Editorial
Outsourcing, mergers, downsizing, shifting business models, the rise of AI, return to office mandates and more are creating turbulence for companies. Add in the broader economic uncertainties, and we have the natural breeding grounds for distrust.
Changes like these result in confidential discussions about restructuring, budget cuts and other hard decisions that directly impact employees. These discussions demand secrecy — at precisely the moment when transparency could support morale and engagement.
The result is a trust paradox.
While trust is critical for staff engagement and morale, only 21% of employees currently trust their leadership according to one Gallup survey (and a more recent survey shows it has declined since then). Even fewer, at 18%, trust that their leaders will explain the effect of any changes made on their organizations.
When everyone fears for their jobs and strategic decisions are being made behind closed doors, can trust be maintained between you and your staff? And if it can’t, how can you rebuild it?
The Relationship Reality of Trust
Trust doesn’t flow from corporate communications or company-wide trust-building initiatives. According to research by Deloitte, trust emerges from "high competence and positive intent, underpinned by capability, reliability, humanity and transparency." People experience this in personal relationships and through consistent behaviors over time.
The data supports this relationship-focused view. Gallup found that employees who have opportunities to provide honest feedback about organizational changes are seven times more likely to have confidence in their leaders. This form of feedback doesn’t happen through town halls or anonymous surveys. Rather, it takes place in your one-on-one conversations, team meetings and daily interactions.
When your company announces layoffs or restructuring, an email from the CEO explaining the strategic rationale won’t suffice. Your team needs to know that you see them, understand their concerns and will be honest about what you know and what you don't.
Acknowledge the Impact on Trust
The first step in building trust is naming what happened without minimizing or deflecting. Avoid language like "I know this is challenging for everyone," or "We need to move forward together." These phrases signal self-protection rather than genuine acknowledgment.
Instead, be specific about the impact: "I know that the layoffs are naturally creating a sense of uncertainty about your job security." Naming the change without justifying it restores dignity to those affected and demonstrates that you understand the real impact, not just the business necessity.
Being specific doesn't mean criticizing senior leadership or undermining company decisions. It means acknowledging that even necessary business decisions can be disruptive to relationships and team dynamics.
Communicate the ‘Why’ Without Defensiveness
After acknowledging the impact, your team needs context about the decisions. Your role is to translate executive decisions into human terms, helping your team understand and begin to adjust to their new reality.
Share what you can about market conditions, strategic changes and the reasoning behind difficult choices. Confidentiality prevents full disclosure, so be honest about those constraints: "I can't share details about specific decisions, but I can tell you about the market pressures and budget realities that drove the overall restructuring."
Great leaders, according to Gallup research, "explain where the company is coming from and where it's going" while also establishing "what the company will always do and what it needs to do now." Especially during turbulent times, employees are looking to you for assurance about what they can rely on.
A helpful practice is to meet with your fellow leaders, share the questions your teams are asking, and support one another in providing meaningful answers.
Demonstrate Consistent Behavior
Trust requires demonstrable behavior that shows you will do what you say. Pay attention to what staff say has impacted their trust. If the problem was lack of communication during the decision-making process, be more open about upcoming decisions while they're still being considered. If people felt blindsided, create regular check-ins where you share what you're hearing from senior leadership.
Trust expert Charles Feltman notes that trust builds when promises are made and kept. Start with simple commitments: "I'll check with leadership about timeline questions and get back to you by Friday," then follow through exactly when promised.
Encourage people to share their concerns by inviting and welcoming their feedback. Foster the psychological safety needed for this by modelling your own vulnerability. Admit when you don't have answers. Show that uncertainty and questions are acceptable by demonstrating these behaviors yourself.
Create New Feedback Mechanisms
One of the strongest contributors to strengthening trust is employees' belief that they can provide honest feedback about organizational changes without experiencing repercussions.
Establish regular one-on-one meetings focused specifically on how changes are affecting your team members. Ask direct questions: "What felt hard about how the restructuring unfolded?" or "What would have helped you feel more prepared for these changes?" Listen without defending decisions or explaining the business rationale.
Only about 30% of leaders discuss with each team member how organizational changes will affect them specifically, according to Gallup. Doing so is a great opportunity for building trust. These conversations are two-way discussions that help employees trust that you are taking their concerns seriously.
Be Patient With the Rebuilding Process
Rebuilding trust takes time. Don't expect a single conversation to restore confidence immediately. The timeline often depends on how severely trust was damaged and how consistent your behaviors — particularly those of reliability and humanity — prove to be over time.
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Some team members may test your commitment to change by raising difficult questions or expressing ongoing skepticism. This is normal and actually indicates that they feel a stake in the company’s future. Stay present through these challenges. Keep showing up consistently. Remain curious about what people are feeling and expressing.
These personal relationships are even more critical during periods of organizational uncertainty, when formal structures and processes can feel unreliable to staff.
The Path Forward
Trust operates through relationships, not policies. While your organization may implement new corporate initiatives, the actual work of building and maintaining employee confidence happens in your daily interactions with your team. Your consistency, vulnerability and genuine attention to how changes affect people will determine how your team emerges from difficult periods — with renewed commitment or with lingering skepticism.
The current environment — with all its uncertainties and with employee trust at historic lows — makes this relationship-focused approach more essential than ever. Your team doesn't need you to be a perfect leader. They need to know that you see the impact of difficult decisions, take responsibility for what was disrupted and that you can be trusted to lead them through these turbulent times.
Editor's Note: Read more about the leadership behaviors we need to move forward:
- How to Help Employees Navigate Uncertainty — Uncertainty can be bad for business, leading to loss of productivity, disengagement and more. Here's how leaders can help employees navigate uncertain times.
- The Real Workplace Crisis Isn't Lack of Loyalty — It's Lack of Psychological Safety — AT&T CEO John Stankey's memo suggests loyalty is dead. Loyalty isn't dead, it’s earned by leaders who foster trust, fairness and psychological safety.
- The New Playbook of Employee Experience — Organizations that treat engagement as an outcome of good design, not a program to fix, will build meaningful employee connections.
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