Coming Up
Why reassurance can backfire when you’re trying to rebuild trust
The trust-rebuilding move that works better than any speech
What to do if you didn’t agree with the layoff decision yourself
What makes people with different personality traits feel secure again
Welcome to Day 3 of our Leading Well After Layoffs Challenge!
Yesterday, we looked at what your team may be carrying after a layoff and how to help each person start processing it. Today, we’re talking about trust.
A layoff changes how your team hears you. People who used to take your word at face value are now reading between the lines. It’s not personal, and it doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong – it’s just what happens when people get badly surprised at work.
Trust can come back, though. Often slower than anyone would like, and usually not the way managers try to bring it back – so today, we’re digging into what actually works to rebuild trust after a layoff.
Before we jump in, here’s a reminder of where we are in this challenge:
Day 3: Rebuild Trust Without Making Promises You Can’t Keep (You Are Here)
Day 4: Reset the Work Before Redistributing It
Day 5: Reengage the Team Without Forcing Positivity
When Reassurance Backfires
After a layoff, your team is mentally re-evaluating everything: their job security, the company’s direction, and whether leadership – including you – can be believed.
Your instinct might be to comfort them:
“Things are settling down.”
“We’re through the worst of it.”
“Try not to worry.”
If you know those things are true, of course go ahead and say them.
But most of the time, you don’t know – you’re hoping. And your team can’t tell the difference between your knowledge and your hope. They just hear a promise. If it doesn’t hold up, they’ll remember who made it, and everything reassuring you say afterward will be worth a little less.
(We covered this on Day 1 with the big one – “no more layoffs are coming” – but it applies just as much to the small, everyday reassurances.)
Things can get especially tricky if you didn’t agree with the layoff decision yourself. Plenty of managers are in exactly that spot, and it’s uncomfortable – you’re expected to represent a decision you might have argued against. You don’t have to fake agreement, but you also don’t get to vent to your team (which might feel honest in the moment but mostly leaves them more rattled than they already were).
In most cases, you can tell the truth without taking sides: “It isn’t the call I would have made, but I understand why it was made. My job now is getting this team through it well.”
And really, that’s all most people are looking for. Not a boss who agrees with every decision from above – just one who tells them the truth.
Trust also means something different to each person on your team. Our Team Assessments show you your whole team’s mix of personality types – a helpful head start on understanding what “feeling secure” looks like for each of them.
Small Promises, Visibly Kept
So if reassurance doesn’t rebuild trust, what does?
