Building Trust: 8 Actions for CEOs & Leadership Teams
Trust is the currency of leadership. Without it, alignment frays, collaboration becomes performative, and strategy execution slows down. With it, teams can disagree openly, make faster decisions, and share accountability without fear.
Yet in many leadership teams, trust is precisely what’s missing. A Harvard Business Review study found that 58% of employees trust strangers more than their own boss. Within senior teams, the same guardedness often prevails: leaders hold back, protect their turf, and hesitate to speak candidly. The irony is that while leadership teams are supposed to model unity, they often become the most fragmented group in the company.
So how do you move from guardedness to genuine collaboration? It requires effort from both the CEO and every member of the team.
What the CEO must do
1. Signal that vulnerability is safe.
Trust starts with example. When the CEO acknowledges uncertainty, admits mistakes, or asks for help, it gives permission for everyone else to do the same. Research from Harvard professor Amy Edmondson shows that psychological safety, the shared belief that it’s safe to take risks, is the strongest predictor of team effectiveness.
Practical examples:
A CEO shares a failed initiative in a town hall, explaining what they learned.
In a leadership team meeting, the CEO says, “I’m unsure about this decision, what am I missing?”
Leaders who model imperfection boost engagement: Gallup found that when leaders admit mistakes, employees are 34% more likely to trust them.
2. Reward collective success.
If the CEO only recognizes individual wins, silos will harden. Instead, highlight examples of cross-functional collaboration, and make clear that leadership success is measured by how well the whole team performs.
Practical examples:
Recognize pairs or groups of leaders who solved a cross-departmental issue together.
Set a KPI for the leadership team itself (e.g., engagement scores, speed of decision-making).
Deloitte research shows companies with aligned leadership teams are 1.9x more likely to have above-average profitability.
3. Create structures for candor.
Trust doesn’t grow in a vacuum. The CEO can deliberately build “containers” for honest dialogue: structured check-ins, offsites dedicated not to business strategy but to how we work together, and explicit ground rules for debate.
Practical examples:
Hold quarterly “red team/blue team” exercises where one group critiques a decision while another defends it.
Dedicate the first 10 minutes of every executive meeting to team dynamics.
Use facilitated sessions with external coaches to surface unspoken tensions safely.
What leadership team members must do
Building trust is not the CEO’s job alone. Every member of the leadership team must actively dismantle the instinct to be overly guarded.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Share the “why” behind your position.
Instead of stating your opinion as a fixed stance, explain the reasoning, assumptions, and pressures behind it. This opens the door for others to engage with your thinking, not just your conclusion.
Example: “I’m pushing for this deadline because our investors expect traction by Q4, but I’m open to alternatives if we can still show momentum.”
2. Normalize admitting limits.
Trust grows when leaders say things like, “I don’t know enough about this yet,” or “This decision makes me anxious because…” Far from signaling weakness, these statements invite collaboration.
Research: A Cornell study found that executives who acknowledged knowledge gaps were perceived as more competent and trustworthy, not less.
3. Assume positive intent.
Guardedness thrives when we assume colleagues are competitors. A practical shift is to start with the belief that your peers want the company to succeed, even if their methods differ.
Practical step: Before reacting defensively, pause and ask yourself: If I assume my colleague’s motive is positive, how does this change my interpretation?
4. Offer feedback with care, receive it with curiosity.
Feedback is a trust accelerant, but only if it is exchanged without ego. The most effective leaders don’t just give feedback, they model how to receive it: asking clarifying questions, thanking the giver, and reflecting before reacting.
Practical example: Instead of “That’s not fair,” try: “Tell me more about what led you to that perception.”
5. Make small, personal disclosures.
Guardedness begins to drop when leaders reveal more than just their professional personas. Sharing a personal story, a struggle, or even a simple “here’s how I’m feeling today” builds the connective tissue of trust.
Research: Studies on “reciprocal vulnerability” show that even small disclosures lead to stronger bonds and higher cooperation rates in groups.
Practical action points
Start meetings with a quick pulse check. Each member shares one word to describe how they’re arriving. It’s a simple practice that humanizes the room.
Rotate the “devil’s advocate.” This makes dissent a team role, not a personal risk, and helps normalize constructive disagreement.
Hold regular team retrospectives. Twice a year, step back not just to review business results, but to ask: How are we doing as a leadership team? What do we need to stop, start, or continue in how we collaborate?
Shadow yourself. Notice moments when you choose silence over honesty. Ask: What am I protecting? What’s the risk I’m avoiding? Is the cost of silence higher than the cost of speaking?
Use structured role reversal. In moments of conflict, ask leaders to argue from the opposite perspective. This builds empathy and reveals blind spots.
A simple model: The TRUST Loop
Trust in leadership teams builds through a continuous cycle, not a one-time effort. We call it The TRUST Loop:
T — Transparency: Leaders share reasoning, limits, and personal context.
R — Reciprocity: Vulnerability invites vulnerability; openness is mirrored back.
U — Understanding: Active listening, empathy, and assuming positive intent.
S — Support: Feedback given and received constructively, collaboration rewarded.
T — Time: Consistency in these behaviors over time cements trust.
Every leadership team is somewhere on this loop. The work is to keep moving through it, transparency leading to reciprocity, reciprocity deepening understanding, understanding reinforcing support, and all of it building strength with time.
Why this matters
A leadership team without trust is like a crew rowing in different directions: plenty of effort, little progress. Conversely, a team that trusts each other can afford to be bold. They spend less energy managing perceptions and more energy solving problems.
The CEO cannot build this alone. Nor can individual leaders wait passively for psychological safety to emerge. Trust is co-created, moment by moment, through vulnerability, openness, and a willingness to risk honesty.
Case Study: Sandoz’s leadership team
Following a phase of rapid growth, the Leadership Team of Sandoz, engaged in a reflective workshop to deepen trust, alignment, and shared presence. Through honest dialogue and structured activities, they surfaced unspoken dynamics and built a common language around trust—leaving with greater clarity, cohesion, and commitment to lead with openness, consistency, and collective impact across the business.
Click below to read about how trust was cultivated within Sandoz’s leadership team through a reflective workshop with open dialogue and practical exercises.
If you want to explore how trust can be cultivated within your own teams, take a look at our Corporate Programs.
For more insights on our Corporate Programs follow us on Instagram | LinkedIn