Building Trust To Help Teams Open Up About Burnout

“My door is always open” means nothing if people are scared to walk through it. Most leaders think safety comes from rules and policies. But real safety? It’s built on trust, NOT fear. A high-performing team isn’t created by pressure it’s created by psychological safety. Let's break down what actually makes people feel safe at work: 1) Admit When You Don't Know ↳ Honesty builds more trust than pretending ↳ "I don't know, but I'll find out" is strength, not weakness ✅ How great leaders do this daily: They model curiosity instead of faking expertise 2) Welcome Questions Like They're Gold ↳ Innovation thrives when people aren't afraid to ask ↳ "That's a great question" opens doors to breakthroughs ✅ How great leaders do this daily: They praise curiosity instead of shutting it down 3) Address the Elephant in the Room ↳ Avoiding tough topics breeds anxiety ↳ Speaking up first sets the tone for honesty ✅ How great leaders do this daily: They initiate difficult conversations, not wait for problems to explode 4) Take the First Step in Vulnerability ↳ Fear of speaking up is real—so go first ↳ Acknowledge mistakes openly ✅ How great leaders do this daily: They own their failures so their team feels safe to do the same 5) Shield Your Team from Unnecessary Chaos ↳ Great leaders filter noise, not amplify it ↳ Protect your people from pointless stress ✅ How great leaders do this daily: They buffer distractions instead of passing them down 6) Encourage Healthy Disagreement ↳ Safe workplaces aren't conflict-free—they handle it well ↳ Show that challenging ideas isn't dangerous—it's valuable ✅ How great leaders do this daily: They normalize debating ideas without personal attacks 7) Give Permission to Recharge ↳ Burnout happens when rest feels risky ↳ Encourage stepping away to come back stronger ✅ How great leaders do this daily: They take breaks themselves to show it's not just allowed, but expected 8) Listen Before Fixing ↳ Not every problem needs an instant solution ↳ Sometimes, people just need to be heard ✅ How great leaders do this daily: They ask "Tell me more" before jumping to problem-solve 9) Own Your Bad Days Without Spreading Them ↳ A leader's mood sets the tone ↳ Acknowledge tough days without offloading them ✅ How great leaders do this daily: They self-regulate instead of spreading negativity 10) Give Credit Loudly, Take Blame Quietly ↳ Safe teams know they won't be thrown under the bus ↳ Publicly celebrate efforts, privately handle mistakes ✅ How great leaders do this daily: They make team recognition a habit, not a one-time event A safe workplace leads to: - Bold ideas - Honest conversations - A culture of trust Most leaders will keep leading with fear. The best leaders choose trust. Start by asking your team: “What helps you feel safe to share your ideas?” 👇 Drop your thoughts in the comments! — ♻️ Repost to help other leaders build safer workplaces. ➕ Follow Sandra Pellumbi for more 🦉

Your team just told you they're burned out. What you say in the next 30 seconds will either build trust or destroy it forever. Most leaders think trust is built through big gestures and annual reviews. But after coaching hundreds of executives, I've learned the truth: trust lives in those split-second moments when someone brings you a problem. Here's what happens when your team raises concerns: What breaks trust: ❌ Dismissing their reality → "Everyone's busy right now" → Translation: Your wellbeing doesn't matter ❌ Making it about you → "I worked 80 hours last week too" → Translation: Your struggle isn't valid ❌ Using guilt as motivation → "We need team players here" → Translation: Speaking up makes you disloyal Instead of defaulting to defensiveness, here’s how we guide leaders to respond—using the CHANGES framework from Conversational Intelligence®: 🤝 C - Co-Creating (Shift from Excluding to Including) → "Thank you for trusting me with this - let's solve it together" → Makes them part of the solution, not the problem 🤝 H - Humanizing (Shift from Judging to Appreciating) → "Your honesty takes courage and helps our whole team" → Demonstrate respect for their contribution 🤝 A - Aspiring (Shift from Limiting to Expanding Aspirations) → "This feedback helps us create the culture we want" → Connect their concern to bigger organizational goals 🤝 N - Navigating (Shift from Withholding to Sharing) → "Let me share what I'm seeing and hear your perspective" → Create transparency around challenges and solutions 🤝 G - Generativity (Shift from Knowing to Discovering) → "What ideas do you have that we haven't tried yet?" → Reward their insights and encourage innovation 🤝 E - Expressing (Shift from Dictating to Developing) → "How can we empower you to make decisions about your workload?" → Inspire them to own solutions 🤝 S - Synchronizing (Shift from Criticizing to Celebrating) → "Here's what we're changing because you spoke up" → Celebrate their courage and close the feedback loop The hidden cost of getting this wrong: – Your best people stop bringing you problems – Issues explode instead of getting solved early – Innovation dies because psychological safety doesn't exist The payoff of getting this right: – Teams that come to you first when things go wrong, not last. – Projects move faster because the sticky points come up early. – Conflict fades as respect and tolerance goes up. Your next conversation is your next opportunity to choose trust over control. Start with one letter that comes most easily and work your way through CHANGES… one each day. P.S. Which CHANGES element do you need most right now? 🔔 Follow me, Jill Avey, for more leadership insights that move careers forward ♻️ Share to help leaders build stronger teams

I’ve found myself navigating meetings when a colleague or team member is emotionally overwhelmed. One person came to me like a fireball, angry and frustrated. A peer had triggered them deeply. After recognizing that I needed to shift modes, I took a breath and said, “Okay, tell me what's happening.” I realized they didn’t want a solution. I thought to myself: They must still be figuring out how to respond and needed time to process. They are trusting me to help. I need to listen. In these moments, people often don’t need solutions; they need presence. There are times when people are too flooded with feelings to answer their own questions. This can feel counterintuitive in the workplace, where our instincts are tuned to solve, fix, and move forward. But leadership isn’t just about execution; it’s also about emotional regulation and providing psychological safety. When someone approaches you visibly upset, your job isn’t to immediately analyze or correct. Instead, your role is to listen, ground the space, and ensure they feel heard. This doesn't mean abandoning accountability or ownership; quite the opposite. When people feel safe, they’re more likely to engage openly in dialogue. The challenging part is balancing reassurance without minimizing the issue, lowering standards, or compromising team expectations. There’s also a potential trap: eventually, you'll need to shift from emotional containment to clear, kind feedback. But that transition should come only after the person feels genuinely heard, not before. Timing matters. Trust matters. If someone is spinning emotionally, be the steady presence. Be the one who notices. Allow them to guide the pace. Then, after the storm passes, and only then, you can invite reflection and growth. This is how you build a high-trust, high-performance culture: one conversation, one moment of grounded leadership at a time.