TRust is built in the trenches

The truth about team building nobody tells you: Trust isn't built during retreats, it's built when everything is falling apart.

I watched a senior leadership team spend thousands on luxury retreats with ropes courses and trust falls. Two weeks later, they were back to undermining each other in meetings.

Why? Because real trust isn't built on mountaintops or over cocktails.

It's built in the trenches.

In my decade plus of working with executive teams, I've noticed a pattern:

The moments that truly bond teams aren't planned. They're when:
💥 Someone admits they don't have all the answers
💥 A teammate covers for someone during a family emergency
💥 The team pivots together when a project fails
💥 Someone says "yes, and" to an idea instead of shutting it down

Last month, I was facilitating a workshop with a tech company's leadership team. For months, they'd been stuck in a cycle of perfectionism and blame.

During an improv exercise, their CTO hesitated before sharing an incomplete idea. Instead of the usual eye-rolls, their CMO immediately built on it.
"Yes, and what if we also..."

The energy shifted instantly. By the end of the hour, they'd solved a problem that had stalled them for weeks.

That's when it hit me: Trust isn't an event. It's a practice.

Companies spend billions on orchestrated team-building, but miss the daily micro-moments that actually create psychological safety:
👉 Supporting half-formed ideas
👉 Acknowledging contributions
👉 Demonstrating reliability in small ways
👉 Responding constructively to failure

These everyday behaviors create trust far more effectively than any retreat.
The most cohesive teams I've worked with don't wait for scheduled bonding. They've embedded trust-building into their daily interactions through specific communication practices.

Want to build genuine team trust? Stop scheduling it and start practicing it.

I've compiled a few of the most effective daily trust-building exercises from our improv-based workshops into a free guide for HR leaders and team managers.

What's your experience? Has a formal team-building event ever created lasting change in your organization?
If not - contact us - we can help. Contact

#TeamDevelopment #OrganizationalTrust #LeadershipCommunication #PsychologicalSafety#ImprovMindset

---