Performance follows trust – helping organisations perform better by helping people connect better
Most organisations invest heavily in strategy, systems, and technology.
The opportunity lies in giving equal attention to the quality of relationships that enable those investments to succeed.
That's where performance is unlocked.
I help organisations improve performance by building cultures of trust.
Inspired by Danish workplace practices and shaped by years in diplomacy, communication and academia, I work with leaders to strengthen the human foundation of performance.
Let's talk
If you're leading an organisation and want to build a stronger, higher-performing culture, I'd be delighted to have a conversation.
The Jakob Holm Trust Framework™
Successful organisations are built on five foundations that result in high performance:
When these are in place, organisations move faster, collaborate more effectively, and adapt well to change.
HOW I WORK
My approach unfolds in three stages:
DIAGNOSE
Understand what is really happening inside the organisation. Identify strengths, challenges, and the patterns that influence performance.
ALIGN
Build clarity, trust, and stronger relationships across leadership teams and organisations.
STRENGTHEN
Embed lasting change through workshops, facilitation, mentoring, and ongoing support.
THE FOUNDATION OF PERFORMANCE
Most performance problems are relationship problems in disguise.
How people communicate, handle disagreement, share responsibility, and build trust has a profound impact on organisational success.
A strategy can look good on paper, but it rarely succeeds if the relationships needed to deliver it are weak.
When people feel trusted, they are more likely to take ownership, share ideas, embrace challenges, and grow. When trust is absent, people often become more cautious, less creative, and less engaged.
Trust doesn't mean ignoring risks or lowering standards. It means believing in people's potential while providing the support, guidance, and psychological safety they need to succeed.
The Jakob Holm Trust Framework™
CONVERSATIONS
Sometimes a good conversation can change the way we see things.
Trust is at the heart of my work with organisations. But trust also matters at an individual level: in our relationships with others, in the decisions we make, and in the confidence we have to find our own way forward.
Alongside my work with organisations, I offer one-to-one conversations for people who would value the time and space to think something through with another person.
A conversation built on trust
Good conversations require trust: the freedom to speak openly, to explore ideas without immediately having to defend them, and sometimes to say things we haven't quite been able to articulate before.
If you think a conversation might be useful, you're very welcome to get in touch.
ABOUT ME
After almost a decade leading communications at the Danish Embassy in London, and earlier careers in advertising, publishing and academia, I founded Jakob Holm Limited to help organisations strengthen the human foundation of performance: trust.
Originally from Denmark, I have spent the past fifteen years living and working internationally, including as a lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin and later in diplomacy in the United Kingdom. Throughout my career, I have worked at the intersection of communication, culture and human relationships.
Alongside my professional work, I have written about meaning, belonging and human connection, including the Danish-language book Meningen med det hele (The Meaning of It All).
One observation has stayed with me wherever I have worked: organisations perform at their best when people trust one another, communicate openly and share a clear sense of purpose. When those foundations are strong, people collaborate better, take greater responsibility and bring more of their potential to their work.
That insight became the foundation of my work.
Today, I help founders, leadership teams and organisations build high-trust cultures through diagnostics, workshops and long-term advisory. My focus is on strengthening trust, psychological safety, accountability and communication so that people perform at their best and organisations become more resilient, adaptable and successful. Alongside this work, I offer one-to-one conversations for individuals who value a trusted space to reflect, think things through and explore questions about work, relationships, change or direction.
Performance follows trust.