So many conversations are missing in organizations because of one thing: trust.
When I work with executive teams, they almost always ask how to build trust—and rightly so.
Without it, people don’t collaborate, commitments aren’t met, and outcomes fall short.
But here’s the tricky part about trust: it’s not always about “do I trust them or not?”
It’s nuanced.
For instance, you might trust someone’s honesty but doubt their skills in a certain area, or question their overall reliability.
This is an important conversation on a team to have, and if I could provide a master key it would be for people to notice what it is that they don’t trust and learn to develop the skill to have a conversation about it.
Faced with a missing conversation about competence or honesty, any people get stuck thinking, “I can’t talk about that!”
They tiptoe around or avoid the conversation, and their relationships start to deteriorate.
But here’s the thing: If you can lead a multi-million dollar deal, you can certainly lead a conversation about trust.
Start with observations and focus on next steps:
“𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘟, 𝘠, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘡, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐’𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴. 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥?”
Or, “𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩, 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐’𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦?”
Notice how this conversation directly addresses concerns and focuses on what needs to happen to be successful, not on personal blame.
This week, ask yourself:
Who do you want to build a stronger relationship with to achieve a shared future?
What’s holding you back? If it’s trust—don’t wait. Have a conversation.
For more on how to talk about trust with your team, check out my conversation with Andrew Skotzko on his podcast, 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳.