I think that’s a really interesting question.

My idea in this post is that your feeling of trust is an indicator that there’s some other reason things aren’t working. And, because it’s an just indicator you can decide how you will react to identify the root cause and try to fix it.

A culture of trust adds a new dimension to the idea. If a manager decides that humans are untrustworthy, then it says more about that manager than anyone else. It will manifest in how they manage their staff (e.g. micromanage) and how they fail to let their people take initiative. A culture of distrust comes from a number of influential people in a culture (e.g. management) behaving like they don’t trust each other or their staff.

You can’t fake a culture of trust if you don’t trust people.

Conversely, if they decide to really engage in the behaviours that are required for a culture of trust, then that’s what they’ll get. But it must start with each individual deciding to trust.

You can’t change others – you can only change yourself.

All the best,

Mike