Dr. Pauline Voortman
Speaker & Advisor
I work on trust because I feel that by doing so, I am doing ‘the right thing’. I founded Trustworks in 2012 to pursue my mission of helping people in the Netherlands achieve better results by paying deliberate attention to trust. This is not easy for anyone, for our clients, my colleagues, or myself. I often compare trust to clean air: we cannot live without it, and the moment it becomes polluted, we notice it immediately. When I was growing up, trust was more self-evident. Today, however, society faces rougher conditions, and trust is under greater pressure. Within organisations, this makes it all the more important to bring together the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ sides of management. That is exactly what our work at Trustworks is about, and how our methods and practices can help support you.
Alongside this mission, I earned my PhD under Prof. Dr. Arjo Klamer with my dissertation ‘Vertrouwen werkt’ (2012). Later, I wrote a book to make working on trust practically applicable: ‘vertrouwen als kompas’ (2019). The Trustworks model is built on these books and on my years of experience. Starting in 2025, I will take a step back from daily operations and continue supporting Trustworks as a speaker and advisor in its ongoing development.
Sacha Olieux
Managing Director
Trust matters deeply to me because I have seen what distrust does to people in an organisation. It creates distance, misunderstandings, and it can be chaotic. When trust starts to decline, the real challenge is to remain connected and to have conversations that were previously avoided or not handled well. I don’t find this easy myself. Because it can be confronting to look at your own role in a collaboration and reflect on it openly, that requires a great deal of trust. My passion and expertise lie in helping people build, strengthen, and restore trust. I believe everyone deserves an environment where both collective and personal development can thrive. Trust is a prerequisite for this.
I serve as Managing Director of Trustworks, bringing a strong background in Learning & Development. My focus is on designing and facilitating tailor-made, evidence-based programs. Together with our team, we ensure that teams, leaders, and organisations are effectively supported in working on trust.
Gijsbert Roeleveld
Managing Partner
I am working on trust because I thrive in environments where trust is abundant. In such settings, I can truly relax and connect more deeply with the people around me. Trust creates connection, and connection, in turn, fosters trust. I have noticed that when I sense trust slipping away, my instinct is to withdraw from the situation and avoid it. The challenge for me is to do the opposite: to make trust a topic of conversation at precisely those moments and to re-establish connection. Time and again, I have discovered that this approach works and how essential it is for sustainable collaboration.
As Managing Partner of Trustworks, I am responsible for our trainers and training programs. Drawing on my background as a communication trainer, I support professionals and teams in developing their communication in a more transparent, effective, and above all, trustworthy way. In each of our trainings, the Trustworks model makes working on trust concrete and actionable.
Edu van der Werf
Partner
I work on trust because trusting others is not always easy, even though we know it is unavoidable. We need to let go, rely on others, and sometimes take a leap of faith. I want everyone to be able to do this comfortably, without always feeling the need to stay on guard. For me, this is also a challenge, which is why the topic resonates so strongly.
We all influence the trust we experience ourselves, as well as the trust others place in us. At the same time, the context we operate in, a company, a culture, or a society, shapes the level of trust just as much. Trust is the foundation of every professional and personal relationship. Working on the right level of trust in any environment gives me hope. Hope that we don’t always have to be as cautious as we think, and that we can allow ourselves to relax a little more.
As a Partner at Trustworks, I focus mainly on the organisational segment. With my international experience as a trainer and advisor, I support organisations in designing and reviewing processes that help build or restore trust.
Our
mission
Developing trust
Our mission is to help develop trust in the workplace so that people can collaborate with greater confidence and peace of mind. Trust is the foundation of an effective work environment that delivers lasting results. While tensions are inevitable, we guide teams, leaders, and organisations to address them in a timely and constructive way. We support the development of trust to foster a positive culture where people support one another and continue to grow together.
