Trust building

Creating psychological safety, credibility and commitment in complex environments

Trust is the invisible foundation of effective leadership. Without it, collaboration slows down, feedback disappears and teams default to caution rather than ownership. With trust, people speak up, take responsibility and perform at their best — especially in complex and uncertain contexts.

In this one-day workshop, participants explore how trust is built, maintained and sometimes unintentionally broken in leadership practice. Rather than treating trust as a vague or “soft” concept, we make it concrete, observable and actionable.

The workshop starts from lived experience. Drawing on real-life situations from demanding contexts (including street work and refugee environments), participants examine what happens to trust when pressure rises, control is challenged or stakes are high. These experiences serve as a mirror for their own leadership reality.

Building on this foundation, we introduce evidence-based frameworks around trust, psychological safety and relational leadership. Participants explore how trust emerges at the intersection of competence, integrity and benevolence, and how leaders influence trust through everyday behaviours: decision-making, communication, feedback, vulnerability and consistency.

A strong focus is placed on self-awareness. Participants reflect on their own trust patterns:

• When do I instinctively trust or distrust?
• How do my stress reactions impact trust in my team?
• Where do I unintentionally create distance, silence or dependency?

Throughout the day, participants translate insights into practice by working on concrete leadership situations, receiving peer feedback and experimenting with alternative behaviours. The workshop concludes with a personal action plan, focused on small but high-impact behaviours that strengthen trust over time.

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OUTCOME:

After this workshop participants take away:

• A clear, practical understanding of how trust is built and eroded in leadership
• Insight into their personal trust patterns and impact on others
• Tools to foster psychological safety, openness and accountability
• Concrete actions to strengthen trust within their teams and organisations

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FORMAT:

• Workshop
• Webinar‍