Trusting relationships are an essential ingredient of any organisation.

The challenge is: Trust is hard-won, easily lost, and even harder to rebuild. Especially in the world today.

It’s clear we’re grappling with a trust issue – here in Australia and across the globe

⛈️ The recently released 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer reports on a shift from distrust to grievance across the world. In Australia, 62% of respondents held a sense of grievance against government, business and “the rich”. On a global scale, fears that leaders lie to us and that we will experience prejudice, discrimination or racism were reported at an all-time high.

⛈️ The 2024 OECD Trust Survey found that trust in the Australian federal government was 46% in 2023. Overall trust in Australian public services is 58%, according to the 2023-24 Survey of Trust in Australian Public Services.

⛈️ Perceptions of government integrity are low in most countries, according to the 2024 OECD Trust Survey. Only 25% of respondents in Australia find it likely that government would refuse a corporation’s demand that could be harmful to society as a whole, lower than the average across OECD countries (30%).

For people working with communities, building trust is part of the job. Research and experience show that done well, community engagement can help bridge the trust gap. Done poorly, it can create further distrust and division.

So how do we do it?

How do we build and rebuild trust?

And what can we do when trust is difficult?

To rebuild trust, consider going back to basics

Strive for:

• CONNECTION – be present in-community to build relationships and understand and address concerns and issues, elevate the community voice within your organisation, and be accountable to all stakeholders
• CARE– genuine care, honesty and kindness in what you say and what you do
• CONSISTENCY – keep at it day after day, month after month, year after year as trust takes time and effort to build

Wondering where to start?

Rebuilding trust calls for a brave CONVERSATION – with ourselves, and the people in our organisation and our communities.

We have lean into the tension that comes with mistrust, to be able to move through it.

If you’re wondering how to get started, check out my know, think, feel, say, do reflective framework to start rebuilding trust (pdf).