Trust Means Loosening Your Grip

One of the biggest indicators of trust is whether we’re willing to let go of something.

If your first instinct is, “It’s just faster if I do it myself,” that probably means you don’t fully trust the other person to deliver—at least not the way you would. And that shows up in all sorts of ways: how we delegate, how we collaborate, how much back-and-forth we create without meaning to.

In biopharma comms, this matters more than most roles—because we rely so heavily on cross-functional partners, agency teams, and clients. We can’t move at the pace the work requires if we’re holding on too tightly.

Trust lets us divide and conquer. It helps us build momentum. It’s how we create cohesion across people who don’t share reporting lines or time zones.

And it goes both ways. People have to trust us, too—to lead, to challenge, to deliver.

Something to think about: Where are you still defaulting to “I’ll just handle it”—and what would it take to loosen your grip?