What is trust and why does it matter?

Trust noun

Assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. Or, one in which confidence is placed.

I’m relatively sure that the concept of trust isn’t new to you, nor the definition of what trust actually is. I’d like to invite you to think about trust from a slightly different perspective. How often (if ever) do you sit and think to yourself about trust, what it entails, who you trust, who trusts you, and why it matters?

Working with public sector organisations, as I have for many years now, and the trust conversation comes up rather frequently, focusing on how to build trust within the communities they serve. I recently attended Government Social Media Conference 2025 (GSMCon) over in Florida, and despite the geographical distance between here and the States, the topic of trust just kept making its way into conversations I was having. 

There’s a famous quote by George P. Schultz, American politician and economist, that really struck a chord with me: “trust is fundamental, reciprocal, and pervasive. If it’s present, anything is possible. If it’s absent, nothing is possible.”

Think about the best relationships you have in your life. They’re with people you trust. People who you’re happy to share things with. And then the reverse of that is that if we don’t have trust, it makes it really difficult for us to have a great relationship. How do we build trust with those nearest and dearest to us, and how can we replicate that in our professional lives?

In maybe the past year or so, I’ve spent a lot of time really trying to understand the trust issue, and figuring out the components and building blocks of trust. What does trust consist of? What makes us trust each other as people? I take the viewpoint that trust comprises three things:

Authenticity: I experience the real you

Empathy: I believe you care about me and my success

Logic: I know you can do it; your reasoning and judgement are sound

Based on these three components and, with the help of fellow colleagues and public sector professionals, we’ve created a trust model that considers what’s needed alongside authenticity, empathy, and logic.

Open and honest communication might seem like an obvious one, but it’s the foundation for building trust. By being open and honest, you create mutual understanding. You enable empathy. You demonstrate accountability for your actions. We often forget that not everybody has access to the same information. What is ‘normal’ or ‘usual’ to us, might not be for someone else. By opening up that line of communication and giving insight into your world, your citizens and residents will have a clearer picture of what is happening, when it’s happening, and why it’s happening, rather than focusing on a small section of output. Without open and honest communication, you will not be able to build trust.

Listening

Let’s move on to the listening aspect of trust – often described as the most important part of communication: non-verbal. All relationships, especially the best, begin with listening and understanding each other. You need to not just hear your communities, but listen in order to understand what they want, what makes them happy, what matters to them. Showing that you care about your community and are interested in what they have to say will encourage more open communication and build a sense of trust, but having a strong understanding of who you’re speaking to first will make the world of difference.

People forge stronger relationships with those that share a mutual understanding or interests. To do this, you need to get to know someone, their likes and dislikes, what makes them tick. In an organisational setting, this means you need to understand the demographics of your community so you can refine your messaging to ensure it really speaks to them – as well as using the appropriate channels to reach them! Key insights to include would be detailed and up to date demographics, lifestyle, and even behavioural data. However, having the time to maintain the currency of that data can be challenging, so using newer and more innovative methods presented by today’s digital world could prove more fruitful than traditional methods.

Engagement

Once you’ve listened to and understood the problems your community is facing, you engage them in your mission. Engagement is, at its core, a two way street. When public sector organisations engage with their communities in an authentic way, about the things that matter to them, the community will then reciprocate because they feel listened to and begin to build a connection – as well as building trust. Meaningful engagement strengthens relationships and fosters positivity within your communities.

A simple way of creating engagement, using social media, is responding to or acknowledging every inbound interaction you receive. It might not seem like much but it shows your community that you are there and you are seeing what they have to say. Better yet, incorporating the voice of your community into your strategic goals will increase engagement with your community as it demonstrates that they’re being heard.

Experience

Open dialogue and increased positive engagement leads to the final step in building trust: experience. When your community engages with you, how is this experience for them? Do these interactions reflect what’s going on in their world? Are they left feeling satisfied? Creating positive experiences for your community will increase their willingness to trust you as an organisation. Do what you say you will and deliver on your promises. If that’s not possible, make the most of open and honest communication to explain why not rather than letting your community’s trust be broken.

Trust enables decision-makers and communities to work together effectively. We know that by working collaboratively with our citizens, residents, and communities, we can build greater levels of trust. There is no right or wrong way to build trust, and it won’t happen overnight, but when done right it can have a huge impact. Greater levels of trust allow us to build stronger and more resilient communities. Remember, when trust is present, anything is possible. When it is absent, nothing is possible.