Rebuilding broken trust is essential in order for your team to be motivated to follow your example.
If your team can’t trust you, they won’t be motivated to do what you need them to do.
Usually when trust is broken, it isn't intentional. Most leaders breach trust by accident. Share on X
Trust will break down when you, as the leader, promise something to a member of your team, and then can’t deliver. Or, you might be caught delivering mixed messages, or throwing a member of your team under the bus instead of backing them up.
Once trust is broken, it can be a challenge to rebuild. With a more severe breach of trust, often it can’t be rebuilt, because they’ll always be some skepticism.
So, what do you do when you need to rebuild broken trust?
Part of the process of rebuilding trust involves acknowledging the trust breach, apologizing sincerely, and being careful to make commitments that you can keep. The expression, “Once bitten, twice shy,” applies here. People will be watching your actions as a leader, to see if they can really trust you again.
Fortunately, except in the most severe circumstances, we live in a society of second chances. Your team wants you to be a leader that they can trust.
Going forward, focus on maintaining confidences, delivering on the results that are expected of you, and lead by example.
Are you struggling to repair trust with your front line team? Our onsite training can help you rebuild broken trust.
