Blog 17: Building Trust With Indigenous People - A Context: Part 1 of 6

Building Trust with Indigenous People - A Context: Part 1 of 6

I have been asked often, “How do you build trust with Indigenous people?”

My answer has three parts. First, trust is earned, over time, based on your actions and words. Second, ask the Indigenous people what their engagement expectations are and follow their expectations. Third, when thinking of building trust with an Indigenous community, consider five key pillars: a) engagement; b) empathy; c) authenticity; d) thinking; and e) communication.

Dr. Frances Frei, a professor of technology and operations management at the Harvard Business School, argues that building trust is founded on our ability to demonstrate that: a) we are real (Authenticity); b) we think clearly and assess a broad perspective of ideas, unencumbered by prejudices (Thinking); and c) we care about people's well-being (Empathy). To these competencies, I add the processes and skills of engaging (Engagement) and effectively communicating with the Indigenous community (Communication) (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Some processes and skills (Engagement and Communication) and behavioral competencies (Empathy, Authenticity, and Thinking) that form the pillars of building trust with an Indigenous community.

Weakness in any of these pillars can threaten trust, but the trust pillar most likely to fail is empathy. So commit your full attention to the people you are building trust with. It is easy to become distracted.

In the remaining five blog posts, I share some thoughts of the five trust pillars based on my experience and the lessons taught to me by my First Nations mentors and colleagues.

Andy Fyon

January 14, 2026