Employee Engagement
Action Planning Resource Library
Tools and Tips for Taking Action:
The Enemies of Trust
Resource Category: Journal article
Target Audience: Leaders and managers
Purpose of the Resource: From article abstract: “Trust is critical to organizational effectiveness. It also
requires a good defense: you must protect trust from its enemies. Any act of bad management erodes trust,
so the list of potential enemies is endless. Among the most common enemies of trust are inconsistent
messages from top management, inconsistent standards, a willingness to tolerate incompetence or bad
behavior, dishonest feedback, a failure to trust others to do good work, a tendency to ignore painful or
politically charged situations, consistent corporate underperformance, and rumors. Even with constant
vigilance, an organization and its leaders will sometimes lose people's trust. If you ‘go dark’ in the face of a
crisis, employees will worry about the company's survival, about their own capacity to cope, and about your
abilities as a leader. If trust has broken down so badly that your only choice is to start over, you can do so by
figuring out exactly how the breach of trust happened and identifying as precisely as possible the specific
changes you must make to rebuild trust.”
Instructions on How to Use Resource: Read for the purpose of self-assessment
Time Investment for Using Resource: Reading and reflection – 90 minutes
Complexity Level: Medium – user has some knowledge or skill with topic
Engagement Dimension: Confidence in Leaders
Competency: Operates with Integrity
Citation: Galford, R., Drapeau, A.S. (2003). The enemies of trust. Harvard Business Review, 81(2), 88-95.
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