Melissa Eggleston
User Experience Researcher and Designer
Maya Israni
Digital Services Expert, United States Digital Service
Florence Kasule
Director Of Procurement, United States Digital Service
Owen Seely
User Experience Researcher and Designer, United States Digital Service
Andrea Schneider
Project Manager and Lead, United States Digital Service
Summary
Do you think you have great people skills? How do you know? Lots of us are never taught critical behaviors that build trust with others. In the government, trust is often the currency that helps build momentum and gets things done. In this panel with experienced professionals from the U.S. Digital Service and moderated by Melissa Eggleston, we will discuss what works well in building trust in government. You'll learn from past mistakes of others so you can avoid similar missteps. Get practical direction to improve your people skills with your team and all those partners you need on your side.
Key Insights
-
•
The trust equation breaks trust into credibility, reliability, intimacy, and low self-orientation, providing a practical tool for trust-building.
-
•
Delivering results consistently, summarized as delivery equals trust, is critical to maintain reliability and build trust in government projects.
-
•
Empathy and kindness are foundational people skills that enable creating safe spaces and fostering participation within complex teams.
-
•
Honesty, even when delivering difficult truths about a project, sustains trust when done respectfully and backed by evidence.
-
•
Code-switching and adaptability from diverse personal backgrounds enhance listening skills and relationship-building in government environments.
-
•
Discovery sprints serve as trust-building exercises by involving partners early and collaboratively in problem understanding and solution ideation.
-
•
Traditional ‘throwing over the fence’ procurement approaches fail; collaborative procurement teams improve trust and outcomes.
-
•
Relationship maintenance requires intentional effort, similar to personal friendships, including regular check-ins and leveraging multiple communication channels.
-
•
Understanding individual circumstances and meeting people where they are increases warmth and connection in professional relationships.
-
•
Trust-building is layered, requiring care not only between people but also between people and work, and between work entities.
Notable Quotes
"The effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is."
"Trust is the sum of credibility, reliability, intimacy, divided by self-orientation."
"Kindness and empathy are a good way to build interest and relationships."
"In procurement, throwing things over the fence just doesn’t work; collaboration builds trust."
"Delivery is trust—doing what you said, avoiding overpromising, and delivering quality."
"Listening with all your senses, not just the words they’re saying, reveals people’s true needs."
"When you tell the truth, especially hard truths, how you say it matters as much as the truth itself."
"Meeting people where they are means recognizing what’s going on in their life and their context."
"Building trust is a slow, brick-by-brick process, especially when you’re entering new environments."
"Trust requires care at different levels: person-to-person, person-to-work, and work-to-work."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Everyone wants to have an impact on the decisions being made no matter what the role is called."
Jess GrecoClaiming your power: Practical tools for amplifying your unique voice
March 13, 2025
"Teams can thrive when iteration and responsiveness are normalized and psychological safety is present."
Mariesa LenzWhat Beekeeping Taught me about Product Teams
October 29, 2025
"I use a very robotic kind of unnatural sounding voice because I want to listen as fast as possible for efficiency."
Samuel Proulx Laur BaekInclusive Research: Debunking Myths and Getting Started
March 12, 2025
"Some of the best ideas come from UX, but often they’re hidden from decision makers who need to see them."
Deanna Washington Tim Allen Jeff Courcelle John Maeda Matt Raw Erica TjaderScaling Success: Paving the Path from DesignOps to VP
October 4, 2023
"User research revealed agents didn’t know the difference between two similar products and treated them as one."
Anna AvrekhUser Research, Design, and Product - A Love Story
March 11, 2021
"As much of the wisdom and transformation takes place in the act of creating the mandala, so it does in service design."
Dharani PereraThe mandala of service design: unlocking alignment and action through service design
November 20, 2025
"An ad hoc critique is best when guard is down, it’s quick, time-sensitive, and helps share early to avoid costly late feedback."
Joseph MeersmanSweating the Pixel: Scaling Quality through Critique
June 10, 2021
"If ethnographic film is just observational, then it’s just a security camera and a bank, and I want no part of it."
Bas Raijmakers, PhD (RCA) Charley Scull Prabhas PokharelWhat Design Research can Learn from Documentary Filmmaking
March 11, 2022
"Taking a coaching approach supports the other person’s discovery and offers the greatest possibility for change."
Laura WeissThere is No Playbook: Leader as Coach During Challenging Times
April 26, 2024
