PwC has been tracking trust within workplace environments for years, but their latest 2024 survey reveals a I believe disconnection between managers and employees than in the past. While 86% of leaders say they trust their people, only 60% of workers feel trusted by their organizations. This means that for every 10 employees you manage, four doubt that you honestly have their back.

If that sounds alarming, you're paying attention. Trust is an essential tool that can hold a company together in good times and bad. When you have a steady flow of trust throughout your company, you're ready to see higher levels of performance and more creativity. Instead of playing it safe (which leads to underplaying), employees pride themselves on being trusted enough to innovate and think outside of narrow job descriptions. With an added layer of trust, they can see the bigger vision and know their impact will be valued.

Unfortunately, you can't wave a magic wand and make faith appear. Faith is not a commodity. It cannot be bought or sold. It has to be earned, and that means you need the courage to make some changes in your leadership style to close any trust gaps between you and your team.

Connected: Strong leaders use these 4 strategies to build trust in their workplace

1. Reset your hiring process

First, do something that sounds simple but isn't: Take hiring seriously. The narrower your selection process is for all positions, the easier it will be to develop trust with the people on board. It's extremely difficult to build trust with someone who is a good fit for your business goals or who doesn't value people. By making your hiring process more powerful, you send a message that your team is significant, select and special. This is a basis for confidence in the future.

As part of your reviewed hiring process, involve your team in the experience. The unknown is a great obstacle to faith. Empowering your people to help make hiring decisions reduces the friction that can come when an “outsider” is brought into the mix. Have them conduct group and individual interviews, review resumes, and participate in job simulations for final candidates. Ask for their input. In no time, you will transform the “new person” into someone who has been invited to join the team BY the team.

2. Invest time in building real relationships

Once you've hired someone, start your relationship on a trust-building note. Sit down and talk about your expectations. As an executive, I've learned to ask specific questions to gain trust.

• How will we work together?

• What does trust and respect look like in a working relationship?

• What do you expect from me as your boss?

• How should we handle the inevitable differences of opinion?

By asking these questions—and really listening to the answers—you'll immediately set the stage for free, authentic discussions built around mutual respect and understanding. It also makes it easier to share your expectations about how they play out at work.

This effort will pay off along the way, especially during the rocky moments. In the past, I have had to let team members go. Instead of ignoring the elephant in the room, I sit them all together afterwards. I find out how they feel. Usually, nobody talks about these kinds of things. Our team can because we have strong relationships with each other, making it easier to take the pulse and hear everyone's perspectives.

Connected: How to build and maintain deep, meaningful business relationships (and why it's the key to long-term success)

3. Strengthen your leadership tendencies

All leaders can improve. The sooner you spot any tendencies or habits you have that are causing others to distrust you, the sooner you can stop them. For example, it is your first reaction to a problem that takes control, micromanaging or taking over? Do you resist sharing information because you're stressed about upsetting your team? These are understandable reactions, but they will not inspire confidence.

Now, you might say you're just “following orders” or that your company hierarchy is militant and structured. This is not unusual, although it is very old. However, when you keep people in the dark, you instill fear and inadvertently minimize people's potential contributions. Conversely, when you trust your team with the truth, you open the door to better communication and a high performance culture. And you can do this regardless of what your company does, at least to a certain extent.

4. Use technology to build — not destroy — trust

The latest technology tools can be used to both nurture and hinder trust. It all depends on how, when and why you present and use them. For example, I recommend talking to your team before bringing in any new technology. When you talk about it first, you're not just unilaterally forcing your team to use a technology that may not seem useful. Ideally, technology should simplify everyone's work experience, not make their lives more difficult.

Yes for monitoring software? It's a losing battle. When you are monitoring people, you say, “I don't trust you” and “I care more about time than results.” Your employees will object to this and may even find loopholes to game your monitoring system. I know a remote worker who put the mouse in her pocket and ran errands. The mouse moved like it was on his desk and his bosses never knew. Wise, smart, clever. If she was doing work, why should she be monitored like a child? Ultimately, it all comes back to trusting your team members and giving them the space to do their job as expected.

Connected: The biggest obstacle leaders face is mistrust. Here's how to build trust in your team.

5. Rethink your assumptions about people

You can't do it all. Nobody can. You have to rely on others, and that means you have to value and trust employees. It's okay if you won't trust them to babysit your kids while you go on a date night. However, you have to trust them to take pride in their work and do their job well after being fully trained. Where to start? Try delegating responsibilities to your team.

In one of our workshops, a participant realized that she was too “in the weeds” and didn't have time to lead. When she returned to work, she pulled her small team into a meeting. She said, “These are the things that need to be done. I want you guys to figure out how to make everything happen. Tell me what you're going to need from me.” Within hours, they had divided the work between them based on their inclinations and preferences. From there, everything went smoothly. The leader was surprised (and relieved) by how well the experiment worked.

You may trust your team, but if you're not filtering your actions through a filter of trust, you're probably missing a key piece building trust the possibilities. By changing some of your leadership strategies, you can demonstrate your unwavering confidence, which will help pave the way for your trust to be reciprocated.