When Bridget Moix became General Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), she inherited an organization with a remarkable challenge: how to maintain authentic relationships and collective decision-making in an advocacy environment increasingly characterized by competition and conflict.
Her efforts at building trust in the workplace led to one of the most powerful phenomena in organizational networks: the trust cascade.
I’ll use Bridget’s experience as a way to illustrate how trust can help organizations successfully navigate challenges.
Understanding trust as network currency
Trust operates as the fundamental currency in relationships. Unlike financial currency, however, trust multiplies when it’s used and declines when it’s hoarded. This creates fascinating dynamics for leaders: the more trust you give, the more you have access to.
Research by organizational psychologist Amy Edmondson reveals that psychological safety—a closely related concept to trust—is the most important factor in team effectiveness. Teams with high psychological safety consistently outperform teams with superior individual talent but lower trust levels because trust enables collective capability that exceeds individual contributions.Â
But here’s what most leaders miss: trust doesn’t spread randomly through organizations. It follows predictable patterns that network scientists call “trust cascades”—processes where trust spreads through relationship networks as people observe and experience trustworthy behavior.
3 ways trust is built in the workplace
Trust cascades operate through three primary mechanisms that every leader should understand:
Direct experience: building trust through consistent action
People develop trust through personal interactions where others demonstrate reliability, competence, and care. These direct experiences create the strongest foundation for trust because they’re based on firsthand evidence of trustworthiness.
At FCNL, this happened through what Bridget calls “compassionate listening.” As she explained to me, “It is about compassionate listening. It’s about being able and willing and investing time in listening as a leader. And we’re not often taught that as leaders as much.”
The key to building trust through direct experience lies in consistency between stated values and actual behavior.
- When leaders say they value input but make unilateral decisions, trust erodes.
- When they consistently follow through on commitments to involve people meaningfully, trust builds.
Reputation networks: trust through shared stories
When multiple network members report positive experiences with someone, it builds trust even among people who haven’t interacted directly.
I witnessed this reputation network effect during FCNL’s budget reduction process. As word spread about how leadership was handling the situation—transparently, collaboratively, with genuine concern for staff input—it created what network scientists call “generalized trust.”
People who hadn’t been directly involved in budget discussions still felt confident in leadership’s approach because they heard consistent stories from colleagues they trusted.
Behavioral modeling: trust through observation
Trust spreads as people observe and emulate trustworthy behavior they see modeled by respected network members. When influential colleagues demonstrate trust and vulnerability, it gives others permission to do the same.
At FCNL, this behavioral modeling was evident in how they structured their collective decision-making process. Rather than just announcing their approach, leadership consistently modeled the collaborative behavior they wanted to see.
As Bridget noted, “We asked each department to look for savings together, and the departments brought back to our leadership team very specific reductions.”
Trust in crisis: the ultimate test
The true power of trust in the workplace becomes most apparent during organizational challenges. FCNL’s budget challenges provided a real-world test of the trust they had built through relationship networks.
“That whole process, I think, ultimately makes us stronger as an organization,” Bridget reflected.
Rather than creating divisiveness or fear, the collaborative approach to budget reductions actually strengthened organizational relationships.
This counterintuitive outcome illustrates something crucial:
- When trust exists in workplace relationships, an organization can handle difficult conversations and challenging decisions.
- When trust is weak, even small difficulties can create lasting damage to relationships.
Organizations with strong trust networks navigate crises more effectively because people give each other the benefit of the doubt, share information honestly, and focus on collective solutions rather than individual protection.
Building trust systems, not just trust relationships
One of the most innovative aspects of FCNL’s approach involves creating what they call “designated listeners”—staff members whose specific role is to listen to colleagues’ concerns and, when appropriate, elevate them to leadership.
These listeners serve as trust bridges, helping ensure that important information flows upward while maintaining confidentiality when needed.
This systematic approach to trust building reveals an important insight: sustainable trust requires more than individual relationships—it needs organizational systems that support and reinforce trustworthy behavior.
FCNL has taken steps to develop several such systems:
- Process clarity: Before any major decision, they work to clearly communicate who will make the decision, how, when, and how others will be involved.
- Multiple access points: They’ve created various ways for staff to be heard, including office hours for leaders, designated listeners, and regular opportunities for feedback.
- Safe spaces for vulnerability: FCNL uses sessions and “community circles” when facing challenging issues, allowing people to share and be heard without immediate response or action required.
The keys to building trust in the workplace:
- Compassionate Listening: Investing time in understanding others’ perspectives without immediately trying to solve or respond.
- Shared Power: Clearly communicating your leadership approach while creating genuine space for others to contribute their perspectives.
- Values Transparency: Articulating your leadership philosophy explicitly and inviting conversation about it rather than expecting people to infer your values from your actions.
- Consistent Follow-Through: Ensuring that participation in decision-making processes leads to meaningful influence on outcomes.
The effect of trust in the workplace
When trust, transparency, and authentic leadership work together, they create compound effects where the combined impact exceeds individual parts. This compound effect was evident in FCNL’s ability to navigate budget challenges while maintaining organizational strength.
The organizations that thrive during uncertainty aren’t necessarily those with the best strategies or resources—they’re those whose leaders understand how to build and maintain the trust networks that enable collective resilience.
Want to get a sense of how much trust exists in your organization? Take my quiz to determine the strength of your network.
