Trust Must Be Exercised - At The Table with Patrick Lencioni Recap

Podcast: At The Table with Patrick Lencioni

Published: 2025-10-14

Duration: 19 min

Summary

Building trust is not enough; it must be continuously exercised and tested to prevent it from eroding.

What Happened

In this episode, Pat Lencioni and Cody Thompson explore the nuanced concept of trust within teams, emphasizing that trust must be actively exercised to remain strong. Pat highlights the danger of letting trust decay simply by avoiding risk, stressing that curiosity-driven inquiries should replace suspicion-based questioning. The hosts use personal anecdotes to illustrate how failing to ask questions out of fear of being perceived as distrustful can lead to the erosion of trust over time, even among well-intentioned individuals.

The discussion underscores the importance of distinguishing between suspicion and curiosity when engaging with team members. Pat and Cody argue that asking questions out of genuine curiosity rather than suspicion can strengthen relationships and trust. They note that when trust is not exercised, it can atrophy, leading to unintended suspicion.

The episode draws an analogy to cars, where the purpose is to drive and use them, just as trust is meant to be exercised. By not utilizing trust, teams risk it becoming fragile and eroding over time. Pat shares a personal story about buying his son a used truck, emphasizing that using the truck and getting a 'ding' is part of its purpose, similar to how trust should be used and tested.

Cody recounts a story about a car show, where a beautifully restored car was only trailered and never driven. This serves as a metaphor for how trust should not be preserved in a pristine, unused state but should be actively engaged with and tested.

They further discuss how building trust is not the end goal but a means to achieve better teamwork and results. Lencioni emphasizes the need for leaders to actively manage their teams by engaging in trust-building activities, rather than avoiding potential conflicts.

Ultimately, the episode calls for leaders to take risks and engage in curiosity-based questioning to maintain and strengthen trust, rather than letting it decay due to fear of confrontation or misunderstanding.

Key Insights

• Trust within teams must be actively exercised to prevent it from decaying, similar to how a car needs to be driven to fulfill its purpose.
• Curiosity-driven inquiries are recommended over suspicion-based questioning to strengthen trust and relationships among team members.
• Trust that is not utilized or tested can become fragile and erode over time, akin to a car that is preserved in a pristine state but never driven.
• Building trust is a means to achieve better teamwork and results, not an end goal, requiring leaders to engage in trust-building activities and manage potential conflicts.