Washington University in St. Louis
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MGT622: Building and Sustaining Trust

Technical Leadership Certificate
Course summary:

What does trust have to do with business success?

Everything. Trust is directly linked to employee engagement, retention, productivity, and innovation. Leaders who demonstrate trust and trustworthiness inspire higher levels of performance and commitment to the team and organizational success. 

Course experience:
This course introduces Trust Builders; actions leaders can take to build and sustain trusting relationships, as well as common Trust Breakers that can erode or quickly break trust. Applying these skills to build trusting relationships enables people to take risks, identify and solve problems, and collaborate to achieve business results. 
 
Who should take this course?
Technical professionals wishing to earn  Washington University's Technical Leadership Certificate, or those who need to communicate clearly and effectively with others. This course is designed to teach participants ways to increase their effectiveness with teams, in meetings and in individual discussion with peers, managers, vendors and customers.
 
Course outline:
  • Let’s Get Started: Learners introduce themselves and share the trust-building actions they identified in their Course Prep. The group discusses the challenges they read about in Course Prep, then discusses the business impact and benefits of high-trust relationships in the workplace.
  • Trust Builders That Work: Learners engage in a table team activity, in which they match cards containing short descriptions of leaders’ opportunities to build trust with cards that list actions demonstrating Trust Builders. Learners then discuss the impact of Trust Builders in the workplace.
  • Building Trust with Key Principles: Working in groups, learners choose two trust-building opportunities, and identify the Key Principles that would help the leaders address personal needs in those opportunities. The facilitator reviews how Share and Empathy work together and points out pitfalls related to sharing. In a two-part activity, learners recommend a trust-building action to the leader in one scenario, as well as words to say to use Empathy and Share. In another exercise, learners read a plan to build trust drafted by the leader from the second scenario, then suggest words the leader could say to carry out their plan.
  • Trust Breakers: Facilitator introduces Trust Breakers and the leader’s responsibility to watch for signs of damaged trust. Learners write a brief description of time they damaged or broke trust and write the Trust Breaker it relates to on a note. The facilitator posts note to create a pattern, and the group discusses what they see.
  • Repairing Trust: Facilitator reviews why Share is critical to restoring trust. Learners watch a video of a leader conducting a discussion to improve trust and point out what he said to use Key Principles. The large group discusses the impact of the leader’s use of the Key Principles.
  • Skill Practice: Learners prepare for and conduct two rounds of skill practice using their repairing trust situations.
  • Your Next Steps: Working in groups, learners answer three questions about a trust challenge the group discussed in the session. Teams share their responses with the large group. Learners review the tools and resources they can use in their workplace.
Type:
Virtual Classroom
 
Instructor:
Natalia Litoldo
 
Day & Time:
Mar 17, 2025
3:00 to 7:00PM
 
Enrollment Deadline:
Mar 10, 2025
 
Location:
Zoom
 
Course Fee(s):
$595
 
CEUs:
0.4
 
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Enrollment Deadline is March 10th, 2025 at 5 PM CST. Beyond this date, please call 314-935-4444 to register.

Parking and refreshments are provided.

CANCELLATION POLICY
A full refund will be given when a registrant cancels more than five (5) business days prior to the start of the class. Cancellations received within 5 business days of the start of the class and no-shows will be billed in full. Another person may be substituted at any time at no additional charge.

A request to transfer a class to a future date can only occur if the request is more than 5 business days prior to the start of class.  Otherwise, the request will be considered a cancellation and the policy will apply.
Type:
On-Campus Classroom
 
Instructor:
J.D. Frailey
 
Day & Time:
Tuesday | Apr 15, 2025
1:00 - 5:00 p.m.
 
Enrollment Deadline:
Apr 8, 2025
 
Location:
511 Lopata Hall 
Danforth Campus
 
Course Fee(s):
$595
 
CEUs:
0.4
 
add2cart
 

Enrollment Deadline is Apr 8, 2025 at 5 PM CST. Beyond this date, please call 314-935-4444 to register.

Parking and refreshments are provided.

CANCELLATION POLICY
A full refund will be given when a registrant cancels more than five (5) business days prior to the start of the class. Cancellations received within 5 business days of the start of the class and no-shows will be billed in full. Another person may be substituted at any time at no additional charge.

A request to transfer a class to a future date can only occur if the request is more than 5 business days prior to the start of class.  Otherwise, the request will be considered a cancellation and the policy will apply.
Type:
Virtual Classroom
 
Instructor:
Natalia Litoldo
 
Day & Time:
July 31, 2025
4:00 to 8:00PM
 
Enrollment Deadline:
July 24, 2025
 
Location:
Zoom
 
Course Fee(s):
$595
 
CEUs:
0.4
 
add2cart
 

Enrollment Deadline is July 24th, 2025 at 5 PM CST. Beyond this date, please call 314-935-4444 to register.

Parking and refreshments are provided.

CANCELLATION POLICY
A full refund will be given when a registrant cancels more than five (5) business days prior to the start of the class. Cancellations received within 5 business days of the start of the class and no-shows will be billed in full. Another person may be substituted at any time at no additional charge.

A request to transfer a class to a future date can only occur if the request is more than 5 business days prior to the start of class.  Otherwise, the request will be considered a cancellation and the policy will apply.
Type:
On-Campus Classroom
 
Instructor:
J.D. Frailey
 
Day & Time:
Oct 22, 2025
8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
 
Enrollment Deadline:
Oct 15, 2025
 
Location:
511 Lopata Hall 
Danforth Campus
 
Course Fee(s):
$595
 
CEUs:
0.4
 
add2cart
 

Enrollment Deadline is Oct 15, 2025 at 5 PM CST. Beyond this date, please call 314-935-4444 to register.

Parking and refreshments are provided.

CANCELLATION POLICY
A full refund will be given when a registrant cancels more than five (5) business days prior to the start of the class. Cancellations received within 5 business days of the start of the class and no-shows will be billed in full. Another person may be substituted at any time at no additional charge.

A request to transfer a class to a future date can only occur if the request is more than 5 business days prior to the start of class.  Otherwise, the request will be considered a cancellation and the policy will apply.

Learning outcomes:

  • Recognize how trust in the workplace affects business results
  • Analyze their role in building and sustaining trust
  • Identify common workplace behaviors that can build, sustain, or break trust; Demonstrate behaviors that show they trust others, as well as give people the confidence to trust them
  • Use interaction skills to foster open communication, build and maintain trusting relationships, and repair damaged ones

Applies toward the following certificates:

Technical Leadership Certificate
Communication Certificate - 500px
Have questions?
Contact us if you would like to speak with a program director or visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.
 
(The most important thing I learned was…) "How to prepare for difficult conversations." MGT622: Building and Sustaining Trust