Leading with Trust — Foundations
A one-day program for supervisors and those stepping into more responsibility. Built on the Four Threads of Trust.
Most professional development arrives after the promotion.
The formal programs, the development budgets, the structured investment in someone’s career — they tend to be reserved for people who are already in the role. The people stepping into supervision for the first time are expected to work the hardest part out alone.
Leading with Trust — Foundations is for that transition. It is a one-day program built on the Four Threads of Trust — Clarity, Consistency, Care, and Courage — the same framework that underpins the full two-day Leading with Trust program. Participants learn how trust is built, lost, and rebuilt at work, and apply it to the supervisory situations they are already facing: building credibility with a new team, communicating under pressure, handling challenging conversations, and making decisions when the right answer is not the easy one.
The training is interactive. Participants do not sit and listen. They work through scenarios, practice techniques in real time, and leave with a 90-day plan they built themselves. A copy of Trust: Why It Breaks and How We Mend It by Christine Townsend is included for every participant.
Leading with Trust — Foundations is for:
- Supervisors and managers in government and public service at every level
- Individuals who are preparing to move into a supervisory role
- Team leads, project leads, and anyone responsible for the work of others without a formal title
- Public-sector professionals who want to build trust with their teams, their peers, and their managers
You do not need a supervisory title to attend. If your work depends on being trusted by the people around you — and you want to be better at it — the material applies.
Four Threads. One Framework.
The Four Threads Framework identifies the four dimensions that make trust work — or cause it to fail. Each thread is measurable, actionable, and specific.
Do people know what is expected and why?
Trust starts with shared understanding. When expectations are unclear, people fill the gaps with assumptions — and assumptions breed mistrust.
Do actions match words over time?
A single broken promise is forgivable. A pattern of broken promises becomes a culture. Consistency is how trust gets proven, not just promised.
Do people feel genuinely valued?
Care is not about being nice. It is about people experiencing that they matter beyond their output. When care is absent, loyalty is transactional.
Is it safe to be honest?
Trust requires difficult conversations. When people cannot speak up, problems hide until they become crises. Courage is the thread that keeps the other three honest.
The program runs as a single day, from 8:30am to 4:30pm with a one-hour lunch break. The morning focuses on Clarity and Courage. The afternoon on Consistency and Care. Every module is interactive — short instruction, followed by practice, followed by debrief.
Morning — Finding Your Voice (Clarity · Courage)
The morning introduces the Four Threads framework and the Self-Trust Assessment, completed before arrival. Participants then work through two threads:
Clarity — Knowing Who You Are. The Credibility Equation: competence plus character, and why you cannot trade one for the other. Participants draft a 60-second professional value statement and deliver it with real-time coaching.
Courage — Communication That Gets Heard. The four habits that quietly cost credibility — hedging, qualifying, apologizing, asking permission — and the reclaim phrases that fix them. Scenario practice in trios: delivering a recommendation to a skeptical supervisor.
Afternoon — Building Your Team (Consistency · Care)
The Diplomat’s Toolkit. Name, Normalize, Navigate — a three-step sequence for handling workplace friction without making it worse. The Five Response Languages — how different people need a difficult conversation handled, and why assuming your way is everyone’s default is where trust breaks. Push or Release — when to speak and when to wait, with quick-fire scenario voting.
Consistency — Building Trust Over Time. The say-do gap and why it is the single biggest trust killer in organizations. Trust in three directions: self, institution, community. The repair sequence: name what broke, own your part, change the pattern, stay consistent long enough to be believed. Strategic visibility and the Visibility Map.
Communication Under Pressure. One real-world scenario bringing the afternoon’s tools together: a supervisor addressing a team member who is struggling after a change. Small-group practice with structured debrief.
Weaving the Threads. Participants build a 90-day development plan with one measurable goal for each thread, pair with an accountability partner, and share one commitment out loud.
$229 per person
$179 per person (early bird rate)
Early bird pricing is available for 30 days from when registration opens, or 30 days before the training date — whichever comes first.
The training is approximately 6 hours. Training managers can submit it for professional development credit through their own agency.
Every participant receives a copy of Trust: Why It Breaks and How We Mend It, a personal 90-day action plan, and a certificate of completion.
Need an invoice or purchase order? Have a question about the program? Contact us and we will respond within one business day.
Before the training, you take a free Self-Trust assessment, so you arrive already knowing where your own gaps are.
- A copy of Trust: Why It Breaks and How We Mend It by Christine Townsend
- A personal 90-day action plan
- A certificate of completion
Leading with Trust — Foundations is delivered as a hosted program for government agencies and public-service organizations. The host provides the training room and promotes the session to their regional network. In return, the host’s own people attend at no cost.
To book or enquire, contact Christine directly.
Leading with Trust — Foundations is a one-day program built on the Four Threads of Trust framework. Available as a hosted session for government agencies and public-service organizations.