"When revisiting a decision becomes a trust issue"

When we talk about trust in teams, we often think of tone, kindness, psychological safety.

But there’s another kind of trust that rarely gets mentioned:

If every hard call is up for re-litigation every time someone objects,
the team stops trusting the decision-making process.
They start making backup plans.
They stop investing fully.
They think:

This is where well-meaning leaders often trip up.

We want to be open.
We want to show we're listening.
We want to avoid the label of “top-down.”

So we leave the door open, just a crack.
And before we know it, we’re not leading a team through complexity.
We’re negotiating our decisions in slow motion.

That’s not humility.
That’s indecision dressed up as inclusion.

If we want our teams to trust our leadership,
we have to make space for disagreement before the decision, and hold the line after it.

Because nothing builds trust like consistency.
And nothing erodes it like saying one thing… and doing another.

Where might you be keeping a door open that needs to be closed?

Until next time,
Dermot
​The Messy Middle

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