Trust and Engagement: The Connection Leaders Miss

AI-generated illustration | Firefly

“Less than half [of employees] trust their senior leaders.”

That's from a recent Harvard Business Review article based on Gartner's survey of more than 3,500 employees. And here's the impact: employees who don't trust their leaders are measurably less engaged than those who do.

Last month I wrote about the impact of AI on culture: team members reporting that they have a better relationship with AI than with human teammates. That’s about connection. This month, let’s zoom in on trust – another critical element of strong team culture.

According to the HBR piece, policy changes and economic uncertainty are among the current challenges fueling a lack of trust. But there’s more.

These three leadership behaviors break trust faster than almost anything else:

• Withholding information – Employees are 20% less likely to trust leaders when they believe they're not getting the whole story.

• Scapegoating – Employees are  30% less likely to trust leaders who shift blame onto others or factors beyond their control.

• Retracting decisions – And employees are 20% less likely to trust leaders when they reverse course without explanation.

Does this sound familiar? You’ve probably experienced at least one of these.

But the research also shows what leaders can do to build trust and engagement:

• Employees are 4.3 times more likely to trust leaders who explain why a decision was made.

• Employees are 6.5 times more likely to trust leaders who show authentic concern for what they care about.

These behaviors don’t require a big initiative. They require intention – slowing down to share the "why," and creating space for people to be heard.

Trust is built through small moments that matter: how we communicate change, whether we follow through, and how we show up when things get hard.