Do you work at a high-trust company?

10 sure signs to look for

Trust makes working with others easier – much easier.

You share ideas without worrying who "gets credit".

You can admit and learn from mistakes instead of covering them up.

You make decisions faster.

It’s easy to know how much you trust your teammates and leaders…

…but how do others feel?

You could ask, but… awkward.

Fortunately, you can find out by answering these 10 proxy questions.

Drumroll, please!

1. Do company leaders use high-trust language?

QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

This includes saying "we" instead of "I" or "you" when talking about successes or failures. Do they prefer the term "team members” over "employees"? "Leaders" over "managers"? The choice of words provides subtle clues as to how they view their place in the company – and yours.

WHY IT MATTERS

2. Are failures and lessons learned shared across the company?

QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

Tolerance for honest mistakes encourages creative thinking and calculated risks. When someone shares their failures and what they learned from them, it sends a strong signal to others that the tolerance is real.

WHY IT MATTERS

Tolerance for honest mistakes encourages creative thinking and calculated risks. When someone shares their failures and what they learned from them, it sends a strong signal to others that the tolerance is real.

WHY IT MATTERS

What if you could learn from mistakes before they happen? Try the premortem technique.

Learn about premortems

3. Do leaders live the company values?

QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

Leaders are anyone influential, regardless of role. Even you! If the trend-setters and taste-makers live the values, everyone else will take the values seriously too.

WHY IT MATTERS

4. Is information open and easy to find?

QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

There's very little that needs to be locked down other than employees' personal information. If network drives, shareable documents, wiki pages, and chat rooms are "open by default", that's a positive sign.

WHY IT MATTERS

There's very little that needs to be locked down other than employees' personal information. If network drives, shareable documents, wiki pages, and chat rooms are "open by default", that's a positive sign.

WHY IT MATTERS

Did you know?…

At Atlassian, even information on revenue, expenditures, and customer count is discoverable by anyone who cares to look for it. Companies like HubSpot and Apptopia are similarly open with their data. Of course, not every high-trust company takes it to that extreme. But it's less crazy than you might think.

5. Does everyone know what the business is focusing on and how it's performing?

QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

Sharing focus areas and strategies not only signals a culture of trust, it's good for business. Everyone understands how their work contributes to the bigger picture and can make smarter decisions as a result.

WHY IT MATTERS

6. Do team members share company news on their social channels?

QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

Social sharing is a sign that team members are proud of their work and want to incorporate that into their personal brand. On average, you might see 7-10% sharing company content on social. In uber-engaged workplaces, it might rise as high as 30%.

WHY IT MATTERS

7. Is it easy to give and invite feedback at any time?

QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

When trust is high amongst teammates, you’ll notice peer feedback being given informally – and not just at annual review time. If design sparring, code reviews, or project retrospectives are business-as-usual, that’s a Good Sign™. 

WHY IT MATTERS

WHY IT MATTERS

When trust is high amongst teammates, you’ll notice peer feedback being given informally – and not just at annual review time. If design sparring, code reviews, or project retrospectives are business-as-usual, that’s a Good Sign™. 

Learn about retrospectives

If giving 1-on-1 feedback feels intimidating, try a group retrospective on your last project instead.

8. Do executives crowdsource strategy and major initiatives? 

QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

High-trust executives ask their rank-and-file for input on initiatives and strategic focus areas. In return, staff tend to rally behind the ideas selected for action (even if they would’ve chosen differently). 

WHY IT MATTERS

9. Is it easy to connect with the CEO?

QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

In companies with high-trust cultures, top brass typically have open-door policies. Anyone in the company can schedule a few minutes to talk about product direction, career development, internal operations, etc.

WHY IT MATTERS

Another drumroll, please!

Ok. Ready for the big one?

10. Do people say "no" to their leaders?

QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

If everyone always says "yes", you're in a high-compliance environment. People in a high-trust environment will offer respectful dissent. They'll engage in discussion and agree to disagree when they can't come to consensus.

WHY IT MATTERS

If you've answered "yes" to all 10 questions (with a straight face), congratulations!

Your company has the most important ingredients for collaboration, creativity, and generally crushing it.

If your company has some work to do, take heart.

Trust builds in a virtuous cycle – and that cycle can start with you.

Anyone from the CEO to the intern who started last week can lead by example.

Remember: leadership is personal, not positional.

For more on these trust-building techniques, click below.

atlassian.com/team-playbook

Premortem Anticipate and solve for risks while there’s still time.

Sparring Let peers challenge your ideas and inspire new ones.

Retrospective Create a safe space to discuss what worked and what didn’t.