Planting the Seeds of Trust and Accountability in Your Organization

Last month, we talked about gardens. More specifically, how the best leaders trade authority for influence—choosing to nurture growth rather than command it.

This month? We’re staying in the dirt but going deeper.

Because once your team garden starts growing, what keeps it thriving is not just vision or velocity. It’s trust and accountability—the twin roots that anchor a healthy culture and allow your people to bloom.

Let’s start with a truth many leaders tiptoe around:

You cannot hold people accountable if they don’t trust you.

Read that again.

In the workplace garden, accountability is not the pesticide you spray when things go sideways. It’s the natural result of mutual trust, shared clarity, and consistent care.

When done well, accountability isn’t done to someone. It’s owned by everyone.

What’s Trust Got to Do with It?
Everything.
Trust is what makes people lean in, take risks, speak up, and show up—even when it’s hard. It’s what transforms a team from a group of task-doers into a connected community of problem-solvers.

And contrary to popular belief, trust isn’t built by being "nice" or avoiding conflict. It’s built by being clear, competent, consistent—and human. (More on that next month when we unpack The Science of Trust.)

Think of trust as the rich soil your team needs to root into. Without it, accountability becomes brittle, like trying to stake a tomato plant in gravel.

Accountability That Grows, Not Grits
We’ve all seen it: the manager who announces “We need to hold people accountable around here!” only to disappear behind a spreadsheet or a policy.

But real accountability isn’t a hammer. It’s a trellis--something people can lean on to grow stronger.
Here’s what it looks like in action:

• Clear Expectations: “We agreed on this timeline. What’s getting in the way?”
  
• Shared Ownership: “How can we work together to get this back on track?”
  
• Constructive Challenge: “What support do you need to meet your commitment?”
  

It’s about conversations, not consequences.

When leaders lead with trust, accountability becomes something people invite—because they care about the work, the team, and the shared purpose.

The Gardener’s Mindset
Here’s the thing: You can’t force accountability any more than you can force a seed to sprout.
What you can do is create the conditions for it to grow. In the garden of leadership, that means:

• Watering with empathy
  
• Weeding with clarity
• Checking in before checking out
• Being present in the dirt, not just watching from the deck

We coach leaders to ditch the control-freak playbook and lean into the quiet power of showing up consistently, setting the tone, and modeling what accountability with care really looks like.

Because leadership isn’t about being in charge--it’s about being worth following.

Ready to Grow Something Meaningful?
If your organization struggles with accountability—or if trust feels more like a buzzword than a behavior—it might be time to stop barking at the plants and start tending the roots.

We love giving leaders the tools to:

1. Build trust that sticks (not just when things are going well)
   
2. Create psychological safety without lowering standards
3. Hold high expectations with people, not against them

It’s leadership that lasts longer than this year’s annual review cycle.
It’s culture cultivation at its finest.

Coming Next Month: The Science of Trust
We’ll be digging deeper (yes, we’re sticking with the soil metaphors) into what trust really means, how it works in the brain, and why it’s less about being liked—and more about being competent, consistent, and caring.

Because when trust grows, everything else gets easier.

Until then, happy planting.