Building Trust at Work and Beyond

How Brené Brown’s BRAVING model can help you foster trust in your relationships

I recently reread Dare to Lead, the seminal Brené Brown book. Despite being 7 years old, it’s highly relevant to leadership and work today. In fact, much of what is still considered novel or even revolutionary in some organizations and industries (e.g. vulnerability, boundaries) is set out in detail in this book and Brené’s earlier work too.

One point that stood out to me was the section on building trust. Trust has been a front-of-mind topic for me recently — in part because we looked at people’s trust in their leaders and their organizations in the latest State of Workplace Burnout report. It’s also been a topic I’ve explored with teams in our work at Human Leaders a lot this year.

Why is trust a precursor to great leadership?

In Dare to Lead, Brené emphasizes the importance of trust as a foundational element in healthy relationships, whether personal or professional.

Reflect on a relationship you have at work: what happens when you trust the other person, and when you do not? What changes when we experience trust as opposed to distrust?

To provide a clear and practical framework for understanding and cultivating trust, Brené developed the BRAVING…