Sterling effort needed to make trust the ultimate currency

With leaders in all walks of life now being exposed for their greed, immoral and unethical behaviours the levels of trust in society and business are plummeting.What is needed now are sterling efforts by leaders to boost levels of trust in their organisations and they need to start right now as this is a long-term game.

Good starting points are to focus on the fair treatment of all stakeholders and to engender an open culture with transparent practices key. Shareholders may be pressurising for better returns but there is only one currency they really need to trade in for a sustainable future and that is trust. We need more pressure from them and independent non-executive directors to take the long term view to re- build confidence in business and society.

Integrity and engagement are the most important factors in building trust

And finally, from the Edelman Trust Monitor 2014, the top 2 factors which build trust in an organisation are integrity and engagement.

• Integrity consists of being ethical, acting responsibly in a crisis and being transparent and open.
• Engagement includes listening to customers, treating employees well, putting customers before profits and communicating often.

What is more relevant perhaps is the massive gap that the respondents to the monitor see between the importance of these factors and the actual performance of the organisations they relate to. So if we relate this to Ryanair for example, viewed as one of the Damascene brands in their current re-positioning, (prompted by shareholders being hit where it hurts) it will be very interesting to see just how long it takes for their customers to trust that they have really changed and have customers' interests as well as profits at heart.

This blog continues to focus on the "3 Ts", transparency and fair treatment of all stakeholders as key ways to build trust.

Actions CEOs can take to build trust

Again from the Edelman Trust Monitor 2014 , some guidance on how the top people can build trust.

• Communicate clearly and transparently
• Tell the truth regardless of how complex and unpopular it is
• Engage with employees regularly.

These are actions that everyone in an organisation can adopt too. Interestingly,the Monitor also reports that employees are considered the most trusted source across most of the " trust attributes" in the survey. The public want to hear directly from employees as ambassadors and advocates to attest to the integrity, quality, relevance of the products and services sold.

Again this bolsters the argument for a stakeholder response to sustainable business with employees figuring highly in any investment calculations. It also reinforces the "value creation cycle" theory ie if employees believe they have a good deal from the firm  (compared to alternatives) then they are more likely to put more effort and loyalty in, which results in better behaviour/conduct when dealing with customers, more sales, better reputation etc etc.

Are banking CEOs finally getting it? The importance of building trust.

It's quite nice to blog something more positive about the banks.

Yesterday Barclay's CEO Antony Jenkins announced that he was waiving his £2.75m 2013 bonus due to the many problems still being experienced at the bank. However he referred in his address to "progress they had made to rebuild trust".

In the same week Antonio Horta-Osorio, the CEO of the Lloyds Banking Group will state "Rebuilding a sound reputation founded on the highest standards of responsible behaviour is key. But words alone are not enough to change public perception and regain trust. We must provide meaningful commitments to allow ourselves to be independently measure against against them." He was announcing a number of initiatives including the aim of 40% of the top 5,000 roles to be held by women in 2020. So it looks like these two get that action speaks louder than words.

These two examples demonstrate a new "tone from the top". It would be really something if the CEOs start to actively compete against each other in terms of who can be the best responsible leader and, more importantly, how soon it will be before customers really see improved outcomes from this leadership - after all that is what it should really be about.