Where Change Gets Honest

Reflections

Where Change Gets Honest

On Leadership, Harm, Accountability, and Repair

Long-form reflections on leadership, workplace culture, uncertainty, accountability, and the realities of showing up with care in complex systems.

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Featured Reflection

March 26, 2026

Trust is Built in the Moments We Avoid (Part 1)

This reflection explores how trust is not built only through consistency or good intention, but through the harder moments teams often avoid.

LeadershipTrustTeam PerformancePsychological Safety

This year marks nearly 2 decades for me in a people-leadership role.

I’ve had the privilege of being a Director, working alongside teams navigating complexity, change, and growth.

I also show up in these spaces as a woman of colour, and both shape how I experience trust, and how trust is extended to me.

There are moments where I am navigating not just the work in front of me, but how I am being perceived. Moments where speaking directly can be read differently. Moments where raising concerns carries a different weight.

That awareness has deepened my understanding of what trust actually requires.

Trust is built in the day-to-day moments between people. Especially the ones we would rather avoid.

Early in my career, I leaned heavily on consistency, transparency, compassion, and clarity. Those things matter, and I still believe in them.

But I’ve seen teams have all of that in place and still struggle with trust. Because trust isn’t something we declare. It’s something people feel through experience. And those experiences are shaped in harder moments.

When something feels off and no one names it. When something is said that doesn’t sit right and the room goes quiet. When concerns are shared in side conversations instead of directly.

Over time, I’ve learned that trust asks more of us. To stay in tension a little longer. To ask questions instead of filling in the blanks. To check assumptions before they turn into stories.

It also asks us to be honest about fear.

Fear of conflict. Fear of being misunderstood. Fear of being seen as difficult. Fear of what might happen after we speak up.

For some, that fear is also shaped by how we are read in the room and how our words are received. So people hold back. Or talk around issues instead of through them. Or convince themselves it’s not a big deal.

I’ve seen how quickly that shifts a team.

What feels safe to say starts to shrink. Trust becomes something people perform, not something they rely on.

This is where leadership matters.

People are always watching what happens when something hard is raised. Are they listened to? Are they believed? Are they dismissed or minimized?

Creating space for people to raise concerns, including harm, requires intention. It requires responses that don’t shut people down, and a willingness to hold accountability.

Teams shape trust together.

When we hear undermining conversations and say nothing, we are part of what grows. When behaviour moves outside shared values and we look away, we reinforce it. When we say, “this doesn’t sit right,” and stay in the conversation, we shift something.

Trust shows up in how we handle those moments.

After nearly 2 decades, I see trust as something you practice. In small ways, every day. Especially when it would be easier not to.

So I’ll leave this here: What are we avoiding that trust is asking us to face?

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From the Reflection

Key Insight

Trust is built in the day-to-day moments between people, especially the ones we would rather avoid.

Over time, silence changes what feels safe to say. Teams can begin performing trust instead of relying on it.

Leadership is revealed in what happens when something hard is named. Are people listened to, believed, dismissed, or minimized?

Creating space for concerns, including harm, requires intention, accountability, and responses that do not shut people down.

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Jennisha Wilson Consulting

Strategy / Anti-Oppression / Restoration / Leadership