Earning trust... doing the basics and learning the lessons

In a world where stability and certainty are hard to come by, knowing where to put your trust can be a tricky task.

A series of major events have left us wondering what’s around the corner, while all parts of society – from businesses to governments – have in recent decades given us both reason to hope, and cause for concern. And I include our own industry in that.

In that light, Edelman’s recent Trust Barometer gives food for thought. Its key findings are (1) that business is the most trusted institution, a major shift on the last decade; and (2) that people expect to see all parts of society teaming up to tackle the issues facing society.

That begs the question... where does trust come from? And if we take trust expert Rachel Botsman’s guidance that trust is earned, not built – how do we get to a position where people are willing to invest this vital commodity in us as organisations?

As a market ecosystem built on trusted relationships, we need to crack those questions at Lloyd’s if we’re to keep supporting customers through the uncertain times ahead.

Of course, there’s no straightforward answer – but I wonder if two things we’ve learned in recent years, particularly in insurance, could hold the clues to rebuilding those trusted relationships with our customers and communities.

The first is doing the basics well.

If trust is a slow, earned process coming from hundreds of interactions – whether conversations with a colleague or experiences with customer service – then as businesses, the best thing we can do is exactly what people expect of us. For Lloyd’s, that’s providing effective, innovative insurance that gives our customers the protection they need. It’s also looking after our people and supporting them through difficult times, while managing a well performing business that can withstand a range of challenges. All three of those have been a focus of our strategy in recent years.

The second is related, but perhaps comes less naturally to us as businesses: being willing to learn from our mistakes.

Innovation experts will tell you it’s the key to solving complex problems – being ready to try, fail and adapt your approach. But it’s also the starting point for trust. If people can’t get things 100% right, 100% of the time, then we need to be able to rely on each other to learn from our mistakes.

So when the financial crash of 2008 rocked trust in business, the solution wasn’t to blindly continue with business as usual. It was to strip back risk, reconnect with customers and put safeguards in place to prevent another collapse. Those changes have, overall, created a safer, more connected and responsible economy: both here in the UK and around the world.

When COVID-19 hit, insurers responded by pioneering new products and sharing new insights – but we also learned tough lessons about the need to simplify our policies so customers know where they’re covered and where they’re not. No one benefits from a lack of clarity. That simplicity has allowed us to get closer to customers and rebuild trusted relationships across government and industry – but we need to apply those learnings to all the challenges we face.

Against that backdrop, I think we can be encouraged by the collaborative response we’ve seen to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which, regrettably, marks its one year point this week. Business, governments and regulators have collaborated to deliver a comprehensive sanctions regime condemning Russia’s actions, while launching a first-of-its-kind insurance facility that has protected grain shipments out of Ukraine and helped ease food pressures around the world.

So as we face into a host of complex challenges – a cost of living crisis and a complex energy transition to name two – it’s collaboration, sensitivity and simplicity that will allow us to play our part in helping society to respond. We just need to be committed to doing the basics, and ready to learn the lessons.