C2: Repairing broken trust
Use when: You broke trust, or someone believes you did.
The questions
- From your perspective, what moment or pattern caused trust to drop?
- What impact did that have on you and on the work?
- What would rebuilding trust look like in specific behaviors from me over the next few weeks?
- What do you need from me now: acknowledgement, apology, explanation, changed behavior, or a concrete plan?
- How should we handle it if something like this happens again so we catch it early?
Research basis
Lyons 2025; Harvard Business School Online; Stone, Patton, and Heen 2010; Gallo 2024; Edmondson 1999
Get the full field guide
The complete PDF covers 24 situations, 153 questions, and the four listening moves (reflect, summarize, validate, clarify). Download The Questions Leaders Ask field guide.
Workshop
Want your leaders practicing these out loud, with their team in the room? See how Kestryl Edge workshops work.