QUICK TIPS: 8 Ways New Leaders Can Build Trust with Their Teams

🔍 Episode Summary

In this episode of Peacebuilding with Dr. Pollack, Jeremy dives into a critical skill for every new manager and team lead: building trust. Trust isn't automatic—it’s something you intentionally earn. Without it, even the best plans falter. But with it? You can prevent conflict, foster resilience, and lead with influence instead of authority.

Whether you’re stepping into a team for the first time or trying to rebuild broken trust, this episode offers 8 actionable strategies you can implement immediately. Real-world examples from business, healthcare, tech, and nonprofit leadership illustrate each point and help bring the ideas to life.

🧭 What You’ll Learn

• Why asking for hard feedback early on builds psychological safety
• How meaningful one-on-one conversations lead to deeper connection
• Why leaders who ask for help earn more respect, not less
• How consistent positive reinforcement boosts morale and performance
• The damage emotional inconsistency causes—and how to regulate it
• How transparency prevents toxic assumptions
• Why not level-skipping is about trust, not red tape
• How inviting people into decisions increases ownership and loyalty

📌 Key Takeaways

1. Trust is a bank account—make deposits before you need to withdraw.
2. Consistency beats charisma when it comes to emotional leadership.
3. Transparency builds credibility, even during tough decisions.
4. Your team are the experts—learn from them.
5. Small actions, done consistently, build the strongest trust.

🧠 Episode Quote

“Trust isn’t built in overnight—it is built over time in small, repeated, intentional actions.” — Dr. Jeremy Pollack

✅ Action Step

Pick two of the trust-building strategies discussed and commit to practicing them this week. Write them down. Schedule them. Build the habit—and the trust.

📬 Stay Connected

If you found this episode helpful, share it with a fellow leader. Subscribe for weekly insights on building peace, trust, and clarity in the workplace.

Host: Dr. Jeremy Pollack from Pollack Peacebuilding Systems

More from Dr. Pollack:

• Peaceful Leaders Academy
• Conflict Resolution Playbook: Practical Communication Skills for Preventing, Managing, and Resolving Conflict
• FREE e-book: The Ultimate 12-Step Guide to Coworker Mediation: Free Ebook - Pollack Peacebuilding Systems

Connect with Dr. Pollack on social media: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn

Transcript

0:03

Welcome to Peace Building with Dr. Pollock. This is a quick Tips episode where I explore the strategies, psychology and interpersonal tools that help you build better relationships at work and beyond. I'm Dr. Jeremy Pollock. I'm a social organizational psychologist with a specialty in peace and conflict psychology. I'm also the CEO of Paul Peacebuilding Systems, a workplace conflict management, consulting, and training firm. Today we're diving into a topic that every new leader has to face. Whether you're stepping into a brand new team or taking over a reorg or leading for the first time, and that topic is trust. Trust isn't automatic. It's not given just because you have a title, it's built deliberately, consistently, and with intention. So in this episode, I'll share eight proven ways that new leaders can build trust with their teams. And for each i'll pair practical guidance with real world examples to help you apply it immediately. Let's get started. The first is ask for hard feedback and stay calm. If you're a new leader, one of your smartest moves is to proactively invite feedback. Ask your team what they'd like to see from you, what's worked for them in the past, even what concerns they might have about your leadership style. What's the most important part, stay calm when the answers come. Let's say you're a new team leader in a department, at an organization, and after a few weeks of onboarding and getting to know people at a group meeting you say, you know, I know I'm still new here, and I certainly don't know this company better than you all, so I'd really appreciate your thoughts. What should I keep doing? What should I change? Anything you're concerned about, please let me know. And someone speaks up, let's say, and they say, you know, honestly, we're worried you're going to slow us down. And instead of defending yourself or just brushing it off and dismissing it. You thank them. Maybe you write it down in front of them and you say, you know, that's important. Let's talk about this. Tell me more. That moment alone of receiving hard feedback and being calm and open about it really builds credibility. You've shown your open, you've shown your stable and safe enough to talk to about difficult subjects. Second, host regular one-on-ones that show personal curiosity. Leadership isn't just about tasks and timelines, it's about people. So when you set up your one-on-one meetings, don't make it purely performance based. Ask about their lives, their goals, their values, and I don't mean to pry, but it just means being genuinely curious. You know, imagine you're. Managing a team, and in your first round of one-on-ones, you ask each person what's something you are passionate about outside of work Or something like, what's something important that I should know about you? That kind of personal curiosity shifts the tone from transactional to relational, and over time it becomes easier for team members to approach you when they're struggling or when they're feeling overwhelmed or if they have new ideas. Okay. Number three, ask for their help or advice. Really, really powerful. One, to help build trust with someone. You don't need to be the smartest person in the room. In fact, one of the fastest ways to earn trust is to recognize that your team members have insights and expertise that you don't, and to ask for their guidance. You know, let's say you're a new manager in a department and there's someone in particular that you've noticed. maybe some difficulty communicating with maybe, someone who's been there a long time. You might pull them aside and just have a moment of vulnerability. You could say something like, listen, I'm really just learning the ropes here, and you have so much great experience. Is there any way you'd be willing to help me get up to speed? I'd really like to learn from you. That simple invitation sends a message that you respect their experience, and in return, you'll get deeper insights and stronger buy-in for the decisions that you do make later on. Okay, number four, schedule regular positive reinforcement. Trust thrives in an environment of recognition. People want to feel seen, so make gratitude a habit, not a special occasion. Put it on your calendar. E acknowledge wins. Celebrate effort, not just outcomes. I remember I was coaching a manager, um, we'll call him Fred, who supervised a very busy customer support team. You know, the days were chaotic at the stress levels were high, so every Friday morning he would choose two team members to whom he would send a short specific message. Something like, uh, Hey Sam, thanks for how you handled that tough customer Tuesday. Or, Hey Jen, I noticed how you stayed calm when the system went down the other day. Really appreciate that. These little moments of positive reinforcement and appreciation really helped to create a culture of respect. And when we administered a 360 assessment on his leadership, it was clear that his team valued, uh, his fairness, his presence, and his encouragement. Number five, be consistent, especially emotionally. Nothing shakes trust, like emotional unpredictability. If people don't know. Uh, whether they're getting the calm you or the reactive you, if they don't know which version of you is gonna show up that day, they'll stop sharing. They'll stop asking, and they'll just start avoiding you. Your team doesn't need you to be robotic, but they do need you to be stable. You know, imagine if you're managing a team and you've had a rough morning, maybe deadlines or upper management pressure, or some tech issues or something, but you walk into the team meeting and you are composed And you could even, you know, just have a moment of vulnerability there because the heads up you know, today, uh, there's been a lot going on, so I, you might find me to be a little quiet, but I promise I'm here and I'm engaged. Yeah, just having that moment where you can be open about what's going on for you, but you're still behaviorally consistent. You model emotional intelligence. People know what to expect of you. They feel safe and trust hopefully grows because your presence is steady. Even when things around you aren't. All right. Number six, be transparent and over communicate. Trust doesn't just depend on what you decide, but on how you communicate your decisions. If you're making a change, explain why. Share your thought process. Let your team into your mindset. Uh, I was working with the financial services team recently, and the manager had to reduce remote flexibility from three days to one day a week. Now, obviously, he could have just announced it without any explanation. Just said, Hey, here's what you need to do. Please be in the office, you know, four days a week. But instead, he really wanted to be transparent about why the decision was made, you know, what was going on in the business that led to this decision. So he told everyone, you know, we've seen communication gaps and project delays, and after analyzing the data and talking with leadership, we decided that more in-person time could help. I know this affects everyone, so I'm open to ideas about how we roll it out. This was a really important message. Then he held a meeting and heard people's input and worked with a few people individually to help them with this transition and make it work for them and their family obligations. So even when people disagree, they're far more likely to respect your decision if they understand the why behind it. Over communicating might feel repetitive to you or maybe even too laborious sometimes, but it feels respectful to your team. Number seven, don't level skip. Trust is damaged quickly. When leaders bypass people in the chain of communication, that means don't go behind someone's back to their manager. Don't give feedback to someone's direct report without informing their supervisor, and don't escalate a problem without addressing it directly with them first. Imagine someone on your team has missed a few deadlines, and instead of venting to their manager or skipping ahead to hr, you approach them directly and say something like, I've noticed some delays. What's going on? How can I help? Then if you need to, you loop in others. You can tell'em like, I wanna make sure your manager's in the loop here, so let's bring them into the conversation together. This kind of transparency and respect builds long-term credibility. And finally, number eight, include people in decisions that affect them. people don't need full control over every decision, but they do need a voice. So whenever possible, bring your team into the decisions that impact them. Even if the final outcome is mostly fixed, you can still give them influence over how things unfold. Let's say you're updating your team's scheduling system and you already know you're switching platforms, but you ask, Hey, everyone, before we roll this out, what features matter most to you, or what would make the transition easiest for you? That sense of inclusion builds trust because you're not just issuing mandates, you're showing respect for the people that are gonna be affected by the decisions. Okay, so to recap the eight trust building moves that every new leader and really any season leader should make. Number one, ask for hard feedback and stay calm in response. Number two, use one-on-ones to build personal curiosity and connection. Number three, ask for help and advice to empower your team's expertise. Number four, reinforce effort and wins with consistent appreciation. Number five, maintain emotional consistency to create psychological safety. Number six, be transparent and let people in on your thought process. Number seven, avoid level skipping. Communicate directly and respectfully. And number eight, include people in decisions that affect their work lives. Remember, trust isn't built overnight, but it is built over time through small, repeated, intentional acts. I would suggest you pick two of these to focus on this week. Schedule them, practice them. Then keep going. Pick two more the next week. Thanks so much for joining me on Peace Building with Dr. Pollock. If this episode helped you, please share it with a colleague. Leave a review and subscribe for more practical guidance on leadership, trust and workplace peace building. Until next time, lead well, lead wisely, and build trust deliberately.