Leadership in a Trust Deficit

Trust in leadership has become a rare commodity. People rarely leave companies – they leave their leaders. And the opposite is also true: where leadership succeeds, loyalty, stability, and performance follow. Recent findings from Gallup make this decline unmistakably clear: employee engagement is at a historic low in Germany. Seventy-eight percent of employees are quietly disengaged, and only half expect to still be with their current employer a year from now. Even more striking – just 21 percent say they fully trust their leader. These are not isolated statistics but signs of a deeper shift. Leadership today faces a defining task: personal identification cannot be demanded, only enabled. And that begins with a simple but demanding ambition – to genuinely understand people. To ask: what drives them, how can we move them, and where do they want to go?

How Genuine Interest Builds Connection

Everyday leadership leaves little time. Projects overlap, priorities shift, and decisions must be made fast. In this pace, it’s easy to lose sight of the individual. Leadership then narrows to coordination – necessary, but not enough to create real connection. Modern leadership models – from Authentic Leadership to Leader–Member Exchange – all emphasize one thing: the quality of relationship between leader and team member. This is not a call for closeness or friendship, but a matter of attitude – the conscious decision to see people not just as roles, but as individuals with their own motives, needs, and perspectives.

We’ve all been in that moment when someone asks how we are – and we know, almost instantly, that they don’t really mean it. It’s a simple exchange, yet deeply telling. We can feel the difference between genuine curiosity and routine politeness. And our teams feel it too. This isn’t about collecting more information or expecting people to open up completely. It’s about something subtler – a genuine curiosity for the person in front of us. To sense what’s on their mind, what drives them, and what might be weighing on them right now. Because being understood changes something fundamental. It shows real interest in the human being, not just the performer. It opens the door to trust. When someone feels that your attention is sincere, the distance between you starts to shrink. They speak more freely, they share more openly – and the relationship becomes more human, not more private.

This is not a communication technique; it’s a mindset. We must want to understand people. A simple test can reveal where we stand: How well do I understand the person sitting across from me? What is on their mind? What are they struggling with? What truly motivates them? If no clear answers come to mind, it’s not a failure – it’s a signal. A reminder that genuine understanding often has no space in daily routines. Leaders must create that space deliberately – not out of courtesy, but to build identification and trust.

Understanding What Moves People

Motivation is often seen as a personal trait: some have it, others don’t. But motivation is rarely a matter of character – it emerges from the interaction between person and environment. When it fades, we tend to reach for quick fixes: bonuses, praise, or pressure. These may change behavior for a moment, but they don’t create connection. External incentives move actions, not attitudes. Personal identification only grows when people see something in their work that resonates with who they are – when the task carries meaning beyond the task itself. The word motivation comes from motus, movement. We are not moved because someone asks us to be, but because we recognize our own reason within it. That inner movement does not arise by chance – it happens when goals, responsibilities, and personal motives align.

To create this alignment, we need to understand what truly moves people – not only what they want, but why they want it. Behind the wish for salary, stability, or a position lie deeper motives that reveal what genuinely drives a person:

• Recognition – “I want my contribution to be seen.”

• Influence – “I want to shape things.”

• Security – “I want to rely on my environment.”

• Meaning – “I want my work to make a difference.”

• Growth – “I want to develop, not just function.”

Understanding these motives is not an extra task; it is the essence of effective leadership. When leaders recognize what drives people, they can shape work in ways that connect with those motives. Where that alignment succeeds, identification follows – because work no longer just fulfills a purpose, it carries personal meaning.

Understanding Where People Want to Go

Motivation happens in the present – identification grows toward the future. People don’t just want to understand what they do today; they want to know why it’s worth doing tomorrow. Without perspective, energy fades. With direction, people develop commitment. Making the future visible doesn’t mean crafting grand visions. It means creating perspective that feels tangible. People identify more deeply when they can see their own development in the shared future – when it becomes clear: what I do today helps me grow, professionally and personally.

To make that possible, we need to know the best possible future for each individual. What do they want to learn? In what area do they want to grow? Which next task could challenge and stretch them? These conversations create not just direction, but connection. They show that someone is seen not only for what they do now, but for what they can become. Understanding where people want to go means opening perspective, not setting expectations. People who recognize their own future within the organization stay not out of loyalty, but out of conviction.

Final thoughts

Leadership today unfolds within tightly structured systems of targets, feedback loops, and processes. These frameworks offer clarity – but they don’t create connection. Trust and personal identification don’t emerge through processes, but within them – in the moments where our attitude becomes visible. Processes are not a substitute for relationships; they are its stage. They offer the setting in which understanding can take place – to see what moves people, how we can move them, and where they want to go. That’s the real checkpoint for us: Are we truly present – attentive, interested, approachable – or merely present?