How to Build Trust at Work: Five Everyday Actions

Trust or mistrust is a choice that every leader has to make: build trust at work to unlock performance or sow distrust and shut it down.

---

---

Most organizations fall in the middle between high trust and low trust cultures. In these organizations, managers can vary widely in how much they trust others. Employees are sensitive to even the smallest hints of mistrust.

To build trust at work, trust must be a consistent and fundamental part of your leadership style. Even in a company where there is general mistrust, one good manager can have a significant positive effect.

1. Know Your Strengths—and Own Your Weaknesses

People trust leaders who are confident but not arrogant. Acknowledge what you do well and lean into those strengths. At the same time, be open about where you need input, feedback, or support. When leaders admit they don’t have all the answers, it builds trust at work instead of diminishing it.

2. Take Ownership for Your Words and Actions

Model taking responsibility for your words and actions. Keep your promises, however small they are, and do what you say you’ll do. When you don’t get a desired outcome, own your misses and show the team how to learn from mistakes. Course correct as much as possible. When you build trust at work, others are more likely to take ownership too.  

3. Lead with Transparency

Secrecy breeds suspicion. Conversely, transparency builds trust. Whenever possible, explain the “why” behind your decisions, not just the “what.” When you share context openly—even when the news isn’t perfect—you build trust at work. People don’t expect leaders to have a crystal ball, but they do expect honesty.

4. Listen First, Speak Last

When leaders dominate the conversation, employees hold back. Reverse the order: ask questions, invite perspectives, and let people finish their thoughts before weighing in. Validate your team to show you’re listening. When employees see that their voices genuinely shape outcomes, you build trust at work—and engagement too.

5. Lead Through Empowerment

A boss issues orders and enforces compliance. A leader inspires, supports, and clears roadblocks so people can succeed. Leaders spend more time listening than talking, more time recognizing than criticizing. Your leadership style matters. When leaders move from control to empowerment, people stop doing the bare minimum and start giving their best.

Assume the Best in Your Team

Trust and mistrust are cycles that are self-perpetuating. When leaders assume the best in their people, create psychological safety, and hold steady expectations, they unlock discretionary effort, innovation, and resilience. When they default to suspicion and control, they shut those doors and trap teams in cycles of fear and minimal effort.

If you want your team to rise higher, build trust at work. Small daily actions become habits, set expectation, and build a culture of trust where people give their best because they want to, not because they have to.

Next Steps

More on this topic:

• Trust at Work: The Most Important Way to Boost Team Performance — The ultimate guide to why trust is the first place to start when looking to improve team performance.
• Why Self-Regard is the Bedrock of Emotional Stability, Confidence, Trust, and Resilience. –— Self-regard is the foundation of authentic leadership. Learn how accepting your strengths and weaknesses builds confidence, trust, and resilience at work.
• Validation in Leadership: the Most Important Way to Help People Grow at Work. Validation in leadership isn’t approval—it’s recognition. Learn how to validate employees effectively, why it builds trust, and 5 ways to practice it at work.

Do you have the skills to build trust? Take my Leadership Skills Audit to find out.