Navigating the Trust Gap

EPISODE SUMMARY There is a statistic that should stop every leader in their tracks. Only one in ten employees believes their feedback actually leads to action. In this episode, L. Michelle Smith takes a high-level journey through the August Circle cohort theme — The Trust Gap: Leading When Your People Are Watching Everything — and unpacks what the research says about self-trust, psychological safety, and what it actually takes to build a culture of trust that outlasts the pressure. WHAT YOU WILL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE Why the trust gap begins inside a leader before it ever shows up between a leader and their team and what Dr. Albert Bandura’s self-efficacy research tells us about why self-trust is the foundation of everything. What the listening-to-action gap actually is, why nine out of ten employees are experiencing it right now, and how Dr. Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety explains what happens when people stop believing their voice leads anywhere. Why psychological safety is a performance metric, not a culture metric — and what the 2026 Wiley Workplace Intelligence Study found about teams that feel safe enough to speak. How Dr. Charles Feltman’s definition of trust reframes every interaction a leader has with their team as a daily trust decision being made by the people they lead. What it takes to build a trust culture that holds its shape even when you are not in the room and what Gallup’s 2024 Workplace Study found about the link between transparent communication, engagement, and productivity. A micropractice for naming your trust commitment and making it visible to the people who need to see it. YOUR POWERFUL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Your people are not waiting for you to be perfect. They are watching to see if you are consistent. That is what trust is actually made of. YOUR POWERFUL QUESTION FOR THE DAY When you are no longer in your current role, what will the people you led say about the culture of trust you built, and is that the legacy you are currently creating? CIRCLE RESET CALL TO ACTION The Annual Circle Reset is September 21 through 25 — five days, one hour each day, built around the work of reviving your leadership from the inside out. It is asynchronous, which means it fits your schedule. Register before August 31 at the early bird rate. Register here. GO DEEPER Free leadership toolkit + FlightPath newsletter: soaracademy.nsccoaching.co Join The Circle — private leadership development community: lmichellesmith.com/thecircle Heart-Centered Leader Assessment: SOARacademy.nsccoaching.co/a/CallandResponse Request L. Michelle for keynotes, workshops, or executive coaching: lmichellesmith.com/speaking Subscribe to FlightPath — in your inbox every Monday: soaracademy.nsccoaching.co/subscribe Read the essays that go deeper: lmichellesmith.substack.com ABOUT HER NEXT POWER MOVE Her Next Power Move is the podcast for high-performing leaders navigating career ascension with clarity and confidence. Every other week, host and executive producer L. Michelle Smith delivers evidence-based leadership insights rooted in applied neuroscience, positive psychology, and culture — in ten minutes built for busy professionals. Paid subscribers on Substack hear episodes first and get direct access to L. Michelle. Subscribe at lmichellesmith.substack.com. RESEARCH AND REFERENCES Albert Bandura — Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control (1997) Amy Edmondson — The Fearless Organization (2018) Wiley Workplace Intelligence Study (2026) Charles Feltman — The Thin Book of Trust (2008) Gallup Workplace Study (2024) IMD Leadership Trends (2026) DDI Global Leadership Forecast (2025) © L. Michelle Smith / Her Next Power Move / no silos communications llc This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lmichellesmith.substack.com/subscribe