Are you unintentionally eroding trust by avoiding hard conversations? Also, what happens to your team when trust goes unexercised?

In episode 253 of At The Table, Patrick Lencioni and Cody Thompson unpack why trust isn’t something to simply build and preserve—it must be used, stretched, and tested to grow stronger. They explore how leaders unintentionally erode trust by avoiding honest curiosity, mistaking it for suspicion.

Topics explored in this episode:

(00:00) Curiosity vs. Suspicion

* How simple questions like “What are you working on?” can build or break trust.

* Why avoiding questions to “protect” trust actually weakens it over time.

(04:59) Trust Isn’t a Museum Piece

* Unused trust is like a car that’s never driven—beautiful but purposeless.

(09:56) Healthy Relationships Aren’t Fragile

* How conflict and tension signal healthy trust, not dysfunction.

* The importance of exercising trust through candid conversations.

(13:28) Trust and Remote Leadership

* How distance and fear of misinterpretation can make trust decay faster.

(17:16) Leaders Must Take the First Risk

* Pat challenges leaders to stop being afraid of awkwardness and exercise trust first.

This episode of At The Table with Patrick Lencioni is brought to you by The Table Group: https://www.tablegroup.com. We teach leaders how to make work more effective and less dysfunctional. We also help their employees be more fulfilled and less miserable.

At The Table is a podcast that lives at the connection between work life, leadership, organizational health, and culture. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/4hJKKSL), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/6NWAZzkzl4ljxX7S2xkHvu), and YouTube (https://bit.ly/At-The-Table-YouTube).

Follow Pat Lencioni on https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-lencioni-orghealth, http://www.youtube.com/@PatrickLencioniOfficial, and https://x.com/patricklencioni.

Be sure to check out our other podcast, The Working Genius Podcast with Patrick Lencioni, on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/4iNz6Yn), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/3raC053GF5mtkq6Y1klpRU), and YouTube (https://bit.ly/Working-Genius-YouTube).

Let us know your feedback via podcast@tablegroup.com.

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co.

253. Trust Must Be Exercised

At The Table with Patrick Lencioni