Trust by Design

ABOUT

Trust at work is at an all-time low.

Employees are disengaged, skeptical, and quietly making exit plans. Employers are frustrated that their culture initiatives aren't working. The gap between what organizations say about their culture and how it actually feels to work there has never been wider.

Trust by Design is our answer to that gap. It's not a workshop. It's not a keynote. It's a methodology for making trust operational — visible in behaviors, policies, and processes, not just stated in values on a wall.

Origin Story

Origin Story

We didn't set out to build Trust by Design. We set out to operationalize DEI.

For years, Aparna & Rob ran wildly popular data-driven DEI masterclasses and off-sites. We were known for being rigorous, practical, and direct.

They were known for being rigorous, practical, and direct — not the consultants who showed up with a moving slideshow and a charge-by-the-workshop model. People left their sessions saying, "This was better than my Cornell certification." Program officers at foundations started sending their whole staff. Nonprofit executive directors came back year after year.

What made the work different was the framing. Instead of treating equity as a values problem, they treated it as an operations problem. Lean value stream mapping applied to hiring. Statistical variance monitoring applied to pay. Process redesign applied to performance reviews. It worked because it was concrete, not inspirational.

Then in 2023 DEI became politically radioactive, almost overnight. Companies that had invested heavily in equity programs started quietly dismantling them. Legal teams got nervous.

Here's what Aparna kept thinking about: the underlying problem didn't go away.

Employees still needed to know their employers would treat them fairly. That they wouldn't be the first to go in a layoff and the last to know. That the promotion criteria actually meant something.

That's a trust problem. And you can't fix a trust problem by swapping out the language on your culture deck.

So they rebuilt the work around what had always been true: equity, done right, is just good management. Clear policies. Consistent process. Data that surfaces what's actually happening, not what leadership hopes is happening. Relationships that can handle honesty.

WHAT TRUST BY DESIGN IS MADE OF

Trust Cultivation

The relational infrastructure in an organization — how leaders behave, how teams communicate, how conflict is handled, whether people feel psychologically safe enough to tell the truth. You can't shortcut this with an offsite or a survey. It builds over time, through consistent behavior and intentional practice. We help organizations identify where trust is actually breaking down, not just where it feels uncomfortable.

Policy and Process Clarity

The operational infrastructure — hiring, performance reviews, promotion criteria, compensation frameworks, how decisions get made and communicated. When these processes are opaque, inconsistent, or poorly designed, trust erodes. When they're clear, fair, and applied consistently, trust follows. We help organizations audit and redesign these processes using the same operational excellence frameworks used in manufacturing and finance — applied to people.

The tools we use

  • Workforce Intelligence Advisor

    Workforce Intelligence Advisor

    You can't fix what you can't measure. This tool identifies the 5–7 workforce metrics that matter most for your role and organization type — not a generic dashboard, but a prioritized starting point for people strategy. → Try it free

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and half circle lines.

    Holistic Hiring Toolkit

    Most organizations think their hiring process is pretty fair. Most are wrong — not because of bad intentions, but because the process was never designed with equity in mind. This tool analyzes your hiring process and surfaces where bias is most likely entering. → Try it free

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and circle lines.

    Nonprofit Org Transformation

    If your organization is considering a merger, consolidation, or significant restructuring, this tool gives you a structured diagnostic to understand your current organizational health before you make a move you can't undo. → Try it free

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Weekly Data Downloads

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30 - minutes

〰️ Weekly Data Downloads 〰️ 30 - minutes

Live, every week, free

Every week, Aparna and Rob host a free 30-minute session on a specific trust, equity, or management problem facing small and mid-sized organizations.

Recent topics have included: management practices that Fortune 500 companies use and mid-market companies shouldn't, how to do benefits equity on a budget, workforce planning that doesn't destroy trust, and why merit is harder to define than most managers think.

Sessions are free to attend. Pay-what-you-can for those who want to support the work.

Sessions are recorded. Registration gets you access to the archive.

  • "We moved from insight into action. Our collaboration produced a clear, leader-led and actionable path."

    — Construction, Chief People Office

  • "Helped our Board rise to a higher level of awareness, participation and relevance. We grew as a governing board, and as individuals."

    — Public Media, Board Chair

  • "Helped us move from saying the right things with good intentions to taking meaningful actions and a long-term plan."

    —Forestry, Market Leader PNW