By Jordan Imutan
Leadership and Execution Consultant | Creator of STRIDES™
Let’s Be Honest—Trust Is Fragile at Work
We’ve all been in teams where trust didn’t come easily.
- Someone says they’ll finish something, but it’s late again.
- A department promises to coordinate, but they go silent.
- We agree on next steps in a meeting… and no one brings it up again.
When this happens often enough, people stop believing.
We don’t mean they stop believing in the vision—they stop believing in each other.
That’s when trust erodes. And once trust is gone, collaboration falls apart, progress slows down, and even the best people start checking out mentally.
The good news?
We’ve seen teams rebuild that trust—and even become high-performing again—by doing one simple thing:
Executing what they said they would do.
Broken Promises Are the Silent Culture Killer
In our experience, trust in teams doesn’t break because of shouting matches or dramatic exits.
It breaks in the small things.
- A missed deadline here
- An unacknowledged mistake there
- A report promised but never sent
- A colleague who forgets… again
It’s death by a thousand broken promises.
No one means to do it. But without a structure to support accountability, it becomes the default.
Eventually, team members start thinking:
“If I want this done, I’ll have to do it myself.”
“There’s no point in asking—they won’t follow through.”
“I don’t want to rely on them anymore.”
This is how silos form. This is how trust dies.
We Don’t Need More Icebreakers—We Need More Follow-Through
A lot of companies try to solve trust problems with:
- Team buildings
- Personality tests
- Office parties
- Motivational talks
Those aren’t bad. But let’s be real:
Trust isn’t built in a karaoke room.
It’s built when your teammate delivers what they promised.
The real question isn’t “How do we get along?”
It’s “How do we make sure we deliver—together?”
That’s where the STRIDES™ execution rhythm comes in.
✅ The STRIDES™ Solution: Execution Builds Trust
At STRIDES™, we’ve worked with teams who were struggling to trust each other.
They weren’t toxic—they were just tired.
Tired of dropped balls.
Tired of vague plans.
Tired of chasing updates.
So we introduced a simple structure they could rely on:
- A 90-Day Plan
- A Weekly Execution Rhythm
- A Visual Dashboard for Team Progress
When these three elements come together, something powerful happens:
People start doing what they said they’d do.
And trust starts to grow again.
Let’s break it down.
📅 Step 1: Build a 90-Day Plan (With Real Commitment)
Teams can’t follow through if the goals keep changing.
That’s why we help teams set 3 to 5 priorities every 90 days.
For each one, we define:
- Milestones (what must get done)
- Owners (who’s responsible)
- Metrics (how we’ll know it’s done)
- Risks (what could go wrong)
This gives everyone a shared scoreboard.
There’s no confusion. No blaming. No excuses.
Just shared goals, shared responsibility, and shared clarity.
🔁 Step 2: Install a 25-Minute Weekly Execution Rhythm
Here’s where the magic really happens.
Once a week—same day, same time—the team gathers for a short, focused check-in.
Not a meeting that drags. Just 25 minutes. And it includes only three things:
- Progress updates
- Identify delays or blockers
- Commit to the next step
That’s it.
What this rhythm does is normalize responsibility.
You don’t need to call someone out—they’ll speak up themselves.
You don’t need to micromanage—the system brings issues forward.
Every week becomes a chance to rebuild confidence.
“I did what I said.”
“I fixed what went wrong.”
“I’m ready for what’s next.”
Trust doesn’t get louder than that.
📊 Step 3: Use a Shared Dashboard
Ever been in a team where no one knows who’s doing what?
Or worse—where everyone thinks someone else is on it?
That’s why we help install a Visual Execution Dashboard.
This can be a whiteboard, a digital tool, or even a simple spreadsheet projected in every meeting.
The key is visibility.
Each task or initiative is marked:
- 🟢 On Track
- 🟡 At Risk
- 🔴 Delayed
Everyone sees the same truth.
No hiding. No surprises. No politics.
The result?
People start stepping up—not just for themselves, but for the whole team.
🧠 Case Story: Trust Rebuilt in 60 Days
We worked with a logistics company where departments rarely talked.
The warehouse team didn’t trust the sales team. Sales didn’t trust dispatch.
Everyone worked hard—but nobody felt aligned.
When we launched the STRIDES™ execution rhythm:
- A 90-Day Plan clarified their shared targets
- Weekly 25-minute meetings gave space to align
- A color-coded dashboard tracked daily movement
Within 60 days:
- Delays dropped 42%
- On-time orders increased by 31%
- Internal emails dropped—because people met and spoke clearly
- And most importantly, trust was rebuilt
The operations lead told us:
“For the first time, we’re all rowing in the same direction.
We still have problems—but now we solve them as one team.”
That’s the power of follow-through.
🔄 Why Execution = Trust in Action
Here’s what we’ve learned coaching teams across industries:
- Strategy doesn’t build trust.
- Values posters don’t build trust.
- Even good intentions don’t build trust.
Execution does.
When teams execute together, they send a message:
“You can count on me.”
“I’ve got your back.”
“We said we’d do it—and we did.”
And when that becomes the habit, trust becomes the culture.
✅ Bonus: What Happens When Trust Grows?
When execution systems are working, we’ve seen teams:
- Speak up more openly
- Collaborate more freely
- Take risks they wouldn’t have taken before
- Defend each other publicly
- Deliver amazing results
Why?
Because trust isn’t just about feeling good.
It’s about being secure enough to perform at your best.
With STRIDES™, that kind of trust is not a dream—it’s a structure.
🧩 How STRIDES™ Makes It Happen
When you bring STRIDES™ into your team, we help with:
- Crafting a 90-Day Plan with buy-in from your leadership
- Training your team on how to run short, effective execution check-ins
- Building a visual dashboard that drives self-accountability
- Coaching your managers to lead with clarity, not control
- Supporting leaders in managing blockers and celebrating wins
We don’t just teach execution—we practice it with you.
And as teams start to deliver together, trust becomes the new default.
🚦How to Know Your Team Needs This
Here are a few signs it’s time to upgrade your team’s execution rhythm:
- “We talked about that already, but nothing happened.”
- “I don’t know who’s on top of that task.”
- “I feel like I’m the only one moving.”
- “We’re always reacting—never ahead.”
- “I’m tired of reminding people.”
If any of those sound familiar, STRIDES™ might be your missing link.
🔧 Try This Now: A Mini STRIDES™ Trust Builder
Want to get a quick win this week?
Try this:
- Pick one top priority for your team.
- Break it down into 3 milestones.
- Assign owners and due dates.
- Schedule a 25-minute follow-up one week from today.
- Use green/yellow/red to report status.
You’ll be surprised how fast energy and accountability return—because people want to win. They just need a system that helps them.
💬 Final Thought: Trust Is Earned in Weekly Sprints
We can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard this:
“We just need to trust each other more.”
And our answer is always the same:
“Then let’s build a rhythm where trust can grow.”
STRIDES™ isn’t about fancy strategy decks.
It’s about helping teams do what they said they’d do. Every week. Together.
And when that becomes normal—teams become unstoppable.
💬 Please feel free to DM me.
Let’s talk about how STRIDES™ can help your team execute better and trust deeper.
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