1. Do you work at a
high-trust company?
10 sure signs to look for

2. Trust makes
working
with others
easier –
much easier.

3. You share ideas without
worrying who "gets credit".
You can admit and learn
from mistakes instead of
covering them up.
You make decisions faster.

4. It’s easy to know how much
you trust your teammates
and leaders…

5. …but how do others feel?
You could ask, but… awkward.

6. Fortunately, you can find
out by answering these 10
proxy questions.
Drumroll, please!

7. 1. Do company leaders use
high-trust language?
QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

8. This includes saying "we" instead of "I" or "you" when talking
about successes or failures. Do they prefer the term "team
members” over "employees"? "Leaders" over "managers"? The
choice of words provides subtle clues as to how they view
their place in the company – and yours.
WHY IT MATTERS

9. 2. Are failures and lessons
learned shared across the
company?
QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

10. Tolerance for honest mistakes encourages creative thinking
and calculated risks. When someone shares their failures and
what they learned from them, it sends a strong signal to
others that the tolerance is real.
WHY IT MATTERS

11. Tolerance for honest mistakes encourages creative thinking
and calculated risks. When someone shares their failures and
what they learned from them, it sends a strong signal to
others that the tolerance is real.
WHY IT MATTERS
What if you could learn from
mistakes before they happen?
Try the premortem technique.
Learn about premortems

12. 3. Do leaders live the
company values?
QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

13. Leaders are anyone influential, regardless of role. Even you! If
the trend-setters and taste-makers live the values, everyone
else will take the values seriously too.
WHY IT MATTERS

14. 4. Is information open and
easy to find?
QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

15. There's very little that needs to be locked down other than
employees' personal information. If network drives, shareable
documents, wiki pages, and chat rooms are "open by default",
that's a positive sign.
WHY IT MATTERS

16. There's very little that needs to be locked down other than
employees' personal information. If network drives, shareable
documents, wiki pages, and chat rooms are "open by default",
that's a positive sign.
WHY IT MATTERS
Did you know?…
At Atlassian, even information on revenue, expenditures,
and customer count is discoverable by anyone who cares
to look for it. Companies like HubSpot and Apptopia are
similarly open with their data. Of course, not every high-
trust company takes it to that extreme. But it's less crazy
than you might think.

17. 5. Does everyone know what
the business is focusing on
and how it's performing?
QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

18. Sharing focus areas and strategies not only signals a culture
of trust, it's good for business. Everyone understands how
their work contributes to the bigger picture and can make
smarter decisions as a result.
WHY IT MATTERS

19. 6. Do team members share
company news on their social
channels?
QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

20. Social sharing is a sign that team members are proud of their
work and want to incorporate that into their personal brand.
On average, you might see 7-10% sharing company content
on social. In uber-engaged workplaces, it might rise as high as
30%.
WHY IT MATTERS

21. 7. Is it easy to give and invite
feedback at any time?
QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

22. When trust is high amongst teammates, you’ll notice peer
feedback being given informally – and not just at annual
review time. If design sparring, code reviews, or project
retrospectives are business-as-usual, that’s a Good Sign™.
WHY IT MATTERS

23. WHY IT MATTERS
When trust is high amongst teammates, you’ll notice peer
feedback being given informally – and not just at annual
review time. If design sparring, code reviews, or project
retrospectives are business-as-usual, that’s a Good Sign™.
Learn about
retrospectives
If giving 1-on-1 feedback feels
intimidating, try a group
retrospective on your last
project instead.

24. 8. Do executives
crowdsource strategy and
major initiatives?
QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

25. High-trust executives ask their rank-and-file for input on
initiatives and strategic focus areas. In return, staff tend to
rally behind the ideas selected for action (even if they
would’ve chosen differently).
WHY IT MATTERS

26. 9. Is it easy to connect with
the CEO?
QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

27. In companies with high-trust cultures, top brass typically have
open-door policies. Anyone in the company can schedule a
few minutes to talk about product direction, career
development, internal operations, etc.
WHY IT MATTERS

28. Another drumroll, please!
Ok. Ready for the big one?

29. 10. Do people say "no" to their
leaders?
QUIZ: DO YOU WORK AT A HIGH-TRUST COMPANY?

30. If everyone always says "yes", you're in a high-compliance
environment. People in a high-trust environment will offer
respectful dissent. They'll engage in discussion and agree to
disagree when they can't come to consensus.
WHY IT MATTERS

31. If you've answered "yes" to all
10 questions (with a straight
face), congratulations!

32. Your company has the most
important ingredients for
collaboration, creativity, and
generally crushing it.

33. If your company has some
work to do, take heart.

34. Trust builds in a virtuous
cycle – and that cycle can
start with you.

35. Anyone from the CEO to the
intern who started last week
can lead by example.

36. Remember: leadership is
personal, not positional.

37. For more on these trust-building techniques, click below.
atlassian.com/team-playbook
Premortem
Anticipate and solve
for risks while there’s
still time.
Sparring
Let peers challenge
your ideas and inspire
new ones.
Retrospective
Create a safe space to
discuss what worked
and what didn’t.