Over the past 15+ years I have spoken with hundreds if not thousands of business leaders from small startups to Fortune 500 and, if the opportunity presents itself, I ask the following question:
What role does trust play in your daily work?
And the most common responses, in no particular order, are:
I never thought about it
My employees trust me
None, I have too many daily fires to extinguish
None, it’s not my job
Huge, every year we bring in a “big name” motivational speaker
What’s the message here? Whether you are a leader, manager or work as a member of a team, if you do not intentionally choose to incorporate trust into your daily activities, do not expect it to flourish. It does not happen on its own.
If you are interested in learning more, take a look below.
Barbara Brooks Kimmel is an author, speaker, product developer and global subject matter expert on trust and trustworthiness. Founder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World she is author of the award-winning Trust Inc., Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset, Trust Inc., 52 Weeks of Activities and Inspirations for Building Workplace Trust and Trust Inc., a Guide for Boards & C-Suites. She majored in International Affairs (Lafayette College), and has an MBA (Baruch- City University of NY). Her expertise on trust has been cited in The Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, Investor’s Business Daily, Thomson Reuters, BBC Radio, The Conference Board, Global Finance Magazine, Bank Director and Forbes, among others.
When I was recently asked how trust has changed in the past decade my response was “Not much.” While the people, groups and institutions we should trust keep rearranging themselves in our collective minds, some gain in trust while others fade. Yet according to most major public opinion poll headlines trust has been declining.
But if you think about it, how we experience trust now is the same as it ever was. So is the value of trust – what it does for us – in business, politics, society, and life. Trust is very simply, the outcome of principled behavior. It always has been and always will be. As Stephen Covey has written, “Trust is the foundation for everything we do….” It is part of every relationship we have and undergirds everything we want or need to do together. So it is not that trust has been declining, it is trusting that has declined, and distrusting that has increased.
The Unchanging Experience of Trust
Our bodily experience of trust (and distrust), the sensations we feel, and the underlying neurophysiology that produce them have been with us for millennia. We are hard-wired to trust and to distrust, and we need both. Trusting others allows us to work together to accomplish what none of us can do alone. Distrust is built into our biology to help us stay alive and safe. What we are predisposed to do when we trust or distrust someone, or a group of someones, is also pretty much the same now as when humans were living in small clans and painting on cave walls.
Humans are wired to be drawn towards trust. When we trust others we feel safe enough to be open and at ease with them. At work this translates to collaborating effectively and having fun doing it. We happily share our ideas, good, bad and everything between, with people we trust. When we trust an information source we form opinions and act based on what we hear from them. When we trust a company, we tend to buy from them and invest in them. Distrust, on the other hand, insists we act to protect ourselves. Like a plague, we avoid people, groups, companies, and institutions we don’t trust.
In Whom We Trust (or not)
When you think “I trust this person/group/company/organization” an assessment is being made that their future behavior won’t harm and in fact will support you. That assessment leads to the embodied experience of trust described above, together with feeling certain emotions that travel with trusting, e.g., generosity, curiosity, hope, happiness, care. The same is so with the assessment “I don’t trust” except the sensations and emotions are distinctly different.
Which brings me to what has changed in the past decade and continues to change: specifically who we are trusting, and to what extent we are trusting them to do what they say they will do. According to several recent polls on perception of trust, we are trusting less. For example, over the past decade the Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual global opinion poll of trust levels in business, government, NGOs, and media, has found an annual shift in which of these institutions we are trusting more or less. Similarly public opinion surveys conducted by PwC, Pew Research Center and the Knight Foundation have looked at the trust employees and customers have in companies vs. what company leaders believe, and our trust in science and media, respectively. Again, they find changes in who we are trusting/distrusting.
Couple rotating/decreasing trust in societal institutions with what we know about the outcome of distrusting others and we have the makings of a slow-moving disaster. Unless we start turning this ship around we will see diminishing cooperation with increasing polarization, more balkanization in politics, media and society, and less willingness to talk things out as people pull back from those they distrust.
Trust-Building as Necessary Work
I believe now more than ever it’s time for those of us who work in the field of trust-building, who have the tools and expertise, to focus on helping the people we work with become trust-builders in their chosen fields. We understand that this is a competency that can be learned, developed and practiced. We have frameworks and tools to support people as they try to build their own trust-building capability and capacity. It is incumbent on leaders everywhere to step up and put learning and practicing trust-building at the forefront of their work.
Trusting people at work (where we spend most of our time) and in our communities, and between us and the institutions that hold together the fabric of those communities, is going to be essential for us as a species to make it through the big storms looming on the near horizon: political and social upheaval, and the potential threats posed by AI, to name just a few.
Barbara Brooks Kimmel is an author, speaker, product developer and global subject matter expert on trust and trustworthiness. Founder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World she is author of the award-winning Trust Inc., Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset, Trust Inc., 52 Weeks of Activities and Inspirations for Building Workplace Trust and Trust Inc., a Guide for Boards & C-Suites. She majored in International Affairs (Lafayette College), and has an MBA (Baruch- City University of NY). Her expertise on trust has been cited in Harvard Business Review, Investor’s Business Daily, Thomson Reuters, BBC Radio, The Conference Board, Financial Times, Global Finance Magazine, Bank Director and Forbes, among others.
When taken seriously, tracking and addressing the behaviors that build or weaken trust in teams and organizations will have the following benefits:
Elevating employee engagement & retention
Reducing workplace stress
Enhancing decision making
Increasing innovation
Improving communication
Reducing costs and increasing profitability
Is progress being made?
The growing interest in our Tap Into Trust campaign has brought over 212,000 people to our universal principles, available in 16 languages. We are also running the largest global (one minute/one question) anonymous survey on workplace trust, with the goal of determining which of our 12 principles of trust are the WEAKEST in teams and organizations and whether they change over time. The anonymous survey can be taken here and the results of hundreds of respondents viewed upon completion.
Building a trust based team or organization is not one size fits all. It happens in 3 stages. We use AIM as an acronym for our process.
ACKNOWLEDGING that trust (the outcome of principled behavior) is a tangible asset
IDENTIFYING the behaviors that are weakening and strengthening trust
MENDING the behaviors and tracking them over time
We call this AIM Towards Trust, and the framework is being adopted by enlightened leaders in organizations of all sizes and across industries, providing a path forward to high trust.
Elevating trust in teams and organizations requires specific personal and interpersonal principles and skills.
There is no “one size fits all” or check the box fix.
Barbara Brooks Kimmel is an author, speaker, product developer and global subject matter expert on trust and trustworthiness. Founder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World she is author of the award-winning Trust Inc., Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset, Trust Inc., 52 Weeks of Activities and Inspirations for Building Workplace Trust and Trust Inc., a Guide for Boards & C-Suites. She majored in International Affairs (Lafayette College), and has an MBA (Baruch- City University of NY). Her expertise on trust has been cited in Harvard Business Review, Investor’s Business Daily, The Financial Times, Thomson Reuters, BBC Radio, The Conference Board, Global Finance Magazine, Bank Director and Forbes, among others.
Last week we published the summer issue of TRUST! Magazine. It includes 14 essays on our current ” state of trust.” These are some thoughts from the authors.
Trust in Turbulent Times:Interestingly, the etymology of “trust” is rooted in old Norse and English words meaning “strength” or “to make safe and strong.” In times like these, we crave leaders who will keep us safe and make us strong. Bart Alexander
The Formula for Building Trust: If it feels like your world isn’t going ‘round right now, or it’s going slower than you’d like, I recommend looking at trust first. The reality is, that low trust is almost always the root of the problem — or the most impeding barrier to the solution. Stephen M.R. Covey
Trust & Commerce: Trustworthiness is a vital component of every corporate interaction. It is the lubrication of commerce. Without trust in the organization, the company will ultimately cease functioning effectively or efficiently. Dr. James Gregory
The Trust Landscape: Couple decreasing trust with what we know about what we do when we distrust others and we have the makings of a slow-moving disaster. Unless we start turning this ship around we will see diminishing cooperation with increasing polarization, more balkanization in politics and society, less willingness to talk things out as people pull back from those they distrust. Charles Feltman
The Business Case for Trust: Contrary to what many executives are lead to believe, trust is not a “soft” skill. In fact in today’s challenging business environment it may mean the difference between survival and failure. Barbara Brooks Kimmel
The Margin of Trust: America’s corporate governance systems also make it difficult for boards to set the tone of a trust-based corporate culture. In the name of “accountability,” the system has veered from principles and tailored approaches towards mandatory rules and standardized practices for all. Lawrence A. Cunningham
Risk & Trust:Things go wrong when institutional trust is based on rules intended to rein in personal freedom and autonomy, implying that forced compliance creates more institutional trust than the personal trust it displaces. This way of thinking usually doesn’t end well. Charles H. Green
Trust & Governance:The smooth functioning of an organization therefore relies on an assumption of regularity. That, in turn, relies on two “trust” factors. First, that the people involved can trust each other and, second, that the corporate governance system itself is trustworthy. Jon Lukomnik & Rick Funston
Ethical Leadership & Trust:Most core values are a set of ideas thought up on a management golf outing, brought in on the back of a clubhouse napkin, then printed and posted without another word being spoken. The values and ideals of a business are what employees and others bring to work every day. James Lukaszewski
Sustainability Reporting & Trust:If trust is the purpose, then what you intend to do is as relevant as what you have done. Publicly committing to multi-year targets is a must for credible sustainability reporting. Elaine Cohen
Trust in Healthcare:Lack of trust creates a situation that creates the propensity to misinformation. At the same time, misinformation can create a negative trust reset. Jan Berger
Technology & Trust:As of November 2022, we have over 8 billion people sharing our precious planet earth. It makes sense to continue debating and researching trust between humans both individually and organizationally. At the same time, we urgently need to focus on the trustworthiness of technology. Our very survival as a species may depend on it. Helen Gould
Trust in Media:Ultimately what’s needed is changing the culture of how news is produced and what journalists are expected to do on a regular basis. We are talking about updating a system that, when you look at the format and expectations, hasn’t evolved since it started. Lynn Walsh
Trusting Artificial Intelligence:While Chat GPT may have the potential to revolutionize industries, the response to my original question reads like a primer on trust research with little to no information on trust in practice. Barbara Brooks Kimmel
announces its Most Trustworthy Public Companies 2021
Published annually in June via our Corporate Integrity Monitor, these are a few highlights from our current rankings:
This is our 11th year tracking and publicly reporting on the trustworthiness of the largest public companies.
Our proprietary model called the FACTS® Framework is used to analyze companies and create the rankings.
Companies do not participate in our research nor do we receive compensation.
This year we are reporting on the S&P 500. Microsoft is the highest ranked company to receive recognition.
Since the financial crisis of 2008 FACTS® scores have remained relatively flat. This year 36% of companies in the S&P 500 received a failing grade below 60%.
This year our “Top 10” companies have an average score of 76.4%.
The 10 companies comprise 6 of 16 business sectors.
Five of the 2021 “Top 10” were also honored in 2020.
The “Top 10” companies have an average of 36.7% women on the Board, up from 33% in 2020.
Five of the ten CEOs have MBAs and have been in their current position for 5 years or more.
Our research is, by order of magnitude, the most comprehensive and fact-based ongoing study of the trustworthiness of public companies. We perform a quarterly analysis and rank order by company, sector and market capitalization.
Our 2020 announcement can be accessed at this link. As of June 19, these companies collectively produced a 27.67% return to investors in approximately one year
For more information contact Barbara Kimmel, CEO, Trust Across America-Trust Around the World
Taking time to understand and accept failure is just as important as celebrating success
To date, 23% of 600+ survey respondents say “Understanding” is lacking in their workplace. Is it lacking in yours?
Understanding is the tenth of *12 behaviors in our Tap Into Trust (TAP) framework having now been accessed over 150,000 times in 16 languages.
Trust Across America-Trust Around the World recently created The “Art” of Trust visual “cues” to start a discussion about workplace behaviors that build and weaken stakeholder trust. Together these cues form a “Wall” of Trust to enhance learning and retention.
In building team and stakeholder trust, we describe “Understanding” as follows:
We celebrate our successes – we acknowledge and examine our failures with empathy, and learn from both.
Our Trust Alliance members suggest the following discussion questions to elevate respect and build workplace trust.
Do employees feel safe to fail? If not, why not?
Are we proactively asking the tough questions regarding every major undertaking so as to continuously improve and make life better for all stakeholders we impact?
The “Art” of Trust is one of many resources designed for our Trust Action Project to help leaders, teams and organizations move from trust talk to ACTION in 2021 and beyond.
what is its role in building a trust-based culture?
Purpose is the third of *12 behaviors in our Tap Into Trust (TAP) framework having now been accessed over 150,000 times in 16 languages.
Trust Across America-Trust Around the World created The “Art” of Trust visual “cues” to start a discussion about behaviors in the workplace, and with all stakeholders, that build and weaken trust. Together these cues form a “Wall” of Trust, telling a story to enhance learning and retention.
In the context of building team and stakeholder trust, we define “Purpose” as follows:
We engage our stakeholders to build shared purpose.
We avoid short term “wins” that undermine future success.
To date, over 20% of our 600+ survey respondents identified “purpose” as lacking in their workplace.
The following are two discussion questions our Trust Alliance members suggest to improve purpose and elevate trust.
How do we demonstrate to our stakeholders that we have their best interests at heart?
Can we articulate the difference among the concepts of purpose, mission, and values?
The “Art” of Trust is one of many resources designed for our Trust Action Project to help leaders, teams and organizations move from trust talk to ACTION in 2021 and beyond.
The Trust Action Project 2021 (#tap2021) Weekly Action is one of many Trust Alliance resources designed to help leaders, teams and organizations move beyond trust talk to ACTION in 2021.
What behaviors do you think impact trust the most in teams and organizations? Our 1 minute/1 question AIM Workplace Diagnostic compares your response to 600 others.
Learn more about the Trust Action Project 2021 at this link.
Join our global Trust Alliance and participate in our programs.
What weakens workplace trust the most? Find out in 1 minute and compare your workplace to hundreds of others.
Our global team of vetted professionals has the expertise to address trust from the boardroom to the shop floor, and with external stakeholders including customers, suppliers and regulators. We collaboratively spent over a year creating a simple and effective tool to start a trust discussion. In fact, our principles (TAP) have been accessed almost 150,000 times.
Trust Across America-Trust Around the World is the leading global program focused exclusively on helping organizations build trust. While trust “talk” is abundant, ACTION is what’s needed most.
Why should business leaders care about trust? This is why:
Performance of Trust Across America’s
Most Trustworthy Public Companies vs. the S&P 500 (2014-2019)
The chart above is the cumulative “Return on Trust” of America’s annual “Top 10” Most Trustworthy Public Companies over the past six years. Through its FACTS® Framework, Trust Across America has been analyzing, assembling and publicly reporting on this data for ten years.
If you are the CEO of a public company, or any company for that matter, who claims there is no Business Case for Trust, now may be the time to reconsider. Why DO business leaders require proof or ignore trust as their most valuable strategic advantage?
Leaders take trust for granted
Trust doesn’t just “happen.” It is not bestowed upon leaders by virtue of their title. Trust is a learned competence and an intentional business strategy that must be crafted, practiced, modeled, and reinforced daily.
Leaders focus on the wrong metrics
Growing quarterly earnings, over reliance on sales quotas, focus on “old school” risk and/or “new school” ESG metrics will not satisfy the trust imperative that stakeholders are increasingly demanding. Neither will talking rather than acting on trust.
Leaders treat trust as a “soft skill”
Organizational trustworthiness is a hard currency. The proof is in the chart above.
Leaders are “trust reactive”
Rarely do we hear proactive leadership discussions about building stakeholder trust. Instead, trust becomes a communications talking point only after a breach. This is both a missed and lost opportunity for leadership.
Leaders delegate trust
Trust is not a function of legal, compliance, HR, communications, or any other department. Boards of Directors and executive leadership teams must spearhead trust, making it central to the organization’s core values, so that all stakeholders can benefit.
Note: In 2010 Trust Across America introduced the FACTS® Framework, an EXTERNAL quantitative measurement of the corporate trustworthiness of America’s largest 2000+ US public companies. The Framework identifies companies whose leadership is going beyond doing just what is legal and compliant to choosing the right core values that satisfy all stakeholder needs. The FACTS® Framework is the most comprehensive and data driven ongoing study on the trustworthiness of public companies. We analyze companies quarterly and rank order showing trends by company, sector and market capitalization. Read more about the Framework at this link.
In 2018 Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s Trust Alliance, a group of global trust scholars and practitioners, introduced its Trust Alliance Principles (TAP), and in 2019 our AIM Survey tool was created to guide leaders and teams in building trust INTERNALLY. It is based on universal behaviors that strengthen and weaken trust. To date, almost 150,000 global professionals have tapped into trust, and dozens of teams and organizations have used our simple survey tool to start a trust discussion.
Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the founder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World, whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its 12th year, the program has developed two proprietary trust-evaluation tools, the latest is AIM Towards Trust. She also runs the world largest global Trust Alliance and is the editor of the award-winning TRUST INC. book series. Kimmel is a former consultant to McKinsey who has worked across multiple industries and with senior leadership. She holds a bachelor’s in international affairs from Lafayette College and an MBA from Baruch.
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