Your supervisors are stuck between past company decisions and team members who distrust management. This distrust is showing up in your safety numbers, productivity metrics, and turnover rates. But trained supervisors know how to build individual trust even when company trust has been damaged. They use specific relationship skills to separate their leadership from past leadership and prove through actions that they're different.
Your supervisors are caught in the middle between past company decisions and team members who are skeptical, burned, or outright hostile toward management.
Your company laid off 20% of the workforce two years ago. Or you changed the benefits package. Or you brought in new management that made unpopular changes. Maybe you moved operations, cut overtime, or implemented new procedures that employees hate.
Whatever happened, your team members remember. And now your supervisors are paying the price.
Here's what most executives don't realize: your team's distrust of the company doesn't have to mean distrust of their immediate supervisor - if your supervisors know how to separate the two. But most don't. They're winging it, and it's costing you more than you think.
When employees don't trust their supervisors, they don't just withhold effort - they withhold everything. They don't report safety concerns because "management doesn't care anyway." They don't suggest improvements because "nothing ever changes." They don't give their best effort because "why should I - they'll just cut my job next."
This distrust shows up in your numbers:
The real cost isn't just in these metrics. It's in the constant firefighting your supervisors have to do. They spend their time managing resistance instead of leading performance. They're dealing with symptoms of distrust instead of building the relationships that drive results.
Your supervisors want to fix this problem, but they're making it worse without knowing it. Here's what they typically do:
They defend past company decisions. When an employee says "This company doesn't care about us," the supervisor jumps in with explanations about why the layoffs were necessary or how the benefit changes saved the company. This makes them look like a company mouthpiece, not a leader who cares about the team.
They make promises they can't keep. "Things will be different now" or "Management has learned from their mistakes." When these promises don't materialize, the supervisor loses credibility along with the company.
They try to convince people instead of proving through actions. They give speeches about teamwork and company values to people who have heard it all before. Employees don't want to hear about trust - they want to see it demonstrated.
Your supervisors aren't bad people. They just weren't trained for this situation. They don't know how to navigate being part of management while building authentic relationships with people who distrust management.
Supervisors who know how to build trust in these situations take a completely different approach. They don't defend the company or make excuses. Instead, they focus on building their own credibility.
They acknowledge without betraying. When employees complain about past decisions, trained supervisors say things like "I understand why you feel that way" instead of defending those decisions. They validate the employee's experience without throwing the company under the bus.
They separate their leadership from previous leadership. They don't ask employees to trust the company. They ask employees to give them a chance to prove they're different. "I can't change what happened before I got here, but I can control how I treat you moving forward."
They build trust through small actions, not big speeches. They keep every small promise. They follow through on every commitment. They show up consistently, especially when things get tough. They admit when they don't know something instead of pretending they have all the answers.
They protect their team from unnecessary company politics. They filter out the noise and focus their team on what matters. They fight for their people behind closed doors and take responsibility for unpopular decisions instead of saying "This came from corporate."
As I write in The CareFull Supervisor, "An employee's perspective about their employer is largely shaped in the relationship they have with their supervisor." Even if employees distrust the company, they can still trust their supervisor - if that supervisor knows how to build the relationship properly.
Trained supervisors understand that trust is rebuilt through actions, not words. They:
Ask for input before implementing changes. Even small changes. "Here's what we need to do. What's the best way to make this work for everyone?" This shows respect for the team's experience and wisdom.
Take responsibility for their own mistakes. When they mess up, they admit it quickly and fix it. This demonstrates honesty and builds credibility for future difficult conversations.
Are transparent about what they can and can't control. "I can't change the policy, but I can control how we implement it. Let's figure out the best way together."
Show up during tough times. When there's bad news or difficult decisions, they don't hide in their office. They're present, available, and honest about what's happening.
Expect your team to test any supervisor trying to build trust after it's been damaged. This is normal and healthy. Employees will make cynical comments, resist new initiatives, and watch for signs that this supervisor is just like all the others.
Smart supervisors understand this testing phase and don't take it personally. They stay consistent with their actions and patient with the process. Some people will trust quickly. Others will take months. The key is not giving up when the initial response is skeptical.
When supervisors can build individual relationships despite company baggage, something powerful happens. Team members start to separate their supervisor from the company. They begin to think "I don't trust the company, but I trust my supervisor."
This creates a buffer that protects your operations from past mistakes. Employees follow procedures because they respect their supervisor, even if they're angry at the company. They speak up about problems because they trust their supervisor will listen. They give their best effort because they don't want to let their supervisor down.
Over time, these individual relationships with supervisors actually improve the overall company perception. When employees trust their immediate supervisor, they're more likely to give the company the benefit of the doubt on future decisions.
Building trust in damaged situations requires specific relationship skills that most supervisors were never taught. They need to know how to validate without agreeing, how to build their own credibility while representing the organization, and how to be patient with the trust-building process.
These aren't skills supervisors figure out naturally. They need systematic training and ongoing support to master the relationship techniques that rebuild trust.
At PeopleWork Supervisor Academy, we teach supervisors the relationship skills needed to navigate these challenging situations. Over 1,000 supervisors have graduated from our program and learned how to build individual trust through consistent actions and authentic relationship-building techniques.
Don't leave your supervisors to figure this out on their own. The cost of ongoing mistrust is too high, and the skills to fix it are too specific. Give your supervisors the training they need to build trust even in the most challenging situations, because strong supervisor relationships can overcome even the most damaged company reputations.