Communication Yields Trust: Let’s Talk!

Trust doesn't happen by chance—it begins with communication.

In this episode of the Apex Performance Podcast, Dr. Anthony Simmons explores why effective communication is one of the most essential leadership skills for building trust, strengthening workplace relationships, and creating high-performing organizations. Drawing from decades of leadership experience, academic research, and military service, Dr. Simmons explains how leaders can move beyond one-way communication and embrace meaningful, two-way dialogue that fosters collaboration, psychological safety, and organizational excellence.

Discover why communication is more than simply speaking—it's about listening with intention, encouraging feedback, and creating environments where every voice is valued. Learn how town halls, coaching conversations, affinity groups, and leadership by walking around can improve employee engagement, strengthen workplace culture, and transform organizational performance.

Dr. Simmons also discusses the role of emotional intelligence, empathy, vulnerability, and transparency in leadership, showing how authentic communication builds trust, reduces burnout, empowers teams, and creates lasting connections across every generation in today's workplace.

Whether you're an executive, manager, military leader, entrepreneur, or aspiring leader, this episode offers practical leadership strategies to improve communication, inspire trust, and develop a culture where people feel heard, valued, and motivated to perform at their best.

Tune in to discover why communication is the bridge to trust—and why leaders who communicate with clarity, authenticity, and empathy create organizations where people and performance thrive.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Do you ever feel like you're doing all the right things, but success still doesn't last? If you're struggling with trust, strange relationships or performance that feels harder than it should, then this podcast is for you. Here's your host, executive leader, and scholar practitioner, Dr. Anthony Simmons.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Greetings, everyone, and as always, I am so excited and honored to welcome you to another episode of Apex Performance Podcast, where all pathways are semen in authentic relationships through a common act. We must continue to appreciate, communicate, and trust. I am your host, Dr. Anthony Simmons, and while continuing to offer accelerated pathways to excellence, today's pathway will be centered around communications as an organizational leadership imperative. So let's talk. Today's discussion will highlight the criticality of two-way communications undergirded by a town hall setting. Now, if I could only count the number of articles I read about organizations lacking trust, also I often see articles addressing how the lack of trust stems from poor communications as though it's a surprise. The irony is we know trust requires effective communication, so we have identified the problem but lack the edge and the wherewithal to fix it. I would submit today's leaders are less inclined to share information as though they see it as being vulnerable. Communication is the bridge to trust. So again, let's talk. As we began our talk, today's episode was simply shed a light on how to bridge this leadership gap. In my inaugural episode, you can recall I presented a Harvard Business Review position on Connect, then lead. The key is communication and trust are quid pro quo, as communication essentially facilitates relationships to foster environments of trust, which yields appreciation. So just notice how a common act intertwines this connection. Now to drive today's discussion, I will have two bases from which to launch my argument. We'll talk about articulation to action, essentially how do you operationalize a vision statement. And secondly, and more emphasis will be placed on a town hall forum. And this town hall forum is pretty much the platform that enables what we're going to discuss as symmetrical or two-way communication. So considering two-ways communication, we have to consider that today's diverse and globally oriented culture, coupled with the proliferation of artificial intelligence, self-interest, and the political landscape, the need for collaboration is elevated within organizations. So collaboration creates a climate of trust and it facilitates our relationships, which are pretty much core competencies for leadership communication. In his book, From Great Communication Seekers of Great Leaders, John Baldini suggests, different from speaking, that communication is a second-order two-way process that involves both speaking and listening. In this second-order approach, it begs for a new platform, which is a dialogue via a town hall setting. And listening must be done in an intuitive manner in order to understand and to connect, you know, rather than just simply respond. It's the key to building trust and also it co-locates individuals and it co-creates solutions to organizational relationships. Now, according to Gallups, in 2025, it was determined that low engagement actually cost the world economy approximately 10 trillion and lost employee productivity, or either 9% of the gross domestic product. Now, according to Dr. T.M. Elmore in his book, A New Counter Diversity, in order to create an environment for growth and connection, leaders must recognize what each generation has to offer. They must be able to co-locate with generation Y and Z in order to meet them where they are. Now, Shalen Gumpter, a fast company, upon we must ask for feedback. We must understand their motivation, their goals, understand what brought them where they are, and what's meaningful and where do they see themselves in the future. And also, and more importantly, how can we together craft an experience to build their careers? Now, the most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said. That's Pete Drucker. Now moving into my ethos of my bona fideas, I'd like to talk about some history I have that qualifies me to have this discussion about a town hall or two-way communications. In that vein, during my doctoral scholarship, I wrote a blog on symmetrical communications, which involves interactive exchange of equal voices. It involves active listening and mutual respect or psychological safety, which is a sense of belonging. In the 20th century, one-way communication was good. But in today's time, it's really not optimal for leadership engagements. Today's environment calls for two-way communications in order to enable authentic conversations, or I like to consider inspirational interviews in order to unearth greatness and aspiring leaders. It's akin to the coaching conversation I presented in my book, Champion and Organization Wellness. And also, I like to always talk about my command philosophy dating back to 1999 when I emphasize the importance of communications. It reads as communications is the most essential characteristic of any successful team. We'll be candid with each other at all times. If you do not express yourself, it is impossible for me to know what you're feeling. So often a different perspective from one person will shed light on the new situation. So that moves me into what I look at as the town hall setting, which I feel it encourages this symmetrical two-way communication and foster this authenticity that leads to understanding and also building trust between leaders and their direct reports. So we must ask, what is the real underlying issue with poor communications? Does it hearken back to the interview question I posed that's common to act one? What is your weakness? I feel a high-order question is are you okay being vulnerable? This is key, I feel, to being open and forthcoming when communicating and encouraging feedback. Bottom line, you do open yourself up to criticism, but the objective is to get better at your craft. So I would surmise that the underlying factors to not sharing information maybe links to the upside-down leadership that I talked about in the previous episode. The real question is whether or not you are comfortable being uncomfortable. And if not, you know, getting feedback and risking criticism can appear as a personal attack to those who don't exude the self-assurance that I discuss and as depicted in the transformation of tear on the Maslow spectrum. Now, in leadership communication, Johnson and Hackman say communication is really about establishing a common ground with the audience and involves listening and responding in accordance with the audience disposition. This thesis calls for what I call an interactive approach to communication in organizations where the perspective of the audience has the potential to drive the information exchange. You know, you get this perspective in small affinitive groups, which I will discuss later when I go through some of my storytelling. As well, interactive communication serves both the leader and the aspirants. In excellent public relations and effective organizations, Grinnick and all posit that symmetrical communications develop relationships more effectively and also results in employees' satisfaction because they have a voice. Now, in coaching organizations, I talk about the culture of empowerment and learning. Town halls create a learning environment where we develop learning machines, it coalesces speakers and audience by affording the opportunity to establish an understanding of building trust between the leaders and the aspiring leaders. Now, John Baldini also submits it captures and solves problems of mutual interest. The venue facilitates the sum of the whole approach, what I call collective intelligence, you know, to reaching the optimal solutions. Symmetrical communication also is going to be the norm as we move forward through leadership engagements. And it's the key to the organization design where we have to create elevated flat working organizations where everyone is empowered. It fosters information sharing and encourages relationship development between planners and the executors. It enables real-time thinking execution in the same place at the same time. And it also allows coaches to be coached. However, don't allow town halls to morph into a one-way lecture. You have to respect the moderator and also you have to manage your tendencies. I have a particular episode I was watching when Mr. Bernie Sanders was struggling with this during a 9 April 2025 interview that was considered a town hall, but it was to the point where he began to dominate the discussion where we lost the benefit of it being a town hall platform. Now, what are the crossroads of emotional intelligence progress and communication? I have spoken volumes about emotional intelligence skills. So communication really takes emotional intelligence maturity, which can be developed through personal and professional development. Effective leadership communication relies on this emotional intelligence as disability helps speakers harmonize with diverse audiences by using self-awareness, self-management, and social awareness to build trust. It is catalytic to organizations recognizing their situation regarding the values, the beliefs, and the needs of their people. In awareness, it aligns with the audience while self-management is good for discipline and social awareness demonstrates appreciation and also it allows other ones' perspective to be heard. It's a way of identifying with the listeners' location. Now, leaders must not only know their team members, but also they must be able to connect with them across all levels within the organization. This connection is achieved through constant communications in events like a fireside chat that was used by President Roosevelt. That's Franklin Roosevelt, there he is. It's a matter of displaying genuine trust and showing you care through a show of appreciation. Now, when running for president, Vice President Gore, he aimed to inspire his followers through transformational leadership. However, Steve Denning argues that his body language Which made the Vice President appear more like a tobacco farmer than a polished politician. It hindered his ability to persuade voters. Additionally, his relatively low emotional intelligence may have limited his capacity to recognize these shortcomings, which precluded him from connecting with his audience and supporters in that regard. Now let's get to the fun part of this Let's Talk episode. I like to paraphrase Dun Staless. I've been listening to her book, Uncommon Favor. She openly says that communication isn't easy, but if you cater messages to individuals, it helps with candidness and it also builds authentic relationships. And she said that she had an open-mouth policy where she allowed people to express themselves so she can listen to them and get to the bottom of any potential problem. Now I talk about the definitive group town halls. I adopted this model dating back to 1993 when I was actually department head in the USS Gettysburg. The captain Dorne Auburn, we call it the vision in the spotlight, essentially where you go through an entire inspection process, and at the end of the event, the captain meets with your direct supports and because he wants to hear directly how they feel about your leadership models. It's really a way of you being held accountable. So yes, I was a little intimidated at first because I was just really concerned about what my people had to say about me, what was their perspective, and it was a way of the captain holding me accountable for my leadership. So in this infinity group also develops intimacy and it's an encouraging setting that false genuine feedback while suspending judgment. It is important for collective problem solving and it helps relate to people from where they are. Now, Travis Bradbury relates to this as speaking to groups as individuals because people express their concerns and offer feedback without being judged by their seniors in this particular setting. As mentioned earlier, you know, I was apprehensive, and by the fact that I became apprehensive, it really served as a great lesson in order to make sure that I had my ducks in a row as a leader, and as I, you know, had the charge of overseeing the betterment of the best interest of my sailors' performance. And seeing this and how effective this model was, it convinced me to adopt this form in my follow-on leadership positions. Now, also I present the importance of two-way communication today, but on to my pre-signs, over 25 years ago, as a student at the Air Force Command and Staff College, I actually crafted a paper on communication being a two-way process. I argued that commanders must establish an environment that encourages members to openly communicate their perspective because if they don't encourage self-expression, they would lose access to invaluable insights on the unforeseen, which I consider collective intelligence. Now, I made self-expression an explicit requirement in my command ethos in each of my Etsy commands. Additionally, I always felt that team members not only knew my expectations, they also knew where their shortcomings were and how to improve them through my immediate performance reviews. Also, there was no gray errors in my expectations of their performance. The strategic vision was operationalized through routine practices and collaborative undertakings. And I was again listening to Stalus. She was talking about when she first started coaching. So, how did she really account for you know all the TV timeouts and that extra space that she had there? And it was obviously her nascent days of coaching. And I was thinking as I was listening, I said, you know, this is a good opportunity to collaborate. And I would also say, as I see more basketball being played and more team concepts, I'm beginning to see more engagement on sidelines, which is a great thing to see. Now, communicators also must be innovative with the opportunities to communicate expectations. You must leverage every opportunity that presents itself. You must employ multiple avenues to reach people through some kind of you know transparency, you know, through a multiple means. I would talk to people doing onboarding interviews. I would also have breakfast opportunities while I have officers or sailors to come in and have breakfast with me individually, just so I could just talk with them at a different level. I would intentionally, this was pretty unique that my command master chief thought was really powerful. I would intentionally leave my notes on my desk in an open form with my highlights and priorities there for them to actually take a peek at. So I just feel affinity groups really enforces and regurgitates my ethos, you know, during every opportunity when I would address the command and so forth. I thought the culture of excellence is created, you know, through feedback. As I had mentioned, my CO suggestion box. I kept it unfiltered because it was really powerful and it allowed my command philosophy, you know, to be stay on message and to be repeated so people can understand the importance of it. I also brought out these vision statements during disciplinary proceedings, also in order to point out where people went wrong. I tried to make the environment as tangible as possible. And finally, I talked in a previous episode about leadership by walking around. Have always connected to the crew by walking about the deck place at unexpected times because I like learning about sailors. I like to learn about their hometowns and their associated backgrounds. Being from a rural town of Goodwater, Alabama, where we all knew each other, you know, I felt it was important to know your neighbors and those in the surrounding areas. So I would also inquire about families and occupation, trades, and different interests. So this goes back to during World War II and the Great Depression, President Roosevelt communicated with his people to the point where they felt like they personally knew him. He connected with people to let them know he understood their fear and struggles. When he passed in 1945, many people gathered in the streets of Washington to celebrate his life, you know. And throughout that celebration, one individual swept uncontrollably and fell to his knees. Then, as the gentleman was helping him to his feet and asked him, Hey, did you know the president? The gentleman replied, No, but he knew me. So that's very powerful about knowing your people and also people understand that you feel where they are in their circumstances. Now, what are the future implications or what are the so what to this let's talk episode? Communicating to connect establishes common threads to foster trust and to show appreciation. Keeping information close to the vest is not power, it's really a failed strategy, it's a misnomer, as information is only as powerful as the breath of its keepers. We must not only communicate, but we must practice emphatic communication. We must consider each other based on individual perspectives. And also we have to be very careful with superficial empathy. You know, you hear stories like, wow, that sounds concerning. But genuine empathy is listening to other person and make it about them. And that goes back to the coaching conversation where I talk about listening intuitively to sort of understand a person to draw out his introspective. So don't formulate answers before you know fully internalizing the message that you're hearing. In James 1, verse 23 to 24, it says, Obey God's message. Don't fool yourself by just listening to it. If you hear the message and don't obey it, you're like people who stare at themselves in the mirror and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. Fair to connect with people and appreciate their perspective of limiting oneself to preconceived notions really precludes gaining trust and demonstrating confidence in their abilities. And it results in chronic micromanagement and what we experience today, high burnout. We must articulate and then act. We must define, communicate, and practice that main thing, what's really important. Stay on message, be consistent and do it continuously. Now, show me a successful organization that doesn't communicate effectively, and I can assure you of an organization that doesn't know what success looks like. Hey, thanks again, and please subscribe to this channel to enjoy game-changing insights on proven accelerated pathways to excellence. See you next time. Bye for now.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

So that's it for today's episode of Apex Performance. Head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week that posts a review on iTunes or Apple Podcasts will end a chance to win a grand prize drawing worth $5,000 for a private VIP day with Dr. Simmons himself. Be sure to visit ApexPerformance Podcast.com to pick up a free copy of your gift and ask your questions for Dr. Simmons in your own voice, and he'll answer you back privately in his. Then join us on the next episode.