/ceos-trust

name: ceos-trust
description: Use when building vulnerability-based trust through quarterly team exercises from the EOS Trust Builders toolbox
file-access: [data/trust/, templates/trust-exercise.md, data/accountability.md, data/checkups/]
tools-used: [Read, Write, Glob]

ceos-trust

Facilitate the 10 Trust Builder exercises from the EOS Toolbox, progressing from low to high vulnerability. Acts as a facilitation guide — providing instructions, timing, debrief questions, and recording outcomes — rather than trying to replicate exercises digitally. Teams typically do one exercise per quarter, building deeper trust over time. Drawn from Patrick Lencioni's "Five Dysfunctions of a Team" framework.

**Not for:** People evaluation (use `ceos-people`), organizational health assessment (use `ceos-checkup`), or performance conversations (use `ceos-quarterly`). The Trust Builders are team-level exercises focused on vulnerability-based trust, not individual assessment.

When to Use

• "Build team trust" or "trust building exercise"
• "Run the next trust exercise" or "facilitate trust builders"
• "What trust exercise is next?" or "trust exercise schedule"
• "Show trust exercise history" or "review trust progression"
• "Personal histories exercise" or any specific exercise name
• "How is our team trust?" or "trust level check"
• "Quarterly trust exercise" or "team bonding exercise"
• Any discussion about vulnerability-based trust, team bonding, or the EOS Trust Builders

Context

Finding the CEOS Repository

Search upward from the current directory for the `.ceos` marker file. This file marks the root of the CEOS repository.

If `.ceos` is not found, stop and tell the user: "Not in a CEOS repository. Clone your CEOS repo and run setup.sh first."

**Sync before use:** Once you find the CEOS root, run `git -C <ceos_root> pull --ff-only --quiet 2>/dev/null` to get the latest data from teammates. If it fails (conflict or offline), continue silently with local data.

Key Files

| File | Purpose | |------|---------| | `data/trust/` | Exercise records — one file per completed exercise | | `templates/trust-exercise.md` | Template for recording exercise outcomes | | `data/accountability.md` | Team composition for participant suggestions (read-only — use ceos-accountability to modify) | | `data/checkups/` | Organizational Checkup scores for trust cross-reference (read-only — use ceos-checkup to modify) |

The 10 Exercises

| # | Exercise | Vulnerability | Time Box | Description | |---|----------|--------------|----------|-------------| | 1 | Personal Histories | Low | 30-45 min | Each team member shares personal background (hometown, family, first job, hobbies) | | 2 | DISC/Kolbe Profiles | Low | 45-60 min | Share and discuss personality/working style assessment results | | 3 | Lifeline Exercise | Medium | 45-60 min | Map significant life events on a timeline, share with the team | | 4 | One Thing | Medium | 20-30 min | Each person shares one thing the team doesn't know about them | | 5 | Feedback Round | Medium | 45-60 min | Structured positive and constructive feedback for each team member | | 6 | Strengths Spotlight | Medium | 30-45 min | Each person identifies their top strengths, team validates and adds | | 7 | Conflict Norms | Medium-High | 45-60 min | Establish how the team will handle disagreement and conflict | | 8 | Accountability Partners | Medium-High | 30-45 min | Pair up for mutual accountability check-ins between meetings | | 9 | Team Effectiveness Debrief | High | 60-90 min | Rate and discuss how the team works together as a unit | | 10 | Vulnerability Circle | High | 30-60 min | Share a current struggle, fear, or area where you need help |

Vulnerability Levels

| Level | Exercises | What It Means | |-------|-----------|---------------| | Low | 1-2 | Safe sharing — factual information, low personal risk | | Medium | 3-6 | Personal sharing with moderate risk — life events, feedback, strengths | | Medium-High | 7-8 | Navigating conflict and accountability — requires existing trust | | High | 9-10 | Deep vulnerability — honest assessment of team and personal struggles |

Exercise Record Format

Each completed exercise is a markdown file at `data/trust/YYYY-MM-DD-exercise-slug.md` with YAML frontmatter:

date: "2026-02-16"
exercise_number: 1
exercise_name: "Personal Histories"
participants: ["Brad Feld", "Daniel"]
facilitator: "Brad Feld"
duration_minutes: 35
vulnerability_level: low
status: complete

**File naming:** `YYYY-MM-DD-exercise-slug.md` — date prefix for chronological ordering, exercise slug identifies the type.

Exercise Slug Reference

| # | Exercise | Slug | |---|----------|------| | 1 | Personal Histories | `personal-histories` | | 2 | DISC/Kolbe Profiles | `disc-kolbe-profiles` | | 3 | Lifeline Exercise | `lifeline-exercise` | | 4 | One Thing | `one-thing` | | 5 | Feedback Round | `feedback-round` | | 6 | Strengths Spotlight | `strengths-spotlight` | | 7 | Conflict Norms | `conflict-norms` | | 8 | Accountability Partners | `accountability-partners` | | 9 | Team Effectiveness Debrief | `team-effectiveness-debrief` | | 10 | Vulnerability Circle | `vulnerability-circle` |

Process

Mode: Facilitate

Use when guiding the team through the next Trust Builder exercise. This is the primary mode — one exercise per session.

Step 1: Determine Which Exercise

Read all files from `data/trust/` via `Glob("data/trust/*.md")`. Parse YAML frontmatter to find completed exercises by `exercise_number`.

Determine the next exercise in sequence (lowest number not yet completed).

• **No exercises completed:** Start with #1 Personal Histories.
• **Some completed:** Recommend the next in sequence.
• **All 10 completed:** "All 10 Trust Builder exercises are complete! Consider starting Cycle 2 — repeating exercises builds deeper trust each time. Recommend starting again with #1 Personal Histories."

Display the recommendation:

Next Trust Bu