You Can Recover From a Mistake. You Can't Easily Recover From Lost Trust
By Suzie Thoraval
Start with understanding your stakeholders
“The more you engage with customers, the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.”
When the Optus network went down across Australia in November 2023, millions of people were affected within minutes.
Phones stopped working. Businesses couldn’t process payments. Public transport systems stalled. Hospitals and emergency services were disrupted.
The technical failure was significant. But what followed became a case study in stakeholder trust.
Customers wanted information and reassurance. Government wanted accountability.
Businesses wanted clarity. Employees were fielding frustration in real time. The community wanted to know how this could happen.
What many people remember most is not only the outage itself, but how uncertain and frustrated stakeholders felt in the hours and days that followed. Communication felt slow. Accountability felt unclear. Confidence wavered.
A formal government review later found that communication with customers and stakeholders during the outage was not timely or clear enough, and that this added to confusion and distress across the community. It also noted the widespread impact on businesses, government services and vulnerable Australians.
It was a powerful reminder that when stakeholder confidence drops, organisational stability drops with it.
Why this matters for leaders
My hope for you is that you won’t face a crisis on that scale. But every leader operates in a web of stakeholder relationships that can either stabilise or destabilise their work.
When leaders deeply understand their stakeholders:
decisions are accepted more readily
risks surface earlier
trust builds over time
people stay engaged, even when things go wrong
When they don’t, issues tend to escalate quickly.
Understanding stakeholders is not just about maintaining relationships. It directly shapes decision-making, reputation, risk management and organisational resilience.
Strong stakeholder insight helps leaders see the broader context they are operating in, anticipate reactions and respond with greater awareness.
The link to adaptive stability
Adaptive stability is the ability to stay steady while responding thoughtfully to changing conditions.
One of the strongest sources of that steadiness is a genuine understanding of stakeholder needs and concerns. Without it, leaders are often forced into reactive mode.
When leaders invest time in understanding stakeholders:
they anticipate concerns rather than being surprised by them
they respond with empathy and clarity
they make more balanced decisions
they build trust and credibility over time
Trust acts as a stabiliser. It reduces overreaction, speculation and unnecessary tension.
Good stakeholder relationships are like planting seeds. With care and attention, they grow into strong, resilient connections that bear fruits of trust and collaboration.
When stakeholders feel understood, they are more likely to stay constructive and supportive — even in difficult moments. That support makes it far easier for organisations to navigate the unexpected.
When stakeholder needs and concerns are not well understood, there are more likely to face communication breakdowns, reduced trust, lower engagement and greater resistance to change.
What research and experience tell us
There is strong evidence that organisations which understand and respond to stakeholder needs perform better over time.
Research on customer loyalty, employee engagement and organisational reputation consistently shows that trust and satisfaction are closely linked to how well organisations listen and respond.
The Service Profit Chain model devised by Harvard Business School research, for example, highlights the connection between employee experience, customer experience and organisational performance. When stakeholder relationships are strong, organisations are more resilient and better positioned to adapt.
So, understanding stakeholders is not just good practice. It is a strategic advantage.
What this means for everyday leadership
You don’t need a crisis to focus on stakeholder understanding. In fact, it is far more effective to invest in stakeholder engagement before you need it.
Leaders who do this well tend to:
regularly map and revisit their key stakeholders
create simple feedback loops
ask thoughtful questions and listen carefully
engage early when shaping direction
tailor communication to what matters to each group
revisit stakeholder needs as conditions change
These are small actions which over time create strong, stable relationships that support better decisions and smoother progress.
Ask yourself:
Who are my stakeholders and how much power and interest do they have in my work?
How well do I understand what matters most to my key stakeholders right now?
Where might I be making assumptions rather than seeking insight?
What concerns might exist that haven’t yet been voiced?
How often do I engage stakeholders before decisions are finalised?
What would build deeper trust in these relationships?
Final thought
Stability in leadership comes from understanding. When leaders take time to understand the people around them — their needs, concerns and pressures — they create the conditions for steadier decisions and stronger relationships.
Adaptive stability grows when leaders stay close to the people their decisions affect.
This week ask yourself: Who would benefit from me taking more time to understand their perspective?
