Leadership CredibilityHow to Win or Lose with Your Employees

Do you know that you’re being watched all the time?

Whether you realise it or not, employees are always watching how their leader shows up, behaves and the actions they take.

They watch what leaders say in meetings. They watch what gets promised in one-on-one conversations. They watch what happens when pressure rises, budgets tighten, conflict appears or competing priorities take over. Most importantly, they watch whether a leader’s words and actions actually align.

I was working with a client recently who shared a story that sounded all too familiar while also being sad. She had been with her organisation for three years and, in that entire time, had not received a single pay increase.

This was not because the conversation had never been raised. Several previous conversations had taken place with management and there was a commitment made to increase her salary at the next review, six months down the track.

She trusted her leader and accepted this response as a commitment that her leader later would follow through on. So, she continued to do her work, stayed engaged, delivered and waited for the organisation to do what it said it would do.

When that future conversation finally happened, her leader sadly did not follow through on the original promise. What was then offered was less than half the amount originally discussed.

Huumm

Now this isn’t uncommon and sometimes there are extenuating circumstances where certain financial commitments can’t be followed through on. However, in this situation other significant factors were play.

This employee is not only being paid under market value they are also being paid significantly less than her equivalents in two other regions.

Now we know that the pay secrecy laws were changed in December 2022, allowing employees to lawfully disclose, or choose not to disclose, their remuneration and hours, and ask colleagues about their pay without penalty.

Knowing about this significant pay discrepancy only elevated the sensitivity of this conversation and raised concerns about fairness and equity. What also irritated my client was the knowledge that the company was growing and expanding, so in her eyes, there were no major perceived financial constraints.

The Result:

The leader’s inability to honour the original promise has not only left her feeling disappointed and frustrated, it has also caused her to question her leader’s credibility.

Because when leaders don’t follow through, the damage is rarely limited to the issue itself. Here’s what’s at stake:

• Cynicism grows because promises start to sound like empty words.

• Employees feel disappointed, dismissed or misled.

• People waste time checking, chasing or escalating issues.

• The leader’s credibility suffers because inconsistency creates doubt

  
  

And all this starts to impact how people feel about the organisation, the culture and whether their effort is genuinely valued.

Ironically, by the time an employee is sharing this story with someone like me, I can only imagine how many others she is sharing this with.

That is how culture starts to fray.

Credibility functions like a bank account.

Imagine you start with $100 in trust.

Every time a leader follows through, communicates clearly or honours a commitment, they add to the balance.

But every broken promise, vague delay or commitment that quietly disappears makes a withdrawal.

And when leaders keep withdrawing without making deposits, that $100 balance can hit zero very quickly.

Why This Matters Now

Employees are more informed than ever. They know their market value. They can compare roles, salaries, flexibility and benefits across industries, regions and organisations. They are also far less willing to stay loyal to workplaces where they feel undervalued, misled or taken for granted.

At the same time, organisations are asking a great deal from their people. They want productivity, engagement, innovation, adaptability and emotional investment. They want people to care, collaborate, bring ideas, manage change and keep showing up with energy.

But trust has to be part of that exchange.

You cannot keep asking people for discretionary effort while consistently ignoring the commitments made to them.

The Cost of Getting it Wrong

The data reflects the same concern. A Forbes report in 2018 found that only 46% of leaders had complete faith in their immediate supervisor, and only 33% trusted senior leaders in their company.

DDI’s 2023 Global Leadership Forecast reported that only 40% of employees viewed their leaders as effective, which is a steep decline from 57% in 2018. More recent research into the “Trust Gap” suggests that 63% of employees do not trust their leaders.

That should concern every leadership team.

Because trust is not a soft issue. It affects performance, retention, engagement, collaboration and reputation. When trust is high, people are more likely to speak up early, raise risks, contribute honestly and stay committed through complexity. When trust is low, people protect themselves. They disengage, they second-guess motives and they stop believing what is said until they see what is done.

Credibility is built through consistency and alignment.

People do not expect leaders to be perfect however they do expect them to be honest. When a commitment is made, there is an expectation that it will be either honoured or addressed with transparency and respect.

Employees can accept that sometimes circumstances change, budgets shift and decisions are delayed. But silence is not a strategy.

Avoidance does not protect trust. It erodes it.

A credible leader comes back to the conversation. They name the reality and explain what has changed and how that might impact the employee. A great leader will not hide behind corporate language or hope the person forgets.

Because people rarely forget how it felt when their trust was mishandled.

My Invitation to You

I invite you to consider how you might be showing up in your leadership.

Here are 5 questions worth asking yourself:

1. Where have you made a commitment recently that still needs your follow-through?

2. How do you communicate when you cannot follow through on a commitment?

3. What would your team say is the gap between what you say and what you consistently do?

4. Where might your actions be sending a different message from your words?

5. What is one small commitment you could honour this week to strengthen trust with your team?

It’s important to remember, credibility is not built in grand gestures.

It is built in the ordinary moments where leaders do what they said they would do.

And in today’s workplace, that may be one of the most commercially important leadership behaviours of all.