ABSTRACT
How a leader makes decisions can be a trust buster or a trust builder. When decision-making is generally a top-down model, groups or individuals typically are reluctant to share differing ideas because of intimidation and fear, both symptoms of low-trust organizations. Valuable time and energy are wasted when leaders seek unanimous decisions. The problem with unanimous decisions is that these decisions sometimes indicate real problems with trust in the organization. Sometimes leaders communicate poorly about the issue to be decided. When this situation happens, faculty and staff provide input that is not usable because the communication was poor. This lack of clarity wastes time and further contributes to a lack of trust in the leader. Pseudo–decision-making is a trust buster because leaders obtain others' input and then do not consider it in decision-making. This type of decision-making frustrates people and wastes their time.
