Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

How often do you hear one of these statements?

“I need to get approval to do (or say) that.”

“I need to clear this through compliance.”

“You can’t quote me if I don’t get permission.”

“I can’t help you without approval.”

Have you ever considered the relationship, within an organization, between approval and trust?

I’m not referring to the first definition of “approval” from Merriam-Webster, but rather the second shown below.

1. The belief that something or someone is good or acceptable: a good opinion of someone or something

2. Permission to do something: acceptance of an idea, action, plan, etc.

Think about how many employees are constrained by an “approval process,” and how this impacts speed of innovation and decision-making as well as employee engagement. Think about how costly this is. Every time someone needs approval to say something or do something, the “approval” process impedes the outcome. In fact, the process may be so daunting, that employees choose to take the “easy” road, never creating anything new or suggesting a new idea. After all, it would require approval.

What if leaders chose to extend trust throughout the organization by never requiring approval for ANYTHING?

Instead CEOs and their Boards took the time to craft long-term credos, vision and values statements and/or Codes of Conduct; and they were more than just “slogans” etched into the wall at corporate headquarters. The entire staff, starting with the CEO, lived the values every day, and employees understood, at the time of hiring, that any “values violation” would result in immediate termination. Now imagine the innovation, speed of decision-making and empowerment that would come from this cultural transformation. Imagine the cost savings.

During the editing process of our new book Trust Inc. I spent time searching the websites of several large public companies. The goal was to include an Appendix of examples of well-crafted values statements. I was surprised at how difficult they were to find online, and when I did, most of them were “just talk” or empty words. The few I did locate could not be included as written without “approval” from the respective company’s legal department. This would have delayed the publication of the book by several months (not days.) I did a “work around” of the approval process, eliminating the company name.

If organizations spent more time building values instead of  layers of legal teams and compliance departments, the word “approval” would start to look more like Merriam-Webster’s first definition: The belief that something or someone is good or acceptable: a good opinion of someone or something. 

The word “approval” would start to look more like trust.

What do you think? Please feel free to leave a comment or send me a note at barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

February is Leadership Transformation Month

according to Trust Across America’s

2014 Calendar

Productivity and execution begin when the leader creates a set of values and goals that are shared, accepted and adopted by all stakeholders.

Leaders must regularly communicate with stakeholders about the steps being taken to build trustworthy behavior within the organization.

Leaders must not confuse trust with compliance. The latter is situational. The former is not!

During the  52 weeks of 2014 you can build trust in your organization by thinking about, discussing and following the advice of the experts. Here are the suggestions for the 4 weeks in February 2014.

Week 1: A person “like yourself” is now trusted nearly two times as much as a CEO or government official. Ben Boyd, Edelman

Week 2: When deciding whom to trust remember this, people who will lie for you will lie to you. Lea Brovedani

Week 3: When I trust you, I empower you to influence me.  Elaine Cohen, Beyond Business Ltd.

Week 4: When achieved, organizational trust is validated externally in corporate reputation and performance. Mark Coleman, Convergence Mitigation Management

Please share your comments and suggestions! Email: barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Barbara Brooks Kimmel, Executive Director, Trust Across America – Trust Around the World

Editor  Trust Inc. Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset

Crisis management has become a complex field with highly paid specialists who counsel CEOs.

A CEO who leads with trust will find a reputation blow to be softer, and the recovery much easier.

First, let’s look at the central attributes of a crisis

• It has the potential to do significant reputational damage
• It will hurt at least one group of stakeholders- consumers, shareholders, employees, etc.
• It is unique and often unpredictable (although not always)
• It is of interest to the media

Now let’s look at the 5 essential short-term measures the CEO who leads with trust must take:

1. In the first 24 hours communicate widely and communicate consistently
2. Tell the truth
3. Tell it accurately
4. Tell it fully
5. Tell it yourself

And the 5 essential long-term leading with trust measures:

1. Accept responsibility
2. Take long-term corrective action, not a short term band aid
3. Address any systemic problems
4. Rebuild broken bridges
5. Continue to communicate openly

It’s not rocket science, but usually the missing ingredient is trust, and that’s what keeps the crisis consultants and specialists in business.

We devote an entire section to Leading with Trust in Crisis in our new book:

Trust Inc, Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset 

Trust Inc.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America – Trust Around the World.

She welcomes your comments and suggestions.

Email her at barbara@trustacrossamerica.com