Why Trust Is HR’s Most Underrated Leadership Tool

Trust has become one of the most complex and defining issues inside today’s workplace. Problems like civility, engagement, and retention aren’t random outcomes. They almost always trace back to trust. When trust is intact, everything else feels easier. When it erodes, even small tasks feel heavier.

With so much disruption in our workplaces, the question becomes: How do we repair trust once it’s been broken? And even more importantly, is repair always the right step, or should some violations be acknowledged and then left behind?

Many HR professionals underestimate how much they shape this landscape. On a recent webinar I attended, several HR managers agreed that metrics like employee engagement “belong to managers” and that HR has little influence. But what if HR could influence those metrics by equipping leaders with the interpersonal tools they’ve never been taught?

This is exactly why so many HR pros are increasingly stepping into interim CHRO and advisory roles. Organizations desperately need guidance on trust, empathy, and communication, and HR is often the only function with the skillset and neutrality to lead those conversations.

Paul Eccher, president and CEO of the Vaya Group, says it clearly:

“A culture of trust needs to be set at the top, and the HR department has a key role to play in advising senior leadership to help establish the right tone.” — SHRM

HR has more influence than it thinks.

The National Library of Medicine studied how workplace incivility affects performance and found that trust in supervisors significantly mediates the incivility–performance relationship. Even small moments of disrespect or dismissal can quietly erode an employee’s belief that their manager is fair, reliable, or invested.

This isn’t happening in a vacuum. According to SHRM’s Current Events Pulse survey, 86% of workers believe today’s incivility stems from leaders’ behavior, and 78% link it to the language those leaders use.

When leaders model poor interpersonal habits, trust drops. When trust drops, engagement drops. And when engagement drops, retention suffers.

Interpersonal skill-building is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a competitive advantage.

In 2020, when millions of employees suddenly shifted to remote work, organizations were forced to confront how much they actually trusted their people.

Eccher explains that before the pandemic, remote work was reserved for high performers who had already “earned” a manager’s trust. After the shift, newer workers, younger workers, and those without a remote track record struggled with self-trust, while managers struggled to trust themselves to lead remotely.

That tension still lingers.

Only 23% of U.S. employees strongly trust their organization’s leadership. That’s a long way from a culture where people feel secure, supported, and capable.

Jen Fisher, Deloitte’s U.S. chief well-being officer, says it best:

“Trust is the foundation of every relationship in our life.”

In the workplace, trust influences everything that touches well-being and performance. When trust is healthy, retention improves, engagement strengthens, performance rises, and teams move more quickly because they’re not wasting energy on doubt or defensiveness.

The challenge is that trust violations are often subtle.

Sometimes they’re a missed deadline that goes unacknowledged.

Sometimes they’re a dismissive comment in a meeting.

Sometimes it’s silence when an employee clearly needed clarity.

These small violations have a cumulative effect. By the time engagement scores drop, the trust foundation has usually been weakening for months.

Organizational psychologist Ruchi Sinha identifies three pillars of trust based on her research on the Likeability and Competence Dilemma:

1. Competency

Can you do what you say you’ll do? Do your promises align with your actions?

2. Benevolence

Do you listen? Do you anticipate needs? Do people feel you genuinely care?

3. Integrity

Do you operate with honesty, transparency, and fairness?

Trust thrives when all three are present. When even one of these pillars weakens, the entire structure becomes unstable.

Intentions matter here. Competency can be taught, but benevolence and integrity must come from a place of authenticity. Employees feel the difference.

Trust is built through reliable, consistent behavior over time. And the starting point for that behavior is communication.

Trusted leaders communicate the map:

Where have we been? Where are we now? Where are we going?

Vision isn’t just strategy. It’s stability.

Gallup found that when leaders communicate clearly, support change, and inspire confidence, 95% of employees fully trust their leaders.

For leaders who struggle with communication, tools like vision maps and journey narratives give them something concrete to share—something that converts uncertainty into direction.

One of the toughest lessons from my time as a Restorative Justice Facilitator is this:

Trust cannot be forced. It must be chosen.

Even when harm can be practically repaired—cleaning graffiti, repaying stolen money—credibility only rebuilds through time and consistent behavior.

The first step is the hardest. Acknowledging that harm occurred takes courage, especially for leaders who fear looking weak, incompetent, or (worst) liable. But in reality, admitting imperfection increases trust, because it signals integrity and emotional maturity.

PwC’s global CEO survey showed that 55% of CEOs believe a lack of trust threatens their organization’s growth, yet most don’t know where to begin.

Start with the basics:

• What was the severity of the violation?
• How long has the employee been there?
• How long has it been since the incident?
• Has any repair been attempted?

Leaders often remake the same mistake: avoiding the conversation entirely. But unaddressed violations don’t fade; they calcify.

Trust is not soft. It is structural. It is strategic. It is measurable.

And HR has the expertise to help leaders:

• Understand the components of trust
• Identify violations
• Repair harm
• Communicate transparently
• Rebuild credibility over time

Engagement, retention, and performance all depend on leaders who can maintain healthy relationships with their teams. HR is uniquely positioned to provide the frameworks, tools, training, and language leaders need to meet that moment.

Trust may be complex, but it is repairable. And when HR equips leaders to repair it, the entire organization benefits.