🥳 YOUR RESULTS

Your Self-Reflection Trust Score

🌱 Emerging (10–23)

 

Outcome

Your self-trust is still forming. It may feel harder to rely on yourself consistently, and moments of doubt or hesitation might be more visible. This isn’t failure, it’s the beginning of a growth journey where awareness is your first strength.

Kind Framing

Growth comes from experimenting, failing, learning from mistakes, resilience, and celebrating small wins, no matter how small. Completing this scorecard is a courageous step; this is evidence that you are moving forward. Be kind to yourself; every step matters.

 Recommendations

1. Keep promises daily to strengthen integrity.

Training yourself to follow through wires the brain for reliability, each success strengthens self-trust. 

2. Practice owning mistakes without self-judgment. 

When you admit errors kindly, you build resilience and signal you're safe to trust, even if you say this quietly to yourself; this calms the nervous system. 

3. Journal moments of honesty or courage to reinforce progress.

Noticing and writing about acts of courage helps you see progress and trains the brain to repeat these behaviours. 

4. Ask a trusted peer for gentle, honest feedback.

Feedback received openly helps sharpen self-awareness and normalises growth. 

5. Anchor to self-kindness when setbacks happen; they are part of resilience.

Self-compassion creates a buffer, making it easier to learn and try again.

🎓 What the Science Says

Neuroscience and positive psychology show that every repeated trustworthy act (promise kept, honesty shared, act of empathy) creates stronger pathways for integrity and reliability. This "pattern-building" is why small actions compound into lasting change over time. 

 

 

 

🥳 YOUR RESULTS  

Your Self-Reflection Trust Score

🌿 Developing (24–36)

 

Outcome

Your self-trust is strengthening but still uneven. You have a foundation of reliability, yet inconsistency or doubt can still interrupt your progress. This stage is about reinforcing habits and boundaries.

Kind Framing

You are in motion. You’re already practising trust-building behaviours and noticing progress. Keep leaning into the moments where you feel consistent and reliable; they are your building blocks. Let solid habits be your foundation - progress, not perfection.

 Recommendations 

1. Strengthen boundaries to avoid over-committing.

Clear boundaries help focus on promises you can keep, boosting integrity. 

2. Model learning behaviours.

Admit mistakes and invite feedback to foster psychological safety (self-trust for yourself and others.  

3. Build follow-through rituals to make small wins repeatable.

Tie new habits to cues (e.g., "after meetings, write down one promise I kept").

4. Extend benevolence - be as kind to yourself as you are to others.

Compassion for yourself supports sustainable resilience.

5. Share your growth with peers - connection reinforces self-belief. 

Sharing growth stories builds self-belief and connects you with supportive feedback.

🎓 What the Science Says

Consistent behaviours reinforce trust patterns in the brain; creating rituals and positive feedback loops helps new habits stick and grow stronger. 

 

🥳 YOUR RESULTS

Your Self-Reflection Trust Score

🌳 Thriving (37 - 50)

 

Outcome

Your self-trust is resilient and consistent. You follow through on promises, align actions with values, and build a foundation of inner confidence. The way you show up makes a bigger difference than you know. 

Kind Framing

Thriving is not a final destination; it’s an ongoing practice. Sustaining self-trust means gently stretching, reflecting, and using your strength to model trust for others. You're practising being a trustworthy role model. 

 Recommendations

1. Set stretch goals that challenge your comfort zone.

Trying new, slightly challenging actions (e.g., public speaking, peer mentoring) expands your confidence and self-trust. 

2. Mentor or coach others 

Teaching builds mastery and deepens your own reliability and empathy; this is leadership that connects with others.

3. Reflect on your week.

Ask yourself, "Where did I act with integrity, care, ability and/or skill?"

4. Keep practising openness and feedback. 

This builds psychological safety behaviours within yourself and for others. Staying humble keeps your trust foundation strong. 

5. Share your trustworthy practices.

Modelling trust is a gift to others. Modelling trust helps others learn and grows trust across your personal relationships, your workplace and positively impacts organisations. 

🎓 What the Science Says

The science is clear: when we practise self-trust through reflection, learning, and meaningful challenge, we strengthen the neural pathways that support confidence and resilience and inspire others to do the same.

 

 

 

🥳  YOUR RESULTS 

Your Relational Trust Score

🌱 Emerging (10–23)

 

Outcome

This stage is all about starting to build safety and openness. Relational trust is just beginning to take root. You may notice hesitancy to rely on others or discomfort in expressing your needs, and setting boundaries feels challenging. Misunderstandings or unspoken boundaries can make interactions less safe. 

Kind Framing

This stage is about awareness. Trust in relationships grows from micro moments of trust, listening with care, empathy, and gently fixing when things go wrong. Intentional recovery when mistakes are made. By recognising the gaps, you’re already taking a courageous step toward more open, connected relationships in your daily life. 

Recommendations

Show small acts of empathy, listen, check in, or acknowledge effort.

Actively listen by putting away distractions and focusing fully on what someone is sharing. Ask gentle follow-up questions ("How are you, really?") and reflect back what you hear ("That sounds challenging, I appreciate you sharing it"). 

Make a habit of checking in. Start meetings or shifts by asking everyone to share a word about how they're feeling, which helps build inclusion and belonging. 

Acknowledge effort or offer help unprompted, e.g., "I noticed you stayed late to finish the project. I appreciate your extra effort." This encouragement can be as simple as a quick message or a thank-you in conversation. 

Aim for one genuine conversation per week to slowly build comfort and openness, assisting in building honest communication in small doses.

Try scheduling a regular coffee or walk with a colleague or friend, focusing on honest sharing about small wins, struggles, or lessons learned. Even ten minutes of genuine back-and-forth can help build trust and comfort. 

Use a check-in question like "Is there anything on your mind that would help me support you better this week?" This opens up an honest conversation. 

Repair breaches gently, focus on solutions, not blame. Research highlights the strength of addressing 

When misunderstandings arise, address them soon with calm curiosity ("Can we talk about what happened? I want to find a way forward together") rather than blame. Share your perspective and invite theirs, working together on what can improve going forward. 

Practice the 'prime directive before feedback: "We all did our best with what we knew and had at the time." This sets a tone of care and safety for honest discussion. 

Be open to different perspectives, even if you disagree. 

Invite ideas or feedback during conversations: "I'd love to hear a different perspective, what do you think?"

If disagreement happens, pause to understand why by asking open-ended questions and seeking what you might have missed. This shows respect and builds connection in relationships. 

Keep promises and be transparent if plans change.

Follow through on commitments, big or small; if something changes, explain clearly and early ("I said I'd have this finished today, but something came up, here's what happened and my next steps"). This maintains integrity and reduces uncertainty. 

Share updates in a group or with individuals, practising transparency even when the answer isn't perfect - trust is built more on honesty than flawless delivery. 

Practice benevolence: demonstrate care in everyday interactions.

Express genuine encouragement and appreciation: offer a specific compliment, thank you, or smile (even a "masked" smile matters!). For example, "I really appreciate how you took the time to help with that problem yesterday." Simple acknowledgements show that others' efforts are valued and noticed. 

Support colleagues during tough moments. If someone seems stressed or overwhelmed, ask "Is there anything I can do to support you today?" or "Would it help to talk for a few minutes?" Acts of solidarity and helping each other through challenges are core to benevolence. 

Create daily moments of kindness.

Hold the door, share helpful information, and initiate small gestures (a cup of coffee, kindness wall, team shout-out). Random and regular acts of kindness signal steady micro moments that build compassion toward others. 

🎓 What the Science Says

Every small act, empathy, listening, a moment of praise, a transparent conversation sends a safety cue to the brain: “You’re safe here.”
Over time, these micro-moments don’t just ease tension; they rewire relationships for greater trust, openness, and connection.

 

💡 Why It Matters

Trust doesn’t grow in isolation; it’s shaped through the relationships we build and the spaces we create for reflection. Mentoring provides one of the most powerful contexts for this growth. It’s where micro-moments of empathy, listening, and honesty become habits that rewire trust. Each conversation offers a live space to practise vulnerability, repair, and mutual respect, the very conditions that strengthen both people and culture.

 

 

🥳 YOUR RESULTS

Your Relational Trust Score

🌿 Developing (24–36)

 

Outcome

Relational trust is strengthening but uneven. You’re building reliability and openness, though there may still be moments of hesitation or unclear boundaries.

Kind Framing

You are building meaningful habits. Every time you acknowledge others’ reliability or invite voices in, you create ripples of trust. Keep consolidating what works.

Recommendations

Acknowledge positive actions, thank people for listening or following through.

Publicly recognise reliable, positive behaviours in meetings and team chats ("Thank you for keeping your word on the project deliverables" or "I appreciate your thoughtful listening during our one-on-one").

Keep gratitude specific and timely. Appreciating even small follow-throughs reinforces reliability and signals openness - it is key in building both practical and emotional trust. 

Take time daily to recognise and thank colleagues for their reliability, active listening and constructive feedback. 

Check in with colleagues regularly; small gestures show care. 

Establish a habit of informal check-ins, e.g., a weekly "How are you doing?" or asking a colleague about their day or well-being. These can be part of daily standups or casual conversations, building an everyday sense of care. 

Research shows that empathy-driven exchanges and frequent, low-pressure interactions foster psychological safety, well-being, and trust. Even small gestures signal care and reliability. 

Rotate leadership check-ins so everyone gets a chance to ask about others - shared responsibility strengthens group reliability and inclusion, and these can be adapted for personal relationships too. 

Share feedback kindly, focusing on your perspective and future improvements.

Use "I" statements to frame feedback gently("I feel I work best when... Could we try...next time?" or "I appreciate your help - could we debrief what worked well and what might be improved for next time?"). 

Frame suggestions as future-focused (Let's work together for an even smoother process next time"). This avoids blame and supports collaboration. 

Feedback delivered with authenticity and vulnerability builds trust and positive affect in relationships. Bi-directional communication - inviting and receiving feedback - establishes openness and safety for continued growth. 

Keep boundaries clear and respect others’ limits.

Openly discuss team or personal boundaries ("I am not able to work late meetings - let's see if we can plan another way") and encourage others to voice their limits. 

Be mindful of overstepping or unclear boundaries, and call them out respectfully "("Let's double-check everyone's roles so we know who's responsible for what"). This emphasises clarity and respect for reliability. 

Invite diverse voices into conversations. Actively ask quieter or new team members for their opinions ("What do you think? We haven't heard from you yet.") to create more inclusive discussions. Trust flourishes when roles, boundaries and expectations are transparent and respected. Clarity and reliability are core tenets of cognitive-based trust and critical for reducing misunderstandings. 

Build diversity into project teams, task groups and feedback loops, making space for lived experience and multiple viewpoints. This supports psychological safety, innovation and stronger trust. 

 

🎓 What the Science Says

Trust-building rituals, such as appreciative feedback, inclusive meetings, and clear boundary setting, strengthen team relationships and reduce misunderstandings. Over time, these habits help individuals and teams evolve from developing to thriving trust cultures.

 

💡 Why It Matters

Consistent trust-building rituals turn intentions into culture. When reinforced through mentoring, they give people a safe space to practise empathy, accountability, and feedback, transforming everyday interactions into foundations of psychological safety and collaboration.

 

🥳 YOUR RESULTS

Your Relational Trust Score

🌳 Thriving (37–50)

 

Outcome

Relational trust is resilient and visible. You listen deeply, keep confidences, and create safe, respectful environments where others feel valued. Your behaviours increasingly shape and strengthen group culture and relationships. 

Kind Framing

Consistently modelling trust lifts everyone around you. When trust practices are visible, they ripple through relationships and teams, making collaboration richer and psychological safety stronger. Thriving in relationships is about consistency, showing up reliably and modelling respect. Your trust now extends influence and helps others feel secure to contribute.

Recommendations

Celebrate others’ reliability and kindness: reinforce positive culture.

Publicly recognise acts of dependability, collaboration, and empathy. Regularly show appreciation in meetings or in messages for dependable actions ("Thank you for always delivering on time, "Your empathy stood out this week"). Consistent acknowledgement promotes repeated trustworthy behaviours and builds positive emotional ties, strengthening relational trust. 

Set up peer-to-peer appreciation opportunities, like shout-out boards, weekly gratitude circles, or team email highlights. Peer recognition makes celebration more inclusive, deepens mutual respect, and motivates ongoing, reliable actions.

Use specific praise, note what was done, how it helped, and why it matters ("your advice helped the team solve the challenge faster"). Specifics increase clarity and reinforce behavioural expectations, making the foundation of trust explicit for all. 

Mentor or coach peers to share trust-building practices. 

Offer to mentor a new team member on relationship skills or organisational trust-building strategies. Mentorship accelerates team learning, supports resilience, and passes on relational wisdom that sustains psychological safety. 

Share stories about managing mistakes or building trust in challenging times - encourage others to adopt these approaches. Collective learning from real experiences builds community resilience and normalises growth through failure.

Provide coaching style support during meetings ("What challenges are you facing? What would be helpful?). Coaching practices facilitate open dialogue, validate individuals, and make support accessible, fueling a culture of care and trust.

Encourage experienced team members to run trust-building workshops or circles to cascade best practices. Peer-led initiatives build shared ownership and multiply the impacts of successful strategies.

Model psychological safety, admit mistakes openly, invite feedback and show care in tough moments.

Regularly admit your mistakes or missteps in team settings and discuss what you learnt. Vulnerability from respected team members signals safety for others to do the same, catalysing open communication and creativity. 

Routinely invite feedback, both positive and constructive, and act on it where possible. Two-way feedback loops strengthen relational trust and enable adaptive, learning-focused teams. 

During high-pressure or conflict situations, listen without judgment and respond with empathy (Let's talk through this, I am here to support you"). 

Facilitate post-project debriefs focused on collective learning rather than blame. Reflection-focused processes build group resilience, encourage risk-taking, and continually renew trust. 

Practice compassion, courage and place integrity front and centre, especially during challenges. 

Offer genuine support when a colleague is stressed ("Do you need help?" "Can I take something off your workload?"). 

Honour confidences and keep private matters private. Respect for boundaries and privacy is critical for integrity and building long-term reliability. 

Be transparent about changes, setbacks, or errors, and explain your reasoning honestly. Integrity, especially in hard moments, models trustworthiness and sets expected standards for others. 

Uphold commitments, or proactively communicate if you'll fall short. Consistently "doing what you say" is foundational for sustaining trust in all relationships. 

Champion all voices in discussions, create space for perspectives, feedback, and innovation. 

Use structured sharing, such as roundtable or rotating facilitation, to ensure all team members contribute ideas. 

Actively seek input from quieter or remote colleagues before decisions are finalised. Intentional inclusion reduces silos and strengthens interdependence and trust. 

Invite debate and constructive disagreement, framing differences as sources of new insights ("Let's explore other views"). Welcoming diverse perspectives bolsters innovation and signals psychological safety for risk-taking. 

Review and act on suggestions for improvement, communicating what was adopted and why. Recognising and responding to input builds reciprocal trust and motivation for continuous improvement. 

 

🎓 What the Science Says

Repeated practice of appreciation, mentorship, vulnerability, positive intent, and inclusion creates a self-reinforcing cycle where trust becomes not just a value, but an everyday experience.

Research shows that teams high in relational trust adapt faster, innovate more, and navigate challenges with resilience and collaboration.

 

💡 Why It Matters

When people act with positive intent, they create the conditions for trust to flourish. Mentoring becomes the practice ground where these intentions are tested and strengthened through listening, honest reflection, and shared accountability. Over time, these micro-interactions shape a culture where trust isn’t just assumed, it’s experienced daily.

 

 

🥳 YOUR RESULTS

🏛 Your Organisational Trust Score

🌱 Emerging (10–23)

 

Outcome

At this stage, organisational trust is in its early days; employees may hold back feedback, feel uncertain about leadership follow-through, or be wary of sharing mistakes. Communication may be patchy, commitments unclear, and psychological safety limited. This can create hesitancy to speak up or engage fully. Systems and signals for safety, fairness, and consistency are still being shaped.

Kind Framing

Organisations at this stage aren’t “broken”, they’re simply at the start of building a healthier culture. Even the strongest organisations start trust-building from a few brave steps. Every small action, especially those modelled and amplified by leaders, offers a chance to reset habits, clarify intentions, and show care for every voice. Growth toward a high-trust culture begins with making safety and fairness visible in everyday routines. By recognising the gaps, you’ve already taken the first step in naming what needs attention.

Start modelling trust and safety in visible, everyday ways. Consistency from leaders and systems is the seed for collective belief.

 

Recommendations

Model open and transparent communication, signal that honesty is welcome. 

Leaders and teams share the reasoning behind decisions and explain both what’s known and what’s uncertain. Repeated transparency sets a baseline for psychological safety and teaches teams that it’s safe to ask questions or express concerns. These habits rewire team expectations for honesty and approachability, a vital first layer of trust

Welcome feedback and questions, visibly and without punishment

Regular anonymous check-ins, suggestion boxes, or “ask me anything” sessions build a norm of safe dissent and honest input. Creating invitations for safe feedback builds the mental habit of voicing needs and concerns, teaching the whole organisation that learning and speaking up are central, not risky. Over time, feedback becomes a healthy routine instead of an anxious exception. Leaders should ask: “How can I better support you?” and listen deeply.

Review whether promises are being kept, and close the gaps transparently.

Honour commitments and offer clear updates when plans change. Track and close the loop on all promises. If you can’t deliver, explain why and what comes next.

Habitual follow-through and honest redirection (rather than silence or excuses) turn reliability into an organisational reflex, helping employees trust “what is said will be done”, or at least transparently revised.

Use mistakes as team learning opportunities, not individual blame.

Celebrate lessons from errors in meetings or newsletters; highlight what was tried, learned, and adapted. Shifting from blame to learning builds “psychological safety muscles.” As this habit repeats, people become less fearful and more inventive, opening up risk-taking, innovation, and honest dialogue.

Practice daily micro-fairness and micro-kindness

Small gestures, sharing credit, explaining decisions, being inclusive in meetings, holding doors, or checking in, compound over time.

Micro-moments are proven to cue safety in the brain. As these are repeated, they start to turn fairness, transparency, and care into a felt experience, creating new default behaviours in the group, not just aspirations.

Create Safe Spaces for Peer Connection (Coffee Chats, Check-ins)
Actions 

Schedule regular informal coffee chats, virtual lunches, or “wellbeing check-ins” where there is no agenda except genuine conversation.

Offer optional group activities, like guided peer circles or buddy walks, where colleagues can share challenges and successes in a relaxed setting.

Make participation low-stakes: “Come as you are. Nothing is recorded, and all feelings and stories are welcome.”

Why This Builds Trust

These safe, casual spaces help break down hierarchical barriers and foster genuine, human connections. When teammates have regular low-pressure opportunities to relate, listen, and share, trust grows naturally. Research shows peer connection reduces isolation, encourages knowledge sharing, and cues the brain that “this is a safe place" particularly vital in organisations just beginning to build trust.

Anchor Decisions in Integrity and Fairness

Routinely explain the “why” behind key decisions, especially those related to resources, changes, or standards. Make fairness and ethics explicit (“We chose this because it aligns with our values of X and Y”).

Use transparent processes when allocating resources or handling conflicts, invite different perspectives, and publish how and why outcomes were determined.

Regularly revisit and publicly reaffirm both organisational values and the commitment to acting on them, especially when making difficult or unpopular decisions.

Why This Builds Trust

People’s trust increases when they experience organisations as fair and values-driven, not just in words, but in daily actions. When decisions are anchored openly in integrity and fairness, employees quickly learn that the organisation is reliable, honest, and worth their psychological investment. Consistency between stated values and behaviour is a core pillar of all modern trust science and is foundational in moving from emerging to developing trust.

Recommended Tools & Frameworks

Systemic Impact: HR professionals can scale trust-building through policies, resources, and training that reach everyone, not just those with influence or personal motivation.

Trust Principles Orientation: Introduce all staff to key trust principles (such as Mayer’s model or the Trust Equation, if suited) during onboarding and training. 

Consistency and Legitimacy: Frameworks (e.g., Edmondson’s psychological safety, Mayer’s trust model, fair feedback systems) make trust an explicit, measurable value, not just a leadership aspiration.

Anonymous Feedback & Suggestion Tools: Implement digital or physical platforms for confidential feedback and reporting concerns.

Measurement: Tools (like trust pulse surveys or external trust assessments) allow for benchmarking progress and making invisible dynamics visible, so interventions can be targeted and tracked.

Psychological Safety Pulse Survey: Use regular, brief surveys to understand staff perceptions of safety, openness, and fear of retribution.

Sustainability: Formal programs (mentoring, onboarding, feedback, restorative practices) outlast specific leaders and weave trust into the organisation’s DNA.

Basic Mentoring Circles: Set up opt-in, facilitator-led mentoring spaces for cross-level or cross-team connection, to improve the matching process, use mentoring software platforms such as PushFar. Create scheduled sessions where employees can speak directly and informally with leaders. Pilot visible “leader open hours” or town hall Q&As to promote approachability.

Practical Examples and Templates 

Psychological Safety Pulse Survey (Template)

Frequency: Monthly or Quarterly
Delivery: Anonymous digital forms (Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, Teams, etc.)

Sample Items:

“I feel safe to speak up about problems or mistakes.”
“I believe feedback will be received without negative consequences.”
“Leaders communicate openly, even about challenges.”

Scale: 1 (Never) - 5 (Always)
Open Text: “What would help you feel safer at work?”

Anonymous Feedback Tool (Example)

Platform: Suggestion box (physical/digital)

Instructions: "Share any concern, idea, or question without your name. HR and leadership review all submissions weekly and post responses to a visible shared space."

 

Leader Listening Tour/Open Hours (Template)

How it works:

Quarterly: Each senior leader books 2 hours for “Open Door” time (virtual or in-person).

Invite: “No agenda, come talk about any topic, question, or challenge. Your input is valued and confidential.”

Follow-up: Leaders summarise non-identifying themes and actions taken.

Summary

For emerging trust, focus on listening, safety cues, and foundational visibility. Integrate tools that lower barriers for honest input, ensure confidentiality, and get leaders actively and visibly engaged in open-door communication. Simple frameworks give legitimacy and language to trust-building.

🎓 What the Science Says

Research shows that these micro-behaviours and rituals, when enacted over time by leaders and teams, change not just attitudes but organisational “muscle memory.” They create the safety and reliability needed for higher performance, well-being, and trust. Small actions, done daily, build the conditions in which high trust and psychological safety take root and grow.

 

💡 Why It Matters

When people act with positive intent, they create the conditions for trust to flourish. Mentoring becomes the practice ground where these intentions are tested and strengthened through listening, honest reflection, and shared accountability. Over time, these micro-interactions shape a culture where trust isn’t just assumed, it’s experienced daily.

 

 

🥳 YOUR RESULTS

🏛 Your Organisational Trust Score

🌿 Developing (24–36)

 

Outcome

Trust is emerging as a genuine organisational strength, yet consistency is not fully embedded. Employees notice more openness, fairness and care, but may still see lapses, especially during periods of change or stress.

Leaders are modelling humility and steady values, employees speak openly and respectfully, and systems are beginning to support a culture of trust, safety and shared accountability.

Kind Framing

You are moving beyond good intentions. Trust is no longer a buzzword; it is becoming part of how you work together. This stage is about consistency, aligning values with actions in every interaction and system. 

Habits are forming and positive routines are being reinforced. Your opportunity is to anchor trust everywhere so it becomes dependable and self-sustaining.

Recommendations

Reinforce visible leadership consistency

Leaders regularly explain decisions, admit missteps and close the loop on employee concerns.

Example: Host monthly Leadership Transparency Forums where executives share key decisions, what went well, what surprised them and the values that guided the process.

Example: In emails or team meetings, publicly respond to survey feedback: “We heard your concerns about unclear promotions, and here is how we are addressing that.”

 

Structure feedback and learning

Normalise constructive feedback and learning from mistakes rituals.

Example: Hold quarterly Learning Lunches where teams share a project misstep and focus on what was learned.

Example: Use a two-way feedback tool such as an app or simple form and discuss anonymised highlights at all-hands meetings.

 

Close the loop on commitments

Track organisational promises and report progress even when plans change.

Example: Create a live Promise Tracker on the intranet listing key commitments, owners and status updates.

 

Empower peer mentoring, recognition and belonging

Institutionalise appreciation rituals and mentoring to strengthen relationships.

Example: Pair new hires with peer buddies for the first three months and celebrate a monthly Connector of the Month.

Example: Create a kudos wall, physical or digital, for staff to recognise trust-building actions.

 

Clarify and revisit boundaries, roles and escalation paths

Reduce ambiguity and give people safe channels to raise concerns.

Example: Run annual Role and Boundary Clarity workshops, mapping responsibilities and escalation paths.

Example: Provide intranet graphics or wallet cards showing clear conflict escalation procedures.

 

Integrate fairness into everyday decisions

Make selection criteria and resource allocation transparent.

Example: Share training fund criteria in advance and invite questions.

Example: After promotion cycles, publish a summary of the selection criteria and invite feedback.

 

Tools and Frameworks

Focus	Practical Tool	How to Use
Feedback and Learning	SBI Feedback Model (Situation, Behaviour, Impact)	“When [situation], I noticed [behaviour], which [impact]. Thank you, or next time…”
Trust and Safety	Amy Edmondson’s Psychological Safety Framework	Train leaders to model curiosity, frame work as learning and respond productively to risk-taking
Organisational Trust	Mayer, Davis and Schoorman Trust Model	Assess and strengthen ability, benevolence and integrity across teams
Peer Recognition	Slack or Teams Kudos Channel or KudosWall app	Publicly celebrate trust-building behaviours
Role Clarity	Facilitated Boundary Mapping Workshop	Map responsibilities and escalation paths together with the team

 
🎓 What the Science Says

Psychological Safety studies show that teams with high psychological safety take more learning risks and outperform peers. Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman's Trust Model highlights that organisational trust rests on ability, benevolence and integrity, and each must be visible and reinforced.

Positive Organisational research has shown that recognition and gratitude rituals increase engagement and resilience. Research on restorative practices shows that formal debriefs and trust huddles repair breaches faster and reduce conflict recurrence.

Why It Matters

By embedding these habits and frameworks, trust becomes systemic and not dependent on individual leaders. Consistency, fairness and visible follow-through transform trust from an aspiration into the organisation’s everyday operating system.

 

 🥳 YOUR RESULTS 

🏛 Your Organisational Trust Score

🌳 Thriving (37–50)

 

Outcome

Organisational trust is strong and visible. Leaders model integrity, admit mistakes and communicate openly. Employees feel safe to contribute ideas and voice concerns. Fairness and transparency are consistent, and trust is a guiding force. Employees speak openly and respectfully, leadership shows humility and consistency, and systems sustain a culture of trust, safety and shared accountability even through challenge and change.

Kind Framing

The organisation is living by its values. Trust considerations are embedded in decisions, communications and daily behaviours. This thriving culture is resilient and innovative, holding space for every voice while adapting together. Mistakes are not eliminated but transformed into opportunities for learning and growth.

Recommendations

Model humility and invite shared leadership

Senior leaders and managers regularly share what they are learning, seek feedback about their own impact and involve employees in decision-making and strategy sessions.

Example: Hold quarterly "Ask Me Anything" sessions where employees can submit questions anonymously or openly and receive candid responses.

Example: Include staff members from different teams in major decision-making committees and project reviews.

 

Institutionalise restorative practices

When trust is breached, the organisation uses proven protocols to repair and rebuild rather than assign blame or ignore issues.

Example: Invite a facilitator to lead a restorative circle when conflict occurs so participants can share impact, needs and steps for trust repair.

Example: After significant projects or changes, hold a trust reflection debrief to explore what behaviours built trust, what strained it and what commitments will be made next.

 

Embed trust in metrics and processes

Trust, psychological safety and feedback metrics are part of regular surveys, performance reviews and team health checks.

Example: Add “demonstrates trust and psychological safety behaviours” as a section in both leader and staff performance reviews and celebrate those who score highly.

Example: Review survey questions related to trust and share the trends at all-hands meetings.

 

Sustain and scale mentoring, coaching and inclusion programs

Structured peer coaching, reverse mentoring, and cross-functional initiatives keep the trust culture alive and evolving.

Example: Mentor matching occurs every quarter, and experienced staff host monthly masterclasses on feedback, inclusion or tough conversations.

Example: Rotate committees among departments to bring fresh perspectives and create role exchanges for high performers.

 

Celebrate and communicate trust stories

Trust is celebrated through storytelling, recognition programs and shared learning.

Example: Include a story of trust in every monthly newsletter sourced from staff nominations, highlighting real situations where integrity, fairness or supportive feedback made a difference.

Example: Invite teams who have resolved conflict transparently to share their trust repair journey at a quarterly gathering.

 

Tools and Frameworks

Focus	Practical Tool	How to use
Trust Measurement	Integrated Trust and Culture Dashboards	Share scores from pulse surveys, recognition activity and key feedback themes on the intranet or in monthly culture updates
Mentoring and Coaching	PushFar Mentoring Software or internal mentor networks	Match mentors and mentees each quarter and schedule guided check-ins with conversation prompts such as “Where did trust make a difference this month?”
Co-Design and Inclusion	Co-Design Framework	Recruit staff from all levels to review and shape policies, collect suggestions online, publish revisions and explain how feedback was used
Restorative Practice	Restorative Circle Protocol	Facilitate structured dialogue after a breach of trust, gather perspectives, agree on actions and follow up on commitments
Psychological Safety	Amy Edmondson’s framework and Mayer’s Trust Model	Train leaders to model curiosity, frame work as learning and reinforce ability, benevolence and integrity

 

🎓 What the Science Says

Amy Edmonson's Psychological Safety research shows that teams with high safety outperform peers because people take learning risks without fear. Mayer, Davis and Schoorman’s Trust Model identifies ability, benevolence and integrity as the core components of organisational trust and highlights the need for each to be visible and reinforced.

Positive Organisational research has found that gratitude and recognition rituals increase engagement and resilience. Studies of restorative practices demonstrate that structured debriefs and trust huddles repair breaches more effectively and reduce recurring conflict.

Why This Matters

At the thriving stage, trust is no longer dependent on individual leaders. It is embedded in systems and habits that make fairness, openness and follow-through visible and measurable. These practices turn trust from an aspiration into the organisation’s everyday operating system and create a resilient, innovative and high-performing culture.

 

 

Your 360° Trust Lens

 

This provides a single, big-picture view that unifies self, relational and organisational trust, helping you see trust as an interconnected system rather than three separate areas.
 

🌱 Emerging (approx. 30–69)

Overall Trust Reflection – Self, Relational and Organisational

 

Trust is a multi-layered practice: it begins with how you treat yourself, extends to the quality of your relationships, and is reinforced or eroded by the culture around you.

Your results show that trust is still forming and may feel fragile in places.

This is not a flaw; it is the natural starting point of growth.

By completing this scorecard, you have already chosen awareness, and that is the first and most powerful step. Research on psychological safety (Edmondson, 1999) shows that naming and noticing trust gaps is the gateway to change.

 

Recommendations

1. Begin with micro-habits: one promise kept, one transparent conversation, one moment of active listening each day.
2. Seek out people and communities that model integrity and care.
3. Journal or note even the smallest trust-building moments to make progress visible and self-reinforcing.

 

Trust deepens over time, not overnight. Every small, repeated action is a seed that will eventually shape a high-trust environment.

~

Yours truly 

Sallina Jeffrey 

 

 

Making Work Work for Humans
A Trust Series resource
Developed by Sallina Jeffrey, MBA (PhD Candidate)
In partnership with PushFar Mentoring Software