{"id":3112,"date":"2016-01-31T11:19:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T16:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=3112"},"modified":"2016-01-31T11:19:51","modified_gmt":"2016-01-31T16:19:51","slug":"the-illusion-of-trust-as-a-soft-skill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=3112","title":{"rendered":"The Illusion of Trust as a Soft Skill"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It’s Week #5 of 2016. This is our latest article in a series of weekly ideas to elevate trust in your organization, drawn from our third annual 2016 Trust Poster<\/a>, 52 Ideas That You Can Implement to Build Trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Doug Conant of Conant Leadership<\/a> and one of our 2016 Top Thought Leaders in Trust<\/a> offers this:<\/p>\n

Work tirelessly to dispel the illusion that trust is a “soft” skill<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here are eight research-based reasons for taking Doug\u2019s advice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trust Across America\u2019s FACTS\u00ae Framework<\/a> (an ongoing 3-year analysis) shows America\u2019s Most Trustworthy Public Companies more than doubling the outperformance of\u00a0the S&P 500 over that same period: FACTS 62.4% vs. S&P 29.5%\u00a0in a live institutional portfolio.<\/span><\/p>\n

A study by KRW International<\/a> surveyed employees and CEOs in 84 companies about the character of their leadership teams and compared the results to their financial performance. The average ROA for the S&P 500 ranges from 2 \u2013 3.25%. Character counts and pays off.<\/p>\n

From Global Alliance for Banking on Values, (see more on the GABV in the first issue of TRUST! Magazine<\/u><\/span>,) which compared\u00a0values- based and sustainable <\/em>banks to their\u00a0big-bank<\/em>\u00a0rivals and found: 7% higher Return on Equity for values-based banks (7.1% ROE compared to 6.6% for\u00a0big banks)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A 2013 study<\/a> by Guiso, Sapienza and Zingales called \u201cThe Value of Corporate Culture\u201d finds that proclaimed values appear irrelevant. Yet, when employees perceive top managers as trustworthy and ethical, firm\u2019s performance is stronger.<\/em><\/p>\n

And when trust is ignored or perceived as a soft skill, organizations\u00a0suffer from the\u00a0following\u00a0and much more<\/a><\/span><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Less than one-third of US workers were engaged in their jobs in 2014, with millenials the least engaged. (Gallup<\/a>) and this is costing the US economy $450-550 billion a year, which is over 15% of payroll costs<\/em>. (Gallup, 2013)<\/p>\n

The six biggest U.S. banks, led by\u00a0JP Morgan Chase & Co.\u00a0and\u00a0Bank of America Corp. have piled up $103 billion in legal costs since the financial crisis.<\/em> (Bloomberg, August 2013)<\/p>\n

The PR firm Edelman finds in their 2015 \u201cTrust Barometer\u201d that Among the informed public segment of the 33,000-person survey \u2014 a group of 700 wealthy, well-educated, well-informed individuals \u2014 57 per cent said they trusted business, down from 59 per cent last year.<\/em> (Financial Times, January 20, 2015)<\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0reported that \u201cthe federal government imposed an estimated $216 billion in regulatory costs on the economy (in 2012), nearly double its previous record.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you still believe trust is a soft skill? Need\u00a0more proof <\/a>of the argument that trust is a hard asset?<\/p>\n

How many readers took\u00a0took the advice offered in January in our Weekly series?<\/p>\n

Week #1 Kouzes & Posner\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Week #2 Bob Vanourek<\/a><\/p>\n

Week #3 Barbara Kimmel<\/a><\/p>\n

Week #4 Mark Fernandes<\/a><\/p>\n

Barbara Brooks Kimmel<\/strong>\u00a0is the CEO & Cofounder\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>Trust Across America-Trust Around the World<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0whose mission is to help responsible organizations build trust. She facilitates the world’s\u00a0largest membership program<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for those interested in the subject. Barbara also serves as\u00a0editor of the award winning\u00a0<\/span>TRUST INC.<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>book series and the Executive Editor of\u00a0<\/span>TRUST! Magazine<\/span><\/a><\/span>. In 2012 Barbara was named \u201cOne of 25 Women Changing the World\u201d by Good Business International.<\/span><\/p>\n

Copyright 2016, Next Decade, Inc.<\/p>\n

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