Creating a high trust organization is not easy, yet neither is it so difficult to justify abandoning the goal.”
~Amy Lyman, Great Place to Work Institute
Every year for the past decade, public relations firm Edelman has conducted a trust and credibility survey. Researchers conduct thousands of 30-minute telephone interviews with people who Edelman calls “informed publics,” individuals aged 35-64 who are college educated, earn household incomes in the top quartile of their age groups, regularly read or watch business/news reports, and stay informed about public policy issues.
In this year’s survey, only 38 percent of these savvy respondents said they trust business to do the right thing. That’s an alarming 20 percent drop from 2008’s survey. Not surprisingly in today’s business climate, only 17 percent said they trust information provided by a company CEO.
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Contrast those results to data collected by the Great Place to Work Institute for their 2009 100 Best Companies survey (the source for FORTUNE Magazine’s annual Top 100 Employers to Work For list): 82 percent of employees working at the 100 Best Companies report that management keeps them informed about important issues, and 81 percent said that their bosses give them straight answers to questions. As a result, 90 percent of these employees trust that their leaders are honest and ethical in their business practices.
This comparison provides a lesson for anyone in a leadership position. It’s not a coincidence that companies with trustworthy leaders are considered great places to work by their employees.
So how do you go about acquiring employee trust?
“The behaviors of leaders create trust,” says Amy Lyman, Director of Corporate Research at the Great Place to Work Institute. “Employees trust their leaders when they act in ways that convey their credibility, show respect, and ensure fairness in the implementation of policies and practices.”
These days, trust is of central concern to leaders. For many companies, this reality means reassessing their leadership approaches, increasing communication, and being upfront with employees. And they better get busy, before their workers find other employers to trust.
How are you engaging with your people to earn, establish, and grow trust with you as a leader? What has surprised you about this process? What has disappointed you about it?
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