Trust: The Currency of Leadership

by Rashieda Lahsaan, The Peopleist Collective

Every leader talks about trust. Far fewer understand how quickly it’s spent—and how difficult it is to earn back.

Patrick Lencioni, in his seminal work The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, identifies trust as the baseline of all healthy teams. Not trust built on competence or reputation, but vulnerability-based trust—the kind that allows people to be honest, admit mistakes, ask for help, and challenge ideas without fear. When that trust is absent, teams don’t fail loudly. They fail quietly. They become guarded.

Guarded teams hold back.

Guarded teams avoid conflict.

Guarded teams protect themselves instead of the mission.

And guarded teams never perform at their highest level.

Trust changes how decisions are made, how conflict is handled, and how accountability shows up. When trust is present, disagreement becomes productive instead of personal. Feedback is received instead of deflected. People move faster—not because they’re rushed, but because they’re aligned.

When trust is missing, leaders often compensate with control. More meetings. More oversight. More process. But none of those replace trust—they simply mask its absence.

High-performing leaders understand that trust is not built through perfection. It’s built through consistency, transparency, and the courage to be human in the room.

At The Peopleist Collective see trust as the most valuable—and most fragile—currency a leader holds. It determines whether teams collaborate or comply. Whether change is embraced or resisted. Whether strategy is executed or quietly undermined.

To intentionally build trust as a leader:

• Model vulnerability by owning mistakes and inviting feedback

• Address conflict directly, with intentional use of effective communication,  instead of allowing silence to fester

• Create psychological safety so truth can surface early

• Follow through consistently—trust is built in small moments

• Reward honesty, not just agreement
  

Trust doesn’t eliminate hard conversations—it makes them possible.

And when trust is present, teams stop guarding themselves and start building something meaningful together.

Inspired by Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and informed by the real-world leadership work of The Peopleist Collective—where trust, clarity, and performance intersect.