Trust is pretty shaky

The global Edelman Trust barometer 2025 report makes for sobering reading. Revealing widespread erosion of trust driven by a growing sense of grievance among the global population. Key findings highlight that 61% of respondents have a moderate or high sense of grievance toward government, business, media and NGOs. Only business is seen as competent and only NGO’s are seen as ethical. And of the two, ethics contributes 76% of an institution’s trust capital, competence only 24%. Also there is a general lack of confidence in current leaders as stewards of the future.

Sadly many organisations aren’t immune from the erosion of trust – with often a lack of trust across departments, although trust in peer groups remains strong. Low trust undermines organisational capability to respond to the challenges of ongoing change. The sum of the parts just doesn’t add up, but instead overall performance suffers. Time and resources are wasted when people don’t feel safe to ask the tougher questions and contribute to their fullest.

yet Trust amplifies value and impact

Taking your own trustworthiness seriously makes life easier all round. It helps you be ‘a better person’. And whatever your endeavour, whatever your field of practice, a better person make a better practitioner. Whether you’re an All Black, an accountant, a scientist, a manager, an advisor – whatever it is you do. It pays off to earn the trust of others around you by being expert, being open-minded, being adaptable, being generous and being present.

Beyond your own trustworthiness, this 2-day workshop is about thinking strategically about trust and bringing more intentionality and skill to our interactions with those relationships that matter the most to you.

Strategically it’s about thinking about the relationships in your work world, how they are perceived, and what can be achieved through them – what new value can be delivered collectively?

Then building your capability to intentionally build trust into every interaction, so that you amplify collective value and impact by:

• Bringing a relational mindset to every interaction – moving from ‘transactional’ to ‘relational’.

• Communicating a credible sense of competence and value, even with sceptical stakeholders.

• Tailoring your approach and your behaviours to each unique situation & individual.

• Valuing your own reputation to create a willingness for others to put their trust in your hands.

• Demonstarting how you value the relationship, even over your own particular agenda.

• Conveying a sense of your own integrity or willingness to do the right thing for others.

And beyond value and impact, building higher trust encourages each person to be themselves, to be generous with their expertise, open and adaptable. Helping create a culture where high trust dissolves unhelpful politics, honesty replaces gossip, and the best collective interest trumps blatant self-interest.

Workshop overview

a practical 2-day conversation

trust, relationship & value

• Defining trust as shared vulnerability.

• Being willing to trust, with judgement.

• Understanding how our behaviours and mindsets shape trust and value.

• Understanding how perception shapes an individuals’ understanding of trust.

• Seeing trust as a network phenomenon, the power of trust in a social network.

building credibility

• Understanding others’ perspectives, motivators, mindsets and points of view.

• Using better questions and listening to uncover the real issues and drivers.

• Developing a more acute situational awareness.

• Tailoring our approach to suit individual relationships.

• Designing actions and behaviours to build greater credibility.

creating a solid track record of delivery

• Clearly agreeing expectations with each other.

• Taking responsibility for our commitments to each other.

• Going beyond ‘just meeting’ expectations, to creating new value.

• Building a great reputation for reliability.

influencing for change

• Understanding a deeper context – emotion, politics and culture.

• Creating and framing for more coherent and impactful communication.

• Building the courage and skill to tackle difficult conversations.

• Building rapport by connecting with others’ deepest motivations.

• Designing actions and behaviours to build greater influence.

being in service of a shared, higher purpose

• Taking responsibility for our own mindsets, behaviours and outcomes.

• Working with a stronger sense of personal and collective purpose.

Workshop outcomes

more lasting relationships & reputation

Moving relationships from merely ‘transactional’ to higher value partnership by:

• Being proactive about the relationship itself and confidently tackling the difficult issues.

• Demonstrating a commitment to putting long-term interests first.

• Committing to the development of critical collective capabilities.

greater resilience

Building strong networks of trust helps create real resilience by:

• Tapping into information networks that can provide an early warning for what’s coming over the horizon – giving you time to prepare to respond.

• Amplifying your capacity and capability to respond by being able to activate skills, knowledge and relationships that are held by others in your social network.

• Accessing social networks for insight and capability also lowers stress and increases confidence in handling uncertainty.

higher collective relevance, value & impact.

A trusted network of relationships improves your ability to understand and respond by:

• Helping navigate complex operating environments.

• Bringing multiple perspectives to more acutely sense new possibilities, risks and opportunities.

• Creating the freedom to challenge old ways of thinking and working and to quickly build ‘coalitions of the willing’ to change and adapt to new conditions.

• Improving the visibility of the wider system.

• Reducing the waste and costs of – misunderstanding, low accountability and low commitment.

more fulfilling work life

Trust generates more authentic and meaningful interactions by:

• Creating real confidence in transparent intentions, strengths and relationships.

• Enjoying connecting and working with others, without having to ‘look over our shoulder’.

• Knowing that we’re appreciated for the value that we each bring.

• And knowing, even when mistakes are made, we can forgive, be forgiven and recover.