2022 Edelman Trust Barometer - A Leaders Role

Business leaders just got promoted. Now everyone needs to live up to the new job. The annual Edelman Trust Barometer just dropped and it’s driving home the need for effective business leadership. As if there wasn’t already enough pressure on leaders. It’s clear, people are seeing business as the replacement for government and with that they expect businesses to lead, to fill the gaps in society not just in the silos of their organization. All this because trust in governments (and media) is sinking further into a dark abyss. Something really has to give.

The Edelman Trust Barometer positions trust as the definitive currency, driving the quality of the bond between institutions and their stakeholders. Institutions are judged – businesses, government, media, and NGOs. Stakeholders provide their views, from citizens to company employees.

Trust, in this currency definition, establishes resilience and relationships. And, with our trust levels plummeting at the societal level, human nature seeks it out from other sources. Trust can serve as a magnet for talent, customers, and investment. At the personal level, we need it, we want it. We want to believe we can have trust in something. It gives us hope. Built correctly, trust doesn’t just provide your organizational license to operate, it also provides your leadership license to operate.

But. And this is a big but. While business has received a promotion compared to governments and the media in 23 of 28 countries in the Trust Barometer, it can still mean there has been a decline in trust overall. The concept of the ‘best of a bad bunch’ in action. And, when it comes to trusting businesses, not every country is experiencing that growth of trust in business in the same way. In fact, according to the Edelman Barometer, for the 11 countries that saw a growth in trust in their businesses, 11 also saw a decline, and many were still distrusted, regardless. Yes, trust me the cheque is in the mail, remains a concern with everyone.

On the other hand, the barometer shows that trust is improving in almost all sectors with the exception of social media (of course!). And, almost no surprise, trust is highest in family businesses.?Think about the profile of a family business and you’re already on your way to understanding the elements of trust at work.

So, with this ever-increasing weight placed on business leaders to bank up on their trust currency, what can leaders do to live up to the role society’s stakeholders are placing on them? ?Here are four ideas, though I’d be inclined to say ‘table stakes’ because they’re common sense for anyone’s soul and likely don’t need to be spelled out. Consider them reminders in a leaders otherwise busy world.

1. Be a leader. Be accountable. We can’t stand leaders we can’t count on. Those that talk out of both sides of their mouths, pointing their fingers away from themselves to their team members or colleagues when they know it squarely rests with them. Those leaders who throw other people under not just buses but big, mac trucks and those leaders who don’t make decisions, after all no decision can be worse than a bad decision. People want you to make decisions and then be accountable for those decisions. When you are correct, it builds people’s confidence in you. When you are wrong, they want you to fess-up and course correct. Acknowledging your error, taking responsibility, and fixing it. Counterintuitively, even when the consequences are dire, taking responsibility, showing regret, maybe even remorse, can improve your leadership license to operate not reduce it. When the chips are done, lead with I’m sorry!
2. Be data driven. Be transparent. We want to know the information we are given is not filled with BS. We want to know leaders have the systems and processes to provide accurate information to the right people at the right time so the right decisions can be made, swiftly and without a lot of noise getting in the way. If you can’t supply data in today’s world then pack up your little leadership bag and go home. Leaders can’t lead without data. Followers won’t follow without knowing they have the right data. The quality of your information drives trust in decision making. The better the data the easier it is to understand you and your decisions, all building trust. Your ability to disseminate trusted information enables people to understand how they or your business is performing, enabling them to draw their own conclusions, even make their own decisions (heaven forbid we be so bold as leaders to facilitate autonomy).?
3. Be a communicator. Be reliable. In the absence of a leader’s stories (communication) we make up our own stories. We like to fill voids – good or bad, with true stories or false. Whether providing information or an opinion, communicating openly, honestly, and routinely keeps people feeling safe, reducing anxiety, and increasing trust. Even when you don’t have all the answers, or all the data, tell people. Open the communication lines. This helps people to know what will happen next, or at least anticipate something will happen. It’s like the customer complaints line. You call them up to make a complaint and the worse thing that can happen is that you don’t know what will be done about the complaint – silence on the other side gets filled with your story, and it’s usually not a nice one. Knowing someone can help, that they can look into something, is better than simply being told I’ll get back to you. Equally important is the ability to offer routine. When people know their leader will communicate routinely, they get comfortable you’ll always keep them up to date, in the loop and they have a vehicle to have a voice. And this stops people going loopy. It also builds trust.
4. Be visible. Be present. ?WE love leaders who have our backs. The best led businesses are those with active management. After 50,000 client engagements, Proudfoot (a global consulting firm and in full disclosure, the one I lead as CEO) has observed that leaders who lift their heads up out of their technology and actually connect with their people – employees, customers, shareholders - perform better. They run safer, more engaging, more productive, and likely in the future, more sustainable operations. They hold open conversations regularly, seeking to understand the views of others. They get in the game. So, trust isn’t just a prerequisite for us as humans, it’s also a prerequisite for better results at work.

We all know trust isn’t built over night, it’s more like the aging process of a fine whiskey. It develops over time. We also know it can be destroyed in the same time it takes to squat a Natt. It is that fragile. ?But when you build it, it can hold a team together, build a business, bring spirit to a community, and help countries through difficult times. Trust is the great leadership elixir. And as it turns out, it’s what people are looking to businesses and their leaders, to provide. The greater the trust the greater the relationships, the better we feel about the world around us.

So it’s not surprising people are looking for ways to gain that comfort from sources other than those they feel let down by - when it doesn’t come from traditional sources, they look elsewhere to people in positions of authority, those they feel have more access, more knowledge or the ability to have more impact. And so, people are looking to trust businesses more and more to solve societal problems. It presents a wonderful opportunity for leaders. An opportunity to better connect with people for everyone’s benefit.

And Boom. That’s the key. Connecting, engaging with people, equals trust and results. They are all peas sharing the same proverbial pod. Engagement builds trust and trust builds engagement. Together, leaders stand to make change at an epic level. Disruptive change that builds better businesses fit for all stakeholders – employees, customers, shareholders, and society as a hole.

Pamela Hackett is the CEO of global operations consultancy Proudfoot and the author of Manage To Engage. How Great leaders Create Remarkable Results. Published by Wiley in 2021.

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