During periods of disruption, CEOs can find themselves questioning whether they can rely on the their management team to navigate uncertainty. So when a CEO says, “I don’t trust this leader,” my first move is always to break it down.
Ask yourself: “What don’t you trust them to do?” Do you trust their competence? Their ability to take feedback and develop new capabilities? That they share the ambitions and intentions for the good of the company? That they understand the organization’s rules of engagement; what its culture will, or will not, tolerate?”
While distrust is often treated as a feeling to overcome, a better approach is to treat it as a symptom that needs to be traced back to its origins. This will help you parse this abstract feeling into a specific aspect that can be addressed.
An executive might be highly capable, but their experience could have given them a different set of instincts and assumptions. They might withhold a disclosure because the culture to date had not explicitly highlighted it intolerable. They might share the board’s ambition for the organization, but lack the context needed to make the sound judgment that aligns exactly with the organization’s culture and priorities.
In my experience, it’s rarely all the above. Once you know which one it is, the conversation gets a lot easier, and a lot more specific than “I don’t trust you.”
The last question, “Do I trust their judgment?” is often the hardest to grapple with. Judgment is not innate. It is built through experience and context: understanding the organization, its history, its stakeholders, values and what are deemed as acceptable trade-offs. If you hired the executive, you’ve presumably done your due diligence on their experience and competence. What may need to be built now is just shared context.
Once you’ve identified the dimension of trust that is lacking, the conversation becomes much more productive. Instead of saying “I don’t trust you”, you can say, “Here is what I need to see specifically to build my confidence in this particular area.” Give your team a clear direction to earn your trust rather than leaving them to guess.
Remember that trust is a two-way street. In turn, you should ask the team member: “Is there anything you need from me in order for us to strengthen our relationship?” The goal is mutually earned confidence, made possible through carefully shared expectations and context.
