Rutendo Gwatidzo
Changing Perspectives
“Trust takes years to build, moments to break and a lifetime to restore.”
One Monday morning, employees at a growing company arrived at work expecting another ordinary week. Instead, whispers filled the corridors. Over the weekend, management had quietly signed a restructuring agreement that would affect several departments.
Employees only learned about the changes through WhatsApp after someone leaked part of the document.
Some believed retrenchments were coming. Others feared salary cuts. Managers had no answers because they had not been informed either. By lunchtime, productivity had almost stopped. Instead of serving customers, employees gathered in small groups trying to separate fact from rumour.
Three weeks later, the managing director decided to address the entire organisation.
He explained the restructuring, apologised for the poor communication and assured employees that many of the rumours were false. The business eventually recovered, but something important had already been lost – Trust.
The restructuring had not damaged the organisation nearly as much as the silence that surrounded it because generally, people can survive difficult decisions, but, they struggle to survive uncertainty without honesty.
The small change that cost a big customer
A successful furniture manufacturer had supplied office furniture to one client for almost seven years. The relationship had grown beyond contracts because it was built on consistency, reliability and mutual respect.
One year, in an effort to reduce costs, the company quietly changed the quality of materials used in one of its products. Management believed the customer would never notice, but then, it was noticed. The issue became not just a quality issue but, a feeling of betrayal. When the client cancelled the contract, the managing director asked whether a discount would help restore the relationship. The customer’s response was unforgettable. “I can negotiate prices and delivery dates but, I cannot negotiate trust.”
Seven years of loyalty disappeared because of one decision that placed short-term savings above long-term credibility. The security guard everyone respected
Every morning, employees greeted an elderly security guard as they entered the company premises. He had worked there for more than twenty years. Visitors knew him by name. Staff trusted him with office keys, confidential deliveries and countless responsibilities that were never written into his job description.
When he finally retired, the managing director stood before employees during his farewell and said something remarkable.
“This man never managed a department. He never attended executive meetings. He never approved budgets. Yet many people trusted him more than some of our managers.” The room fell silent as many got to realise that leadership is not built only through titles, trust is key. Trust is earned through consistency, day after day, decision after decision and promise after promise. The security guard had built influence without authority because people always knew where they stood with him.
Trust is built in the small things
Trust grows quietly through everyday moments. In his bestselling book The Speed of Trust, Stephen M. R. Covey writes that trust is not merely a social virtue it is an economic driver. Organisations with high levels of trust move faster, collaborate better, spend less time managing conflict and achieve stronger results because people focus their energy on creating value rather than protecting themselves.
Leadership deposits or withdraws
Think of trust as a bank account. Every honest conversation and promise kept is a deposit. Treating people fairly and listening before making decisions is a deposit. On the other hand, things like ignoring concerns, breaking commitments, showing favouritism or withholding the truth are withdrawals.
Eventually, every leader reaches a moment when they need to make a difficult decision. If they have built years of trust, employees may not like the decision, but they will respect it. If they have spent years making withdrawals, even the right decision will be questioned.
Trust is the foundation of high-performing teams
Patrick Lencioni, in his classic book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, identifies the absence of trust as the first and greatest dysfunction of any team. Without trust, people hide mistakes, avoid difficult conversations, protect themselves instead of helping one another and lose the courage to innovate.
The healthiest workplaces are not those without problems. They are those where people trust each other enough to solve problems together. Sustainable success has always been a team effort and teams cannot thrive without trust.
Food For Thoughts
Technology will continue changing, markets will rise and fall and strategies will be rewritten. Leaders will also come and go but, one truth will never change. Trust remains the currency every workplace cannot afford to lose. If you are a leader, ask yourself this question:
When people hear my name, do they think of authority or do they think of trust?
Because titles may open office doors, power may command obedience and knowledge may earn respect. But, trust is what inspires people to follow you willingly, give their best and remain committed even when the journey becomes difficult.
In the end, organisations are not built on buildings, policies or profits. They are built on trust. And, once trust becomes the culture of an organisation, success is no longer something people pursue. It becomes something they create together.
Rutendo Gwatidzo is a Human Capital Executive as Managing Consultant at The HUB HR Consultancy. She is a Multi-Award Winning Leader, Transformational Speaker and Coach. She is also an Author of Born to Fight and Breaking the Silence books. Contact detail – 0714575805/ [email protected] / Rutendo Gwatidzo_Official fb public page.
