People don't resist feedback. They resist feedback from people they don't trust.
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Something I have come to believe: People don't resist feedback. They resist feedback from people they don't trust.
I recently worked with a CEO who couldn't understand why his team kept making the same mistakes. He gave clear feedback. He was specific. He followed up. But nothing changed. When I interviewed his direct reports, the answer was immediate and unanimous: "We don't trust that he's trying to help us. It feels like he's building a case."
His feedback was technically excellent. The trust was absent. And without trust, none of it mattered.
Trust isn't a feeling. It's a judgment — one that your team makes every day based on observable evidence. The question isn't whether you intend to be trustworthy. The question is whether your behavior demonstrates it consistently enough that people will risk telling you what you don't want to hear.
What would your team say about you? Here's a diagnostic you can use this week. For each direct report, ask yourself: Would they say I understand their work well enough to evaluate it? Can they predict how I'll respond based on past behavior? Would they say my feedback comes from genuine care? Have I told them something difficult in the last 90 days? If you hesitate on any of those, that's where the work begins.
Trust isn't built in a single conversation. It's built in a thousand small moments of follow-through. And it's the first condition of the Feedback Operating System for a reason — without it, nothing else works.
This summer, I'm releasing my next book: Let's Be Honest: The Feedback Playbook for Leaders Who Want the Truth. It unpacks the Feedback Operating System™ — five universal conditions that unlock honest communication at every level — with practical tools and real stories from the field. I wrote it because I've watched too many good leaders stay silent when their people needed the truth, and I believe there's a better way.
Here's what you can do right now by visiting:https://lnkd.in/eUU_tq5S
→ Take the free Feedback Culture Assessment — 15 questions, 3 minutes, instant score across all five conditions
→ Start the free 5-module mini-course — one condition per module, practical tools you can use in your next conversation
→ Join the waitlist for early access and launch-day pricing
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