Subramanian
11/07/2025
Most policies don’t protect people, they protect the system from trusting them.
One person messes up and a new policy is born.
Not to fix the root cause, but to make sure it never happens again.
Soon, you’re not managing performance. You’re managing fear.
Buurtzorg Nederland, the Dutch healthcare rebel, did the opposite.
They removed middle managers, job descriptions, and HR manuals.
Self-managed teams made the decisions, and trust made it work.
That challenged me.
So when we worked with a construction client in Doha, we asked:
What if the policies were the problem?
The team was buried in approvals and process.
I had my doubts.
One supervisor asked, “If we remove the rules, what if someone takes advantage?”
Another said, “This won’t work here. We’re not Buurtzorg Nederland.”
We didn’t push. We listened.
Then we rewired:
→ Brain-based safety cues
→ Co-created Trust Charters
→ Weekly feedback spaces
Some leaned in.
Others waited unsure if this was just another HR fad.
One team went too informal and missed key handovers.
We course-corrected.
That’s when we saw the truth:
Trust isn’t a tool. It’s a muscle.
Built conversation by conversation.
By week six, a quiet foreman — the one no one expected suggested a workflow change.
It was adopted across divisions.
No one gave him permission.
No one needed to.
Because trust made him feel he could.
It’s still imperfect.
But today, there are fewer policies and more ownership.
That feels like a culture shifting.
What’s one policy your team follows that no one truly believes in? Let’s explore what trust could do instead.
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