Building Trust Through Transparent HR Communication

86% of executives believe employee trust is soaring. (Yet only 67% of employees actually trust their leaders.) I remember confidently walking into our quarterly review. Our metrics were up. Our strategy was clear. I thought trust was high. I was wrong. Here's what was really happening: → Top talent quietly updating their LinkedIn. → Real feedback staying buried in private chats. → Innovation dying in "yes" meetings. → Engagement surveys hiding hard truths. After losing three star employees in one month, I realized: Trust isn't built in fancy workshops or team events. It's cultivated through consistent moments that matter. 10 science-backed trust builders that transformed my team: (And won us an award!): 1/ Kill Information Hoarding (It's Hurting You) ↳ 85% trust transparent communicators. ↳ WHY: In the absence of clarity, fear fills the gap. ↳ HOW: Share board meeting notes company-wide. ↳ Pro Tip: Share bad news faster than good news. 2/ Own Your Mistakes (Like Your Career Depends On It) ↳ Leaders who admit errors gain 4x more trust. ↳ WHY: Perfect leaders are feared, not trusted. ↳ HOW: Share mistakes in weekly all-hands. ↳ Pro Tip: Add what you learned and your fix. 3/ Master Active Listening (Beyond The Basics) ↳ 62% trust leaders who truly hear them. ↳ WHY: Everyone knows fake listening from real attention. ↳ HOW: Block "listening hours." No phone, no laptop. ↳ Pro Tip: Summarize what you heard before responding. 4/ Show Real Empathy (It's A Skill, Not A Trait) ↳ 76% trust leaders who understand their challenges. ↳ WHY: People don't care what you know until they know you care. ↳ HOW: Start meetings with "What's challenging you?." ↳ Pro Tip: Follow up on personal matters they share. 5/ Invest In Their Growth (Play The Long Game) ↳ 70% trust leaders who develop their people. ↳ WHY: Investment in them is an investment in trust. ↳ HOW: Give every team member a growth budget. ↳ Pro Tip: Help them grow, even if they might leave. The Results? Our trust scores jumped 43% in six months. Retention hit an all-time high. Real conversations replaced surface-level meetings. Your Next Move: 1. Pick ONE trust builder. 2. Practice it for 7 days. 3. Come back and share what changed. Remember: In a world of AI and automation, trust is your ultimate competitive advantage. ↓ Which trust builder will you start with? Share below. ♻️ Share this with a leader who needs this wake-up call 🔔 Follow me (@Loren) for more evidence-based leadership insights [Sources: HBR, Forbes, Gallup]

How transparent should we be with our people insights? This is a question I hear from leaders all the time, and, like any good social scientist, my answer is: it depends. Let’s put aside the non-negotiables—those bound by law or confidentiality. Beyond that, there’s a wide spectrum of how companies handle sharing people data insights, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Here are a few key things I always consider: 1️⃣ Data Source Matters: If employees are giving feedback through engagement surveys or focus groups, it’s crucial to share those insights back with them to increase trust, accountability, and future participation. 2️⃣ Know Your Audience: Even if you’re talking about the same metric, you should communicate about it differently to different audiences. Executives often want to know about the high-level trends and strategic insights while the company at large may want to hear about how it directly affects their day-to-day work. You can also consider sharing the information with leaders first, so they are equipped with extra context. 3️⃣ Consider Sensitivity: If the data touches on delicate issues—like potential layoffs, some diversity metrics, or areas where the company isn’t performing well—it’s essential to approach these topics with care. Consider the risks and who needs to know in order to act on the information. Transparency doesn’t mean sharing everything; it means sharing thoughtfully. 4️⃣ Look at Precedent: Consistency in communication builds credibility. Suddenly withholding information you’ve shared in the past can raise red flags. On the other hand, if transparency is new to your organization, you might start by sharing smaller insights and gradually build up to more comprehensive data. 5️⃣ Clarify the Purpose: Is it to inform, to spark action, or to inspire change? Being clear on this will help you decide how much to share, with whom, and how to frame it. 6️⃣ Anchor to Usefulness: A lot of what we study in People Analytics can be helpful for employees to know. How can managers increase psychological safety? How can employees get higher quality feedback from their colleagues? How can distributed teams collaborate best? Whenever possible, I like to share these learnings with employees so they can benefit from our data-informed wisdom. My default? Lean into transparency. In the absence of data, human nature is to make up a narrative—and the stories we create are often far worse than the truth. When appropriate, sharing our knowledge broadly can empower employees and leaders alike to work with a greater shared understanding of reality. Being transparent doesn’t mean sharing everything with everyone, but it does require being purposeful, considerate, and consistent about what you share.

When the deal of the year turned into the mess of the year... I once walked into an acquisition integration that looked brilliant on paper, and was a disaster in practice. The systems were colliding, leaders were pointing fingers, and employees were caught in the middle. Every update from the top was polished, precise, and…completely hollow. The truth? People didn’t need another update. They needed to feel understood. Where it all went wrong? I sat in meetings where leaders rolled out flawless powerpoints, crisp emails, and “efficient” town halls. From the outside, it looked like best-in-class communication. But behind the scenes? Disengagement. Frustration. Turnover. There was a glaring gap between foundational communication (telling people what they “need” to know) and human communication (making people feel seen, heard, and connected). The Reset? That’s when my team and I stepped in. We pressed pause on the corporate theater and focused on being human first: -We coached leaders to share stories, not just strategies. When people could see themselves in the narrative, they cared again. -We taught leaders to acknowledge what was messy, confusing, and hard - because vulnerability builds trust faster than any polished script. -We rebuilt dialogue. Not quarterly updates, but ongoing conversations where employees could question, push back, and be part of shaping the new culture. Slowly, things shifted. Employees stopped bracing for the next “update” and started leaning in. Leaders discovered that trust doesn’t come from having all the answers - it comes from being willing to show up as human. The lesson for leaders? In an age of automation and endless change, the real competitive edge isn’t efficiency. It’s empathy. If you’re leading through change - an acquisition, a reorg, even a tough quarter, ask yourself: Am I just communicating information? Or am I creating connection? Because when everything else is in flux, relationships are the one thing that will hold your culture together. Your people don’t need another update. They need to feel understood.

I lost my team’s trust and I didn’t even realize it. A few years ago, I led a team that hit a roadblock. Deadlines were slipping, tension was rising, and no one was speaking up. I thought they were disengaged. The truth? ⤿ They didn’t trust me enough to be honest. Here’s what I learned: • When leaders don’t share openly, teams hold back too. • Admitting challenges and asking for help isn’t weakness → It’s leadership. So, I changed how I communicated: • I started sharing the full picture, including risks. • I admitted when I didn’t know the answer. • I invited feedback instead of pretending to have it all figured out. The shift was immediate. People spoke up. → Ideas flowed. → We fixed the problem together. Trust isn’t automatic, it’s earned through transparent conversations. Do you think transparency is key to trust? #leadership #leaders #trust #team