How To Rebuild Trust In The Face Of Uncertainty
We were in a conference room at the end of a long day. Laptops were closed, coffee cups pushed aside.
The CHRO shook her head and said, “Nothing is technically broken, but everything feels harder than it should. I’d really like to get underneath what’s causing this.”
Her leadership team was capable and experienced but decision-making took too long and meetings ended without clear next steps. People had stopped pushing back because it felt exhausting and unproductive.
The culprits were clarity and trust.These had worn down gradually as the business transformed, priorities shifted, communication became siloed and groups became misaligned and unproductive.
Teams were operating out of sync. The lack of clarity impacted accountabilities, created internal frustrations and, in turn, eroded trust. Forward momentum from one team met with resistance and obstacles from another. The worst part about this was that the issues were so subtle.
Why Trust Erodes Even When Intentions Are Good
When business priorities shift or the business evolves faster than people can adapt, teams start holding on to what they know. Legacy thinking takes hold, and innovation moves further out of reach. Misalignment impacts productive communication, often creates indecisiveness, which results in execution delays. This becomes a downward spiral and seriously impacts morale.
Gallup’s work on engagement shows that clarity around expectations and accountability is one of the strongest predictors of team performance. McKinsey’s research on organizational health consistently points to decision-making speed and role clarity as drivers of both trust and results.
In other words: trust isn’t just a feeling. It’s built—or lost—through everyday operating behavior.
The Real Problem Most Teams Are Trying To Solve
When leaders say they’re struggling with trust, what they’re often describing looks more like this:
Decisions feel slow or overly cautious
Execution stalls despite a highly capable team
Roles and accountabilities are vague
KPIs exist, but not everyone is aligned on what matters most to achieve them
People hesitate to speak candidly in group settings
It boils down to both interpersonal and operational issues.
That’s why treating trust as a purely “soft skill” problem—or trying to fix it with a process tweak alone—rarely works.
What It Takes To Truly Rebuild Trust
The teams that move forward fastest take a balanced approach. They prioritize having honest conversations, being clear about how and who gets the work done, and being open to new thinking.
On the human side, it means:
Creating a safe environment for team members to talk about what’s getting in the way and collaborative approaches to resolve that (focused on US and WE vs YOU and ME)
Clarifying how communication really lands across the team
Defining the issue and then ensuring full agreement on the importance of identifying a new operating approach
Developing a shared understanding of how colleagues can and will rely upon one another to accomplish objectives
Re-establishing trust and shared purpose through honest dialogue, not performative exercises
On the business side, it means:
Aligning around strategy so teams aren’t pushing in different directions
Defining KPIs that reinforce priorities instead of competing with them
Clarifying roles, responsibilities, and decision rights
Establishing (and agreeing upon) operating processes that actually support execution
When the emotional and concrete business issues are addressed together, trust becomes a shared priority rather than a subtle, abstract concept. It becomes part of how the team “machinery”.
A Real-World Example Of Trust Rebuilt Through Alignment
A $100M wholesale and retail accessories company came to us after their gears of growth had stalled. The team was talented and committed but not always in sync. Leadership knew they needed stronger alignment to support the next stage of growth.
Instead of restructuring, we focused on how the leadership team was operating: how they communicated, their meeting effectiveness, their shared or misaligned goals and the clarity of cross-functional expectations.
Together, we identified the company’s top five business priorities and built KPIs everyone understood and could rally around. We streamlined operating processes, clarified decision-making, and connected day-to-day work to a clear long-term plan.
We also developed a strategy playbook with explicit accountabilities, improved cross-functional workflows, and introduced a more collaborative operating rhythm across teams.
The impact was immediate and practical. Meetings became more focused, decisions clearer, and execution faster. Teams reported feeling more aligned and less frustrated. The organization gained better cost visibility and brought greater urgency to product development and speed-to-market.
The outcome was renewed trust grounded in clarity.
Teams that rebuild trust through intentional operating changes leave with:
A shared understanding of what’s really getting in the way—interpersonally and structurally
Clear agreements about communication and decision-making
Defined accountabilities and KPIs tied directly to strategy
A 90-day action plan that feels realistic and owned by the team
Just as importantly, people often describe a sense of relief. The tension and the guessing stops. Alignment becomes part of daily work instead of something leaders have to push for.
Rebuilding Trust In the Face of Uncertainty
Strong, productive teams are built on clear expectations and real conversations. When people understand the strategy, their role in it, and how decisions get made, trust becomes an enduring part of the organizational fabric, even during change.
This is the core of our approach to team optimization: addressing together the human dynamics and the operating systems that shape how work actually happens.
If you’re navigating change and noticing the subtle signs of misalignment or fragile trust, it may be worth stepping back and examining how your team is operating today and what greater clarity could unlock.