Sarah Kiernan, VP of People and Talent at solidcore, leads the people function for a fast-growing fitness brand. Her perspective on feedback culture is direct: feedback only works after trust is in place. Without it, even well-designed performance systems and coaching programs deliver disappointing results.
The wider issue is that many companies treat feedback as a deliverable. Quarterly reviews, calibration sessions, and 360 cycles get scheduled, run, and filed, but the conversations themselves stay surface-level because the trust to go deeper does not exist. Employees say the right things in the moment and then quietly disengage afterward.
HR leaders who want feedback to change behavior have to build the foundation first. That work is slower and less visible than program design, but it is the only path to feedback that actually shifts performance.
Why trust changes the value of feedback
Feedback without trust feels like criticism. Feedback inside trust feels like investment. Gallup's research on continuous feedback makes the connection plain; you can read more in Gallup's analysis of fast feedback and performance. The same words land differently depending on the relationship.
For HR leaders, that means investing in the manager-employee relationship as a precondition to any feedback program. Tools matter, but they sit on top of the human work. AllVoices' employee survey tool helps surface trust gaps before they show up in performance.
Trust also depends on consistent follow-through. Employee feedback programs that ask for input and then act on nothing teach employees that the cycle is theater. The fastest way to break trust is to ask twice and respond once.
Building feedback into a trust-first culture
What does trust actually look like inside a manager-employee relationship?
Trust shows up in small things. Managers honor confidentiality. They follow through on commitments. They admit mistakes. They give credit publicly and feedback privately. None of these are dramatic, but together they create the conditions where harder feedback can land.
HBR's research on speaking freely at work highlights how rare these conditions are; HBR's research on whether employees can really speak freely walks through the dynamics. Most employees self-edit constantly, and most managers underestimate how often this happens.
How do you build trust on a new team?
Start with predictability. Show up consistently in one-on-ones. Ask the same opening questions every week so that employees know what to expect. Give clear, specific feedback on small moments early, so that bigger feedback later does not feel out of nowhere.
Pair this with a structured performance improvement approach when needed. Trust is not the absence of accountability; it is what makes accountability stick.
What actually works
Make feedback two-way from day one
If feedback only flows down, employees treat it as judgment. Build upward feedback into the same rhythm. Ask managers to start each one-on-one with what they could do differently. Over time, that practice changes the dynamic of every conversation.
Use 360 surveys to formalize the practice once trust has had time to develop. Run them too early and they amplify mistrust.
Treat anonymous channels as part of the feedback system
Some feedback never comes through a direct conversation, especially when power differentials, identity, or fear of retaliation are involved. AllVoices' anonymous reporting tool gives employees a parallel path that complements one-on-ones rather than replacing them.
Treat anonymous feedback the same way you treat named feedback: review it, respond visibly, and act on patterns. The combination of channels signals that all employees are heard, not just the most assertive.
Connect feedback to growth, not surveillance
Employees can tell the difference between feedback that supports growth and feedback that documents weakness. The first builds trust; the second corrodes it. Be explicit about how feedback connects to development plans, stretch assignments, and promotion criteria.
Where feedback has to address a real issue, separate the conversation from the documentation. The conversation is about the person; the documentation is about the work.
Where Employee Relations Fits
Trust does not eliminate hard cases. When something goes wrong, employees need a clear, fair path forward. AllVoices' employee relations function support gives HR teams the structure to handle those moments without breaking trust elsewhere on the team. Our HR case management tool keeps the trail consistent, so handoffs and follow-up do not depend on memory.
How does ER reinforce a trust-first feedback culture?
Strong ER work shows employees that feedback systems have real consequences. When concerns get heard, investigated, and resolved, trust grows across the wider team. When concerns disappear into a black box, trust collapses regardless of what feedback program HR launches next.
That dynamic is why ER infrastructure and feedback culture have to be designed together. Treating them as separate functions misses the point.
Frequently Asked Questions About Trust and Feedback
How long does it take to build trust on a new team?
Months, not weeks. Predictable behavior, follow-through on small commitments, and consistent listening compound over time. There is no shortcut.
What is the fastest way to lose trust as a manager?
Break confidentiality, take credit for someone else's work, or ask for feedback and ignore it. Any of the three undoes months of relationship building.
How do you handle feedback when there is no trust yet?
Stay specific, behavioral, and short. Avoid sweeping characterizations of the person. Use facts and examples, and ask the employee how they see the same situation.
Should feedback always be two-way?
Yes, in tone and structure. Even when the manager has clear feedback to deliver, asking for the employee's view changes the dynamic. It also surfaces context the manager may not have.
How do anonymous channels help build trust?
They give employees a way to raise difficult concerns without exposing themselves before they know what they are dealing with. Used consistently and responded to with care, they reinforce that the company can be trusted with hard input.
What's the first step for HR leaders who want to put this into practice?
Start with one team and one measurable outcome. Pick a function where the issue shows up sharply and a leader who is willing to model the new practice. Map the current state honestly: what is happening, who feels it, and what would good look like in ninety days. Share that picture with the team, ask them what is missing from your read, and adjust before launching anything formal. The goal of step one is alignment, not activity.
Once the picture is shared, pick two or three changes you can make inside one quarter. Resist the urge to launch a full program. Run the changes, measure the response with simple pulse questions, and report back. The combination of a focused team, a clear measure, and a public commitment to learn is what turns a good idea into a practice that spreads. HR leaders who try to launch everywhere at once usually end up launching nowhere.
Iterate from there. The teams that succeed treat the first cycle as a prototype, not a rollout. They keep what worked, drop what did not, and write down what they learned. By the time the practice expands to the next group, it has been pressure-tested by people who have a stake in seeing it work. That is the unglamorous work of putting any people-strategy idea into practice, and it is also the work that compounds.
The Bottom Line for HR Leaders
Sarah Kiernan's work at solidcore makes a simple, often overlooked point. Feedback systems do not change behavior on their own; they amplify whatever trust already exists between manager and employee. Build that trust first, with predictable behavior, two-way listening, and visible follow-through, and feedback becomes the most useful tool you have.
Tools and processes matter, but they sit on top of the human work. Skip the human work and the tools deliver disappointing results.
See how AllVoices helps HR teams build the listening and trust foundations that make feedback land.
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