It’s Not a Communication Problem… It’s a Trust One. Here’s What Helps

There’s a moment, in every team I work with, where someone says it out loud:

“I think we just don’t trust each other.”

It’s not said angrily. More like a quiet realisation. A deep breath. A sense of oh… that’s what’s missing.

And more often than not, they’re right.

And I’ve often found it’s because anyone’s malicious or intentionally holding back but because trust is rarely something teams build on purpose.

We assume it’s there because people are polite, competent, maybe even fond of each other. 

And it’s easy to collaborate when the path is smooth. But it’s how people react when someone drops the ball, challenges an idea, or expresses uncertainty that reveals whether trust is truly in place.

When trust is strong, teams move with lightness. People bring things up early. They ask for help, admit when they’ve dropped the ball, offer challenge without fear. 

But when trust is fragile - even quietly - it changes the atmosphere. Conversations get shorter. People become busy but guarded. And the emotional energy that could be used for momentum gets re-routed into managing impressions.

As a psychologist, I probably should say “it depends” more often. But in this case, the data is pretty clear.

Paul Zak’s research in The Trust Factor shows just how measurable trust is. Compared to low-trust environments, people in high-trust workplaces report:

• 76% more engagement

• 50% higher productivity

• 74% less stress

• 106% more energy at work

What I return to time and again in my work with teams is this:

Trust doesn’t reveal itself when things are going well. It reveals itself in how we handle difficulty.

When someone challenges a decision, misses a deadline, or says “I’m not sure I can do this”, what happens next?

Does the team lean in, or pull away?
Is that moment absorbed, named, and worked through or quietly avoided?

People don’t burn out because they’re weak. They burn out because they’re unsupported.
People don’t disengage because they’re lazy. They disengage because it no longer feels safe or meaningful to contribute fully.

So if your team seems hesitant, overly cautious, or stuck in surface-level agreement, it might not be a motivation issue. It might be a trust one.

Start by asking yourself (and your team):

How do we respond when someone shows uncertainty or needs support?

Is it safe to be wrong? To not know? To speak up before things go wrong?

Psychological safety is not about being endlessly warm or agreeable. It’s about creating a space where people can be both human and high-performing. Where pressure doesn’t cancel out permission.

This is the heart of my work with teams. We look beneath the surface - at the tone, the tension, the habits that shape how people show up. We give language to what’s often left unsaid, and we build structures that allow teams to stay connected, even when things get hard.

It’s not always neat. Occasionally awkward.
But it works.

And when trust begins to return, everything else from collaboration, creativity, to leadership - starts to move again.