Why Trust Is the Quiet Force Behind Every High-Performing Team

I’ve learned something surprising in my career and research: sometimes the clearest way to understand what we really want is to notice what’s missing. When it comes to workplaces, that missing piece is often trust.

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What Trust Feels Like

Think about a team where you feel completely safe to show up as yourself. You speak without overthinking. Ideas flow because you know someone has your back. You’ll even take risks, confident that people around you will support you if things don’t go perfectly.

That’s the experience of trust in action.

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The Cost of Mistrust

Now picture the opposite. Ideas stay in your head. You agree to things you’re unsure about just to keep the peace. Feedback is avoided because it feels risky.

This quiet erosion, mistrust, doesn’t make headlines, but it slowly chokes collaboration and creativity.

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What My MBA Research Revealed

During my MBA, I wanted to understand why some organisations thrive no matter the industry or size. It wasn’t their org chart. It wasn’t their perks. Across every example, one common thread kept surfacing: trust.

Teams that consistently performed well had built

trust into the way they operated every single day.

The Science Backs It Up

Neuroscience explains why-trust-builds-safe-workplaces. When we experience trust, our brains release oxytocin, a hormone linked to openness, learning and collaboration.

When we experience distrust, our bodies flood with cortisol and testosterone, preparing us for threat and control.

Over time, that chemical cocktail narrows thinking, slows decisions and drains the energy that could be used for innovation.

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Rebuilding Trust, One Moment at a Time

The good news is that trust isn’t fixed; it can be rebuilt through small, consistent actions:

• Keep your promises.

• Admit mistakes and make them right.

• Protect what people share in confidence.

• Offer feedback without blame.

• Lead with care, competence and sincerity.

These aren’t “soft skills.”They’re visible signals that tell others...

“You’re safe to be real here.”

How Teams Change When Trust Grows

When these signals become part of everyday behaviour, something shifts. Teams move from guarded to open, from silent to engaged, from pressure to possibility.

Mentoring can accelerate that shift. Not as a tick-box program, but as a protected space to practise curiosity, give and receive feedback, and build confidence in honest conversation.

A Final Thought

I look back at the times I found a workplace or a personal relationship challenging, and it always went back to the level of trust I felt; equally, I also mirrored that level of trust within myself. As I grew to trust myself more and understand what trust looks and feels like, trust improved around me. Trust doesn’t grow because we wish it into being. It grows because of what we do moment by moment, conversation by conversation. Each interaction is a chance to strengthen or weaken it.

How will you build trust today?

Author

Sallina Jeffrey - MBA Ph.D Candidate