How do you build trust? When I answered that question on video, I kept it short. You build trust by doing what you say you’re going to do. You build trust by showing up. You build trust by developing relationships.
It’s simple, but it isn’t always easy. Trust rarely disappears in one dramatic moment. More often it wears down in small ones, where what someone said and what they actually did stopped lining up. Here is how to build trust in the workplace, whether you lead a team or work alongside one.
What Trust in the Workplace Really Means
Trust at work is the confidence that people will do what they say, tell you the truth, and treat you fairly when it counts. It’s what lets you hand off a project without checking on it every hour, raise a concern without bracing for blowback, and take someone at their word.
The way I put it is this: trust is built when your actions match your words. You can’t announce it into existence. Nobody trusts you more because you said “trust me.” They trust you because, over and over, you did what you said you would do.
Why Building Trust in the Workplace Matters
Trust can sound soft next to revenue targets and deadlines. The research says otherwise. In Gallup’s research on trust in the workplace, a March 2021 survey found that only 23% of U.S. employees strongly agreed that they trust the leadership of their organization. Gallup also found that when people strongly agree they trust their leaders, one in two are engaged. When they don’t, only one in 12 are. And employees who trust their leaders are 61% more likely to stay with their company.
Do What You Say You Are Going to Do
If you remember one thing from this post, make it this. If you don’t do what you say you’re going to do, that’s the fastest way to lose trust. It’s also the best place to start building it.
The promises that matter most are usually the small ones. “I’ll send that over today.” “Let me check and get back to you.” Each one is a small test, and people remember how it turned out. Follow through is where trust gets built or broken, which is why I see it as the heart of a strong work ethic.
The fix often isn’t working harder. It’s promising less. If you know a request isn’t going to happen, say no quickly instead of offering a hopeful yes. A clear no protects trust. A yes you don’t keep spends it.
Watch Your Say Do Ratio
Some leaders call this your say do ratio: how often what you actually do matches what you said you would do. Nobody hands you a report card on it, but the people around you can feel it.
A few habits keep that ratio high:
- Write down every commitment you make in a meeting, including the casual ones.
- Put a date on your promises. “Soon” means something different to everyone.
- If a deadline is going to slip, say so before it slips, not after.
- Finish what you start, or hand it off clearly. Don’t let it quietly fade.
Telling people early is the habit most of us skip. At SHRM’s Talent 2025 conference, culture consultant Steph Llano made the same point: one of the fastest ways to destroy trust is to make commitments you can’t keep, and if you can’t get something done, tell your team instead of letting it slip through the cracks.
Show Up, Especially When It’s Inconvenient
Showing up sounds obvious, but it covers a lot of ground. It means being on time, because chronic lateness in leadership tells people their time matters less than yours. It means coming prepared. It means being there for the hard conversation, the rough quarter, and the meeting where somebody has to deliver bad news.
It also means showing up the same way from one day to the next. If your team has to check your mood before they bring you a problem, trust is already wearing thin. Consistency gives people something they can count on, and what people can count on, they eventually trust.
The Work Is Not All That Matters
A lot of people believe that if they just do the work, the work is all that matters. That’s just not true. Good work is necessary, but it isn’t enough to earn trust on its own.
What matters is being in a space where you feel valued. Where you feel appreciated, where your voice matters, and where people care about what your experience is. You can be brilliant at your job and still struggle to earn trust if the people around you feel like a means to an end. As my coauthor Wally Schmader likes to say, when you are talking to a leader, you know you are important. That’s the real difference between a manager vs leader.
Make People Feel Heard
Feeling heard might be the most underrated part of trust. Gallup found that employees who say their manager is always willing to listen to their problems at work are 4.2 times as likely to strongly agree that they trust their organization’s leadership.
Listening is a skill, not a personality trait. A few ways to practice it:
- Ask a real question, then give the silence enough room for a real answer.
- Ask what and how instead of why. I’ve written about how to stop asking why questions, because they tend to put people on the defensive.
- Give people a regular place to speak up. Asking your team one simple question at your next staff meeting, “How can we be better?”, gives everyone a voice.
- Report back. Tell people what you did with what they told you, even when the answer was no.
That last step is where a lot of leaders lose ground. Asking for input and then going quiet teaches people that speaking up is pointless.
Trust Looks Different to Different People
At the end of the day, trust is very unique and individual to the person. One person trusts you when you hit every deadline. Another trusts you when you remember what’s going on in their life. Someone else needs to see that you will tell them the hard truth.
Part of that comes down to how people are wired. Understanding temperaments and teamwork helps you see why what feels respectful to one person can feel cold or pushy to another. The simplest move is to ask. “What helps you trust the people you work with?” is a fair question for your next one on one, and the answers will teach you a lot.
How Leaders Build Trust With Their Team
If you lead people, everything above applies to you with a brighter spotlight. Your team watches what you do far more closely than what you say. A few things matter most:
- Extend trust first. Hand over real work and real decisions. When you learn to delegate, you tell people you believe in them, and you build trust across the team.
- Share more of the truth. The power of transparency comes from telling the truth to more people than you normally would, not from slogans on the wall.
- Own your mistakes and your limits. People trust leaders who are honest about what they got wrong and what they don’t know yet.
- Give feedback that helps. Honest, specific feedback, even when emotions are high, shows people you care enough to be straight with them.
- Look for your blind spots. Your intentions may be good, but your team lives with your impact. Leadership blind spots are often where trust quietly erodes.
How to Build Trust With Coworkers When You’re Not the Boss
You don’t have to manage anyone to be the person everyone trusts. With peers, trust comes from being reliable, generous, and discreet. Hit your handoffs. Share credit out loud. Offer help before you’re asked. Stay out of gossip, because anyone who hears you talk about someone else will assume you talk about them too. When teammates trust each other, they lean on each other’s strengths instead of guarding their own lanes. That’s the foundation of an interdependent team.
Signs Trust Is Slipping on Your Team
Low trust rarely announces itself. It shows up in behavior:
- People stay quiet in meetings, then talk freely after them.
- Everyone copies the boss on email “just in case.”
- Decisions get revisited again and again.
- New ideas dry up because nobody wants to be the one who is wrong.
- People protect their own work instead of helping each other.
Gallup noticed something telling here. Low performing teams in low trust cultures talk about trust constantly, while teams in high trust cultures rarely mention it at all. If trust keeps coming up on your team, pay attention to that.
When You Break Trust, Own It
Everyone breaks trust at some point. You miss a deadline, forget a promise, or say something you shouldn’t have. What you do next matters more than the mistake.
Own it plainly, without a long list of reasons. This is exactly what an apology is for. As I’ve shared before, saying “I’m sorry” all the time can sabotage your credibility, so save it for moments like this, when you have truly let someone down. Then do the slow part. Keep your next commitment, and the one after that. Trust comes back the same way it was built, one kept promise at a time.
Simple, But Not Easy
None of this is complicated. Do what you say you’re going to do. Show up. Build real relationships. Make people feel heard. The hard part is doing it on the busy days, with the difficult people, and in the moments when nobody would notice if you let it slide.
Here’s a place to start this week. Pick one commitment you’ve let drift and close it out. Then ask one person on your team what helps them trust the people they work with, and really listen to the answer.
If you’d like to bring this conversation to your team or your next event, take a look at my keynote speaking. You can also find more short leadership videos on my YouTube channel.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you build trust in the workplace?
Do what you say you will do, show up consistently, and build real relationships. Keep small promises, tell people early when something is going to slip, listen without rushing to respond, and act on what you hear. Trust grows when your actions match your words over time.
What is the fastest way to lose trust at work?
Not doing what you said you would do. Missed commitments, especially small ones that never get acknowledged, teach people that your word is unreliable. Making fewer promises and keeping every one of them protects trust better than overpromising.
How do leaders build trust with their team?
Leaders build trust by keeping their commitments, extending trust through real delegation, sharing information openly, listening to problems, giving honest feedback, and owning their mistakes. Consistency matters most, because teams trust what they can predict.
What are the signs of a lack of trust in the workplace?
Common signs include people staying quiet in meetings and talking afterward, copying managers on email to protect themselves, decisions being revisited repeatedly, fewer new ideas, and teammates guarding their own work instead of helping each other.
Why is trust important in the workplace?
Trust affects engagement and retention. Gallup found that when employees strongly agree they trust their leaders, one in two are engaged, compared with one in 12 when they do not. Gallup also found that employees who trust their leaders are 61% more likely to stay with their company.
