{"id":2554,"date":"2015-02-01T10:33:02","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T15:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=2554"},"modified":"2015-02-01T11:43:50","modified_gmt":"2015-02-01T16:43:50","slug":"build-organizational-trust-ten-ts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=2554","title":{"rendered":"Build Organizational Trust: Ten “Ts”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Trustworthy businesses are also more profitable. There is simply no reason NOT to implement long-term strategies for increasing organizational trust starting today.<\/p>\n

How can your organization elevate its level of trustworthiness? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Hint: It starts with the leader.<\/strong><\/p>\n

#1<\/strong>\u00a0Trustworthy leadership<\/strong> \u2013 Very simply, a culture of trust cannot exist with an untrustworthy leader. Trustworthy behavior must start at the top and carry\u00a0down through every manager in an organization.<\/p>\n

#2 Transformation<\/strong> \u2013 Productivity and execution begin when the CEO creates a set of values and goals that are shared, accepted and adopted by all stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers, vendors, shareholders, etc.) CEOs should regularly address all stakeholders about the steps being taken to build trustworthy behavior within the organization. Trust should not be confused with compliance, CSR or PR. Being \u201clegal\u201d, having a CSR program or “advertising” your trustworthiness, are not synonymous with being trustworthy.<\/p>\n

#3\u00a0<\/strong>Tools<\/strong> \u2013 There are many trust tools CEOs can use to build trust with their internal and external stakeholders. These run the gamut from metrics and assessments to online surveys. The results may be surprisingly good, or just the opposite. And if they are the latter, and really bad, it\u2019s time to get busy.\u00a0And maybe time to add a Chief Trust Officer to the C-Suite to oversee the implementation of long-term trust building strategies.<\/p>\n

#4<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Treatment<\/strong>– The Golden Rule says to \u201ctreat others the way you want to be treated.\u201d This certainly holds true for trust. The CEO that extends trust to his or her stakeholders is more likely to have it returned. Trust fundamentally works by a series of reciprocating actions between the truster and the trusted.<\/p>\n

#5<\/strong>\u00a0Teamwork<\/strong> \u2013 Teamwork leads to better decisions and better outcomes. Teams create trust, and trust creates teams. Breaking down silos, and in particular exhibiting trustworthy behavior in the C-Suite, should be on every CEO\u2019s priority list. Teams whose members trust each other escalate both innovation and decision-making.<\/p>\n

#6<\/strong>\u00a0Talk<\/strong> \u2013 Your stakeholders need to know what steps you are taking to build a trustworthy organization. Quarterly numbers are no longer the “be all and end all.” In fact, evidence is mounting<\/a>\u00a0that a trustworthy culture and \u201cgood numbers\u201d go hand in hand. As mentioned earlier, long-term trustworthy behavior is more<\/em> profitable \u2013 every quarter \u2013 than short-term changes that don\u2019t\u00a0“stick.”<\/p>\n

#7<\/strong>\u00a0Truth <\/strong>\u2013 Truth-telling is at the core of trust. Any CEO who wants to build a trustworthy organization must have an extremely comfortable relationship with the truth. No company is perfect and it\u2019s not necessary to air all the dirty laundry \u2013 just don\u2019t lie about it or intentionally mislead. In times of crisis, a habit of truth telling yields particularly good returns. The absence of such habits can be disastrous.<\/p>\n

#8<\/strong>\u00a0Time<\/strong> \u2013 Building a culture of trustworthy business does not happen overnight. It takes time, maybe even years \u2013 but not decades. The CEO who invests the time to educate himself or herself about how to build trust with teams and stakeholders \u2014 then develops a plan, communicates and implements it \u2013 will be rewarded with greater stakeholder trust. When a slip-up occurs, those who \u201cbanked\u201d trust will recover faster.<\/p>\n

#9<\/strong>\u00a0Transparency<\/strong> \u2013 Merriam Webster defines \u201ctransparent\u201d as visibility or accessibility of information, especially with business practices.<\/em> Any CEO who thinks he or she can still hide behind a veil of secrecy need only spend a few minutes on social media reading what their stakeholders are saying. In today\u2019s world, transparency is no longer the risk \u2013 opacity has become the risk. Transparency must exist inside and outside the company. Communications and social media have roles to play here, but the fundamental is that transparency \u00a0builds trust.<\/p>\n

#10<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Thoughtful<\/strong> \u2013 Not all stakeholders need to know the company\u2019s trade secrets, or what the CEO had for dinner. But if your company is serious about increasing trustworthiness, consider engaging all your stakeholders in rich, thoughtful conversations. Don\u2019t approach them as constituencies to be maneuvered, managed or massaged. Instead, view them as vital contributors to a better organization by letting them into the conversation. To be a thoughtful company with a thoughtful strategy, trust the stakeholders to be thoughtful.<\/p>\n

These suggestions are among dozens outlined in our award-winning TRUST Inc. book series<\/a>. For your own personal well-being, and that of your organization, stop\u00a0talking about trust and do something about it.<\/p>\n

Barbara Brooks Kimmel<\/strong>\u00a0is the Executive Director of\u00a0<\/span>Trust Across America-Trust Around the World<\/a>\u00a0whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning\u00a0<\/span>TRUST INC.<\/a>\u00a0book series and the Executive Editor of\u00a0<\/span>TRUST! Magazine<\/a>. In 2012 Barbara was named \u201cOne of 25 Women Changing the World\u201d by Good Business International.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our 2015 Poster,\u00a052 Weeks of Activities to Increase Organizational Trust<\/a>\u00a0is available\u00a0to those who would like to support our work by making a small donation.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2015, Next Decade, Inc.<\/p>\n

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