How to Build Trust on a Team, Starting With Your Own Body

This article is the transcript of a spoken talk. The brain and behaviour mechanisms described are simplified for a general audience and are not clinical guidance. Sources for the research referenced appear at the end.

People do their best work when they feel safe to take risks, share ideas, and challenge both themselves and others. A Harvard Business Review study found that people in high trust organizations were 76% more engaged and 50% more productive than those in low trust environments. So how can you create trust?

Here's two neuroscience informed skills you can use. Number one is somatic awareness. This means tuning into your body, noticing your posture, your breathing, and any tension you're holding. It's really hard to create trust if you're trying to be empathetic while your body is screaming stress. The good news?

Just noticing it changes everything. Take slow deep breaths to stay grounded, your calm signal safety to others. And number two is to mirror responsiveness, pay attention, and meet your colleagues' phrasing, gestures and body language. Our mirror neurons activate when we respond genuinely and openly to others' emotional cues. If someone folds their arms, gently open yours. If they light up about an idea, join their enthusiasm. If they frown, offer warmth through your tone and expression. Let your body reflect empathy, not just your words. By combining somatic awareness with the power of mirror neurons, you can create trust naturally without forcing it.

What gets in the way of trust on your team? Share your thoughts in the comments below, or try these two skills and let us know what you notice. And as always, check the description for ways to engage with NEUVERO.

References

Zak, P. J. (2017). The neuroscience of trust. Harvard Business Review, 95(1), 84-90. hbr.org
Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. doi:10.2307/2666999
Rizzolatti, G., & Craighero, L. (2004). The mirror-neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 27, 169-192. doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230
Porges, S. W. (2007). The polyvagal perspective. Biological Psychology, 74(2), 116-143. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2006.06.009

Adapted from the Neuvero video Building Trust. Related: Why Your Best People Stop Thinking Under Pressure (regulating a rattled room) and How to Lead as a Senior Engineer Without Becoming a Manager, on reaching other brains.

Frequently asked questions

How do you build trust on a team without forcing it?

You build it below the words, in the body, because trust is registered by an older, faster part of the brain that is quietly asking whether it is safe here. Two body-first skills do most of the work: somatic awareness, noticing and settling your own tension so your calm signals safety, and mirror responsiveness, letting your posture and tone genuinely meet a colleague's. Keep your own state steady and tune it to the person in front of you, and trust builds on its own without being announced or forced.

How do mirror neurons build trust at work?

When you respond openly and genuinely to another person's emotional cues, you engage the brain's mirror system, the circuitry that helps you feel with someone rather than just observe them. That is a big part of how a colleague comes to feel understood by you. In practice it looks small and specific: opening your arms when they close off, joining their enthusiasm instead of staying flat, meeting a frown with warmth, so your body reflects empathy rather than just narrating it.

What are somatic techniques to build trust as a leader?

Start with somatic awareness, which just means tuning into your own posture, breathing, and wherever you are holding tension. When you catch that tension and take a few slow, deep breaths, you settle your own state, and because our nervous systems co-regulate, your calm becomes a signal of safety to everyone around you. It is genuinely hard to make someone feel safe while your body is broadcasting stress, so steadying yourself first is where the trust actually starts.