We were having one of those weeks.
You know the ones I mean... everything's broken. Everyone's tired and angry. Executive briefings have become sparring grounds where people fight for scraps of political capital.
I had 3 different one-on-one meetings that week that pretty much just became venting sessions. It was as if the air was full of gasoline vapor and the smallest spark would set everything ablaze.
The end of the week couldn't come fast enough. I found myself wondering...
We've talked before about how trust can’t be bought with perks. It’s built in the moments between promises made and promises kept.
But what about when it isn't? What if we've accrued Trust Debt?
Defining Trust Debt
If you've ever done any sort of technology work, you've probably heard of technical debt... when we choose speed over quality. We'd rather do it now than do it right.
Trust Debt is similar. We've optimized for agreement over alignment, or silence over honesty. Just like technical debt, it's something that accrues... in this case, each time trust is broken or betrayed, even in the smallest of situations. And just like actual debt, this accrual forces us to make interest payments in the form of extra meetings, slower approvals, duplicated work, and defensive communications.
TL/DR: Trust Debt is expensive.
How Trust Debt Accumulates
There are the obvious ways, like dishonesty or thievery... but those often take us straight to drastic action like disciplinary processes or termination. Trust debt isn't usually a single "big-ticket item" like that, though; it's the result of many small trust fractures.
Management insists on a temporary workaround being implemented as a more permanent solution. "We'll come back to this"... but we never do.
A priority shifts without any explanation.
"Don't worry about this, I'll take care of it" and then it's forgotten.
A manager overpromises what his team can deliver and causes his team to work overtime to make up for it.
In the moment, these might not even feel like infractions, but every one of them has an effect on the relationships involved. Debt is growing in the ledger!
A Trust Refactor
A codebase riddled with technical debt can be recovered with a skillful refactoring. How would we refactor trust debt out of our systems?
1. Small, Consistent Commitments
You don’t need sweeping gestures or all-hands resets to rebuild trust. Start smaller and stay consistent. Reliability compounds when people see follow-through in the everyday moments.
Say, “I’ll post the update by end of day,” and then actually do it.
Every small promise kept is a commit toward a cleaner, faster-moving culture. Momentum builds from micro-trust.
2. Clear Decision Records
Just like architecture decisions benefit from documentation, so do team agreements. Create lightweight “trust ADRs” — short notes capturing:
- What was decided
- By whom
- And why
These records make alignment visible and prevent context from disappearing when priorities shift or people move on.
3. Visible Follow-Through
Transparency sustains trust even when outcomes change. When plans evolve, close the loop publicly:
“We said we’d try X: here’s what happened.”
It’s not about flawless execution; it’s about visible accountability. People don’t lose faith because things change, they lose faith when they can’t see why.
Interest-Free Work: How Teams Feel When Trust Debt Is Low
As your team pays off trust debt, you'll start to feel the results:
Work feels lighter and faster. You might see this reflected in sprint velocity, but (arguably more importantly) you'll see it in the "soft skills" space where the team just seems to be more nimble.
Fewer Blockers. As trust increases, the rigidity of the rules will gradually relax. There will be less defensiveness, less political gamesmanship, and it will be easier to reach consensus on decisions.
Decisions stick longer. When people trust how you arrived at your choices, they're more likely to support you in the decisions you make as a leader.
Psychological safety isn't a luxury... it's a performance advantage.
The Wrap-up
Trust debt doesn’t get paid down with a single grand gesture any more than tech debt disappears with one big refactor. It takes steady, visible work: small commits that add up over time. Every promise kept, every decision documented, every honest follow-through is a release that runs a little smoother than the last.
Last time, we said trust was the new pizza party. As it turns out, it’s something better: the new CI Pipeline... continuous integration of our word with our work.
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