuals. Take time to learn about their lives, families, hobbies, and aspirations. This shows you value them beyond their job titles. A simple way to start? Engage in meaningful conversations. On a Monday morning, don’t just ask, “How was your weekend?” and move on. Listen actively and ask follow-up questions. For example, if a team member mentions trying a new restaurant, ask what they ordered or how they liked it. These small moments signal that you see and appreciate them as people. Over time, these interactions build a foundation of trust, showing your team they’re valued and understood. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Whether you’re a leader or a team member, what’s one experience where trust was built well in your organization? Share in the comments below! 20/20 Foresight Executive Talent Solutions #Leadership #BuildingTrust