Merry Christmas from TrustBuilder: Continue to Build Trust this Season

As another year draws to a close, our team at TrustBuilder wishes you and yours a very Merry Christmas! We hope you have a warm and meaningful holiday season filled with good times spent with those who matter the most to you.

We strongly embrace having an attitude of gratitude in all our relationships throughout the year, but the holidays, especially, prompt us to be filled with thankfulness, reflection, and connection, values that resonate deeply with our mission to help organizations measure, understand, and strengthen trust with their teams and customers. Building trust isn’t just about improving your bottom line, though that’s a welcome by-product. It’s about building a team culture in which everyone in your organization thrives personally and professionally.

For many organizations, December marks a natural pause, a time to celebrate milestones and express appreciation. Beyond your festivities, remember that this time of year presents you with a powerful opportunity to intentionally build trust within your organization. The best leaders don’t just celebrate the season; they use it to reinforce the culture they want to carry into the new year.

1. Reflect on Progress, Not Just Performance

Sometimes in our goal setting, we often forget that the journey is at least as important as the destination. This is an important time to reinforce that message: progress, not perfection or some arbitrary sales or revenue target, is very valuable. As you close out the year, look back on how your organization has evolved and grown: What new capabilities were built? What challenges were met with resilience? Whose quiet consistency made the difference?

Acknowledging growth, not just outcomes, sends a strong message: we trust and value the effort behind our successes and growth. That message carries more weight than any end-of-year report full of numbers.

2. Recognize Contributions that Build Trust

Recognition is one of the most powerful ways to strengthen trust, but recognition is not just for the most, best, or biggest. When you highlight not just what was accomplished but that it was achieved with teamwork, integrity, care, cooperation, and collaboration, you reinforce the values of your organization.

Rather than defaulting to generic or automated messages, personalize recognition. Have senior leaders share authentic stories of moments when trust was demonstrated in action, whether that’s a frontline employee going the extra mile for a customer, or a team that stepped up for each other when it mattered most.

3. Celebrate with Purpose

Holiday celebrations aren’t just a nice-to-have; they matter a lot if you put intention and effort into them. They can shape how people feel about their workplace heading into the new year. A thoughtful gathering or shared experience can strengthen relationships, rebuild morale, and remind teams why their work matters.

As Inc. magazine recently noted, a well-designed holiday celebration can boost motivation, strengthen culture, and deepen connection. The key is intention: focus less on extravagance and more on connection, gratitude, and shared purpose. When done right, the celebration itself becomes a trust-building moment, one that signals care and confidence in your people.

4. Carry the Momentum Forward

Trust is not seasonal; it’s cumulative over day after day of work. The end of the year offers a chance to set the tone for what’s next: to recommit to transparency, consistency, and shared accountability. Small gestures, whether personal notes, moments of listening, or acts of generosity, create ripple effects that last far beyond December.

From all of us at TrustBuilder, thank you for the work you do every day to build organizations rooted in trust. May your Christmas be filled with connection, gratitude, and hope, and may the year ahead be one of continued progress and purpose.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from your TrustBuilder team!

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Top 8 Ways to Earn Customer Trust and Loyalty

By Matt Allen • February 6, 2026

Trust leads to loyalty, and loyalty leads to long-term relationships, repeat purchases, and brand advocacy.

6 Warning Signs Your Organization Has a Low-Trust Environment

By Matt Allen • January 8, 2026

Trust is not soft; it’s structural. In an organization, trust shapes the security, pace, dedication, decision quality, and discretionary effort of your staff. And while many leaders assume the trust level within their enterprises is “fine,” early indicators of erosion often show up long before a crisis hits. At TrustBuilder, we measure trust with precision—across individuals, teams, and the enterprise—because the costs of low trust compound quickly. But how can you prevent a crisis that results from a fundamental lack of trust? Below are several critical warning signs your organization may be operating in a low-trust environment. If these signs manifest themselves, you can take steps now to build or rebuild trust to improve performance and establish better cohesion within your organization. 1. People hesitate to share bad news or warn of risks In high-trust environments, concerns surface early because people feel safe bringing up problems. When trust is low, silence becomes the norm. In low-trust environments, you’ll see delayed reporting, overly polished (or excused) updates, or teams who wait until the last minute to bring issues to the surface, even when they were sensed beforehand. Hesitancy or refusal to be candid is one of the earliest yet most dangerous signals of trust erosion. If people can’t speak the truth or feel compelled to sweep bad information under the rug when that information is material, leaders can’t make informed decisions. That leads to poor decisions that further erode both trust and performance, leaving employees and managers feeling frustrated and deceived. 2. Collaboration feels “transactional,” not relational When trust is healthy, cross-functional work moves with ease. People give each other the benefit of the doubt. However, in low-trust environments, collaboration becomes rigid and contractual: Teams over-document to protect themselves Meetings turn into negotiations Information is withheld as leverage or to sabotage others People default to “us vs. them” thinking All of these behaviors slow down your ability to execute projects, and fractures your organization’s culture. 3. High performers quietly disengage People rarely quit suddenly; they first withdraw. If you notice once-energized employees becoming passive, protective of their time, or less willing to contribute beyond the basics, trust may be the root cause, not workload or compensation. Disengagement isn’t always loud and dramatic, although it can be. But it is often the quiet achievers who check out first when trust breaks down. 4. Decisions require excessive layers of approval Low trust leads to an overreliance on control systems. When leaders start requiring sign-offs for routine actions, employees sense that the organization does not want them to move forward without explicit permission. This “permission-based culture” is one of the clearest signs that an organization does not trust its people, and that taking initiative is not encouraged or rewarded. As a result, speed drops, innovation stalls, and change becomes difficult. 5. Feedback conversations are rare or overly guarded When trust is strong, coaching and candor are normal. When trust is weak, feedback becomes: Avoided (“We’ll address it later…”) Sanitized (“Everything is great—just keep it up!”) Weaponized (“This is being noted for your file…”) A lack of direct, open, and constructive dialogue signals that psychological safety is not a priority. Employees will begin to feel anxious when problems or conflicts are not addressed, fearing that their jobs may be jeopardized or that things are being said regarding these problems behind closed doors. In turn, they begin to be guarded in how they interact with colleagues, making the atmosphere uncomfortable for all. 6. Rumors and speculation fill information gaps In low-trust cultures, uncertainty doesn’t lead to passivity. It does the opposite: erroneous information fills the void. You’ll hear hallway chatter, assumptions about leadership decisions, and narratives that spread faster than facts. This is almost always a sign that communication is inconsistent, incomplete, or not believed. Being completely transparent is not always possible, especially when it comes to protected information, but communication and accessibility are essential. Trust Can Be Measured—and Built If any of these signs resonate, you’re not alone. Most organizations encounter periods of trust erosion at some point, especially during growth, transition, or leadership turnover. The key is not to guess how badly it may be affecting your organization. Trust can be measured with rigor; once measured, it can be strengthened through clear, actionable steps. That’s the work TrustBuilder does every day: helping organizations pinpoint trust gaps and build a roadmap to a healthier, higher-performance culture. If you’d like a structured way to diagnose trust levels across your teams or enterprise, we can help. Contact TrustBuilder today to learn more or to set up a discovery meeting. Find out how trust can improve performance, help you retain quality personnel, and stimulate innovation.