Here’s what happens when employees don’t trust their leadership

As the adage goes, trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.

Today, trust in leaders is incredibly low.

According to a report by HR consultancy DDI, only 46% of leaders report fully trusting their direct manager to do what’s right. Even more troubling, fewer than one in three trust senior leaders within their organization.

The side effects of this lack of trust are sobering. Here are just a few of the ways in which diminished trust impacts teams:

Employees don’t listen

When employees don’t trust their leaders, they don’t listen to their advice. People don’t do what you want them to do just because you tell them to do it. If people can’t trust your word, quite simply, they’re unlikely to listen to it.

When a leader demonstrates inconsistency between what they say and what they do, their employees can see that. The overarching message is that your word is not trustworthy—or that not doing what you say you will is somehow acceptable.

Employees disengage

An employee engagement initiative won’t work if there is a fundamental lack of trust that underlies it.

When employees don’t trust their leaders, they check out emotionally and mentally. When employees check out, they’re more likely to quit when a new opportunity arises.

This kind of disengagement often means that employees will do the bare minimum to get by, at best. And at worst, disengaged employees can become toxic and hostile to the company.

Employees stop innovating

When employees don’t trust their leaders, they become unwilling to innovate, speak up, or take calculated risks.

Trust is a fundamental part of psychological safety, often cited as one of the core dynamics of high-performing teams. Psychological safety is typically defined as the shared belief that teamwork spaces are safe for interpersonal risk-taking.

When employees don’t trust that their leaders will have their backs—whether they challenge something in the workplace or simply ask for help—they begin to feel unsafe.

If that’s the case, productivity plummets and inefficiency thrives.

Miscommunication happens

If there’s a lack of trust, employees are likely to build up walls to protect themselves. Even if they work well with their own team, they are unlikely to try to collaborate outside of their immediate circle.

This has a negative impact on inter-team communication, which can increase the likelihood of mistakes. As the quality of work drops or things are done incorrectly, frustration grows and can even lead to conflict.

Turning things around

Fortunately, there are steps leaders can take to restore trust. First, it’s crucial to be self-aware and demonstrate to your team that you are trustworthy. Model positive behaviors to employees and stick to your word. Ultimately, your coworkers see what you do, not what you say you do. Walking the walk can show your colleagues that you can be trusted.

Second, start to look at where, exactly, the trust might be broken. When trust is boiled down to a core framework, rather than a vague concept, you can tactically look at which element is missing to start repairing trust.

There are four elements that comprise trust: competence, reliability, sincerity, and care. Doing an audit in each of these four areas and seeing where you might be falling short is a start. Then, you can set some action steps you can take to improve.