I had the honour of judging at the UK EXA Awards 2025 this year. I judged the Rewards and Recognition category and the Best Company Culture for companies with 1000+ employees.

The quality of the entries was strong and the judging was tough. It was great to work with Hannah Cox and Busola Firnamade. It was great to see how seriously organisations are taking culture and recognition, not as a “nice to have” but as a business-critical part of performance.

It’s a myth that trust takes months to build. Whilst it deepens over time, trust is a leadership choice and a foundation for building strong relationships.

In this story, I explain how using trust as a foundation in uncertainty created greater safety for Gio as well as me.

“I’ll work with one of the other horses because Kalle looks aloof.”
“I don’t think she likes me because she’s the only horse who hasn’t said hello.”
“This horse doesn’t want to work.”
“Is this the stubborn one?”

These were just a few of the comments I heard from clients

“That’s a lot of horse,” I thought. It was an understatement. Kalle was majestic, galloping up and down the arena with her mane and tail flying behind her, snorting as she charged from one end to the other. She was powerful, confident, and unmistakably in charge. And I… well, I was a novice.

My husband and I move through life at different speeds. I tend to be quicker, more immediate. He’s more measured, more deliberate. That doesn’t make either of us right or wrong, just different.

If you’re not clear on your intention, that in itself is an intention. A former colleague, Alan, once headed out to bring the horses in. I could tell by his walk that he didn’t believe they’d come. Sure enough, later he admitted that that was exactly what he’d been thinking. The horses took off at a gallop.