When looking at the results of an employee survey, most organizations focus first on the engagement score and then on the questions about the direct manager. Yet a less discussed part of the report is often the one that says the most: employees' trust in senior leadership. An employee who does not believe that the CEO and the leadership team are taking the company in the right direction, or who is not sure that what they are told reflects reality, will find it hard to stay committed to the organization in the long run, no matter how much they like their team and their manager.
- Trust in senior leadership shows how much employees believe in the company's future, in the decisions being made and in what they are told. It needs to be measured separately from trust in the direct manager.
- Trust cannot be measured with a single question. Visibility, openness of communication, consistency between words and actions, perceived competence, care for employees and clarity of direction should be considered together.
- The real picture emerges when results are broken down by department, location, tenure and job type. Groups far from headquarters usually report lower visibility and trust scores.
- When the trust score is low, the most effective step is for senior leaders to share the results themselves and make concrete, trackable commitments.
Trust in senior leadership has a particular characteristic: most employees do not have a day-to-day relationship with senior leaders. Trust is built from a distance, through the decisions they observe, the announcements they hear and how consistent these remain over time. That is why leadership visibility, meaning how well employees know, hear and understand senior leaders, is one of the most important building blocks of trust.
In this post, we look at the dimensions that make up trust in senior leadership, how to ask about it in a survey and how to interpret the results and turn them into action.
Why should trust in senior leadership be measured separately?
Many surveys measure trust with a single, general question: "I trust the management of my company." This question is a starting point, but when the score is low it does not tell you what went wrong. In addition, the word "management" can bring to mind the direct manager, the department head or the CEO, depending on the employee.
Trust in the direct manager and trust in senior leadership often produce very different results. A team with a strong relationship with its manager may be distant from the decisions of senior leadership, and the opposite is also possible. Measuring the two separately ensures that action is directed to the right place. For questions about the direct manager, see our posts on manager evaluation survey questions and the anatomy of first-line manager questions.
The six dimensions of trust in senior leadership
To measure trust in senior leadership meaningfully, the dimensions that make it up need to be considered one by one. The six dimensions below form the foundation of trust in most organizations.
1. Visibility and accessibility
How often do employees see and hear senior leaders? How often do senior leaders go out to the field, the plant or the branch? Visibility alone does not create trust, but trusting a leadership team you never see is much harder. The gap left by invisibility is often filled by rumors.
2. Openness and honesty of communication
Do senior leaders share difficult news as well as good news? Are the reasons behind decisions explained? Do employees believe that what they are told is not incomplete or embellished? If you want to look at communication channels and their effectiveness more broadly, our post on the internal communications survey can help.
3. Consistency between words and actions
Trust erodes fastest where there is a gap between what is said and what is done. Employees closely watch whether what is presented at the values meeting is reflected in everyday decisions and whether promises are kept. This is directly linked to the question of whether company values are being lived.
4. Competence and clarity of direction
Do employees believe that senior leaders are taking the company in the right direction? Do they understand the company's strategy and priorities? Can they see how their own work contributes to that strategy? Clarity of direction is the most important anchor of trust in times of uncertainty.
5. Care for employees
Are employees' circumstances taken into account in senior leadership decisions? Do employees believe that senior leaders see them not as a cost item but as the organization's real strength? This dimension becomes decisive especially during downsizing, restructuring or periods of economic difficulty.
6. Listening and openness to feedback
Do employees believe they can share their ideas and concerns with senior leadership, and that what they share is taken into account? Do they see that something was done based on the results of previous surveys? This dimension is closely related to psychological safety: employees need to be sure that there is no price to pay for saying something senior leaders may not want to hear.
Sample survey questions
The statements below can be asked on a five-point Likert scale ("Strongly disagree" to "Strongly agree"). You do not have to use all of them; choosing one or two questions per dimension according to the purpose of your survey is usually enough.
Visibility and accessibility
- Senior leadership is sufficiently visible among employees.
- I know I can reach senior leadership when needed.
Openness and honesty of communication
- Senior leadership shares important developments about the company in a timely manner.
- Senior leadership shares difficult news openly and honestly as well.
- I understand the reasons behind important decisions made by senior leadership.
Consistency between words and actions
- What senior leadership says is consistent with what it does.
- Senior leadership keeps its promises.
Competence and clarity of direction
- I believe senior leadership is taking the company in the right direction.
- I know the company's priorities for the coming period.
- I understand how my work contributes to the company's goals.
Care for employees
- Senior leadership takes employees' circumstances into account in its decisions.
- I believe senior leadership values employees.
Listening and openness to feedback
- Senior leadership takes employees' ideas and suggestions into account.
- I have seen concrete steps taken based on the results of the previous survey.
Overall trust
- Overall, I trust the senior leadership of my company.
Adding an open-ended question alongside the closed-ended ones makes it easier to understand the reasons behind the scores. For example: "What would you suggest senior leadership do to strengthen its communication with employees?" For designing open-ended questions, see our post on open-ended employee survey questions.
Points to watch in question design
Define "senior leadership". In the survey introduction or right above the questions, state who senior leadership refers to. For example: "In this section, senior leadership refers to the CEO and the directors reporting to them." This definition is especially important in multi-location organizations; otherwise a plant or regional manager may also be perceived as "senior leadership".
Do not ask two things in one question. The statement "Senior leadership communicates openly and consistently" asks about two different things at once. An employee who finds communication open but inconsistent will not know how to answer. For examples of such mistakes, see our post on common survey question mistakes.
Strengthen anonymity. Questions about senior leadership are where trust in anonymity is tested most. Set a minimum reporting group size, combine small units at a higher level and explain these rules clearly to employees before the survey. For details, see our post on anonymity in employee surveys.
Keep core questions unchanged. Trust in senior leadership becomes meaningful through its change over time. Changing the wording of questions from cycle to cycle makes comparison impossible.
How to interpret the results
Look at the breakdowns
The organization-wide score for trust in senior leadership often hides the real story. When you break down the results by department, location, tenure, job type and work model, you are likely to see clear differences. Locations far from headquarters and field-based or shift-based groups are the ones that see senior leaders the least, and their visibility and trust scores are often lower. For planning breakdowns, see our post on segmentation in employee surveys, and for seeing differences at a glance, see heatmaps in employee survey results.
Look at the gaps between dimensions
The biggest benefit of measuring the six dimensions separately is that it shows where the problem lies. If visibility is low but consistency is high, employees actually believe in senior leadership but do not hear from them enough; the solution is more frequent and more direct communication. If visibility is high but consistency is low, the situation is more serious: senior leaders talk a lot, but what they say is not followed through. In this case, more communication may erode trust further rather than build it.
Look at the link with engagement
The impact of trust in senior leadership on engagement varies from organization to organization. Key driver analysis in engagement surveys shows whether trust in senior leadership is one of the factors with the greatest impact on engagement in your organization. If the trust score is low and its impact on engagement is high, this area should be a priority in the action plan.
Look at the trend as well as the score
The score from a single cycle only becomes meaningful with a reference point. Its position relative to the other dimensions in the same survey, its change from previous cycles and the gap between groups within the organization say more than the score itself. We cover this in detail in our post score or trend.
What to do when the trust score is low
Let senior leaders share the results. When HR announces a result showing low trust in senior leadership, the message loses impact. The CEO or the leadership team openly acknowledging the results and explaining what they will do is the first step in rebuilding trust. For how to structure this communication, see our post on sharing employee survey results with employees.
Listen to the reasons. Scores tell you what is low, but not always why. Open-ended comments and focus groups after the survey are very valuable for understanding the reasons, especially in the groups where trust is lowest.
Make a small number of concrete, trackable commitments. "We will strengthen communication" is not a commitment. "The leadership team will hold a Q&A session at every location each quarter" is a commitment. Two or three concrete steps create far more trust than a long list of intentions.
Take visibility to the field. If trust is low in groups far from headquarters, senior leaders need to make direct contact with these groups: site and plant visits, short meetings at shift changes, conversation sessions with small groups. It is important that these contacts are regular, not one-off.
Make follow-up on commitments visible. Share the status of commitments at regular intervals. In the next survey, the score for "I have seen concrete steps taken based on the results of the previous survey" will show how successful this follow-up has been. For building the action plan step by step, our post on the 90-day action plan after an employee survey can guide you.
Conclusion
Trust in senior leadership is one of the clearest indicators of how much employees believe in the organization's future. This trust is built less through big announcements and more through small but consistent behaviors: being visible, speaking openly, doing what was said and listening. Measuring trust not with a single question but through the dimensions that make it up shows exactly where the problem lies and ensures that action is directed to the right place.
If you would like consulting support to measure trust in senior leadership with dimensions tailored to your organization, compare results across groups and turn the findings into a concrete action plan together with your senior leadership team, get in touch with us.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between trust in senior leadership and trust in the direct manager?
Trust in the direct manager is built on the day-to-day relationship with the person an employee works with. Trust in senior leadership is usually formed from a distance, through the decisions that are made, the announcements that are shared and how consistent they are over time. Because the two scores can differ considerably, they should be measured with separate questions.
How should "senior leadership" be defined in the survey?
The survey should state clearly who "senior leadership" refers to, for example the CEO and the directors reporting to them. If the definition is left vague, some employees will answer with the CEO in mind and others with their regional or plant manager, which makes the results impossible to interpret.
Will employees answer questions about senior leadership honestly?
When anonymity rules are explained clearly and the minimum reporting group size is respected, employees answer these questions honestly as well. However, when trust in anonymity is low, the questions most affected are usually those about senior leadership.
When is a trust in senior leadership score considered low?
Rather than relying on a single threshold, it is better to look at three comparisons: its position relative to the other dimensions in the same survey, its change from previous cycles and the gap between groups within the organization. If trust in senior leadership is among the lowest dimensions in the survey, or has dropped noticeably from one cycle to the next, it should be treated as a priority.
How often should trust in senior leadership be measured?
Measuring it with a few core questions in the annual engagement survey is usually enough. During major periods such as mergers, restructuring or a change in senior leadership, tracking it every few months with short pulse surveys is useful.
