The new trust landscape

“The first job of a leader—at work or at home—is to inspire trust. It’s to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility.”
Stephen M.R. Covey, The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything

PwC has an interesting report on how the pandemic has impacted the trust landscape in business. Based on a survey in August 2021 of more than 500 business leaders and 1,000 consumers (most also employed by U.S. companies), PwC reports that both employees and customers have higher trust in U.S. businesses now than before the pandemic began, but there are some critical disconnects between what customers and employees think and what executives see and do.

For example, if employee trust has increased, why are so many leaving?

PwC reports that “many companies may not be taking the right actions to turn employee trust into employee loyalty,” actions that include shifts in employee expectations toward “schedule flexibility and expanded benefits such as career growth and upskilling opportunities.”

Writing in her weekly Transformation Journeys newsletter on LinkedIn, Andiara Petterle says trust is the leadership test in 2022. “Organizations with a high level of trust benefit from speedier decision-making and increased efficiency, information exchange, and creativity,” she writes.

New qualities are required for a trustworthy leader going forward, she says, including ambidexterity across top teams, support for new cultures that arise as a result of new functions, and a challenge for compassion.

Is your organization focusing on initiatives that can help build trust?

We are seeing companies gain ground in emotional intelligence and psychological safety with BlueEQ, multiply intelligence and employee trust with Multipliers, enhance trust with better communication and influence skills (Influence Inside, Influencing with Story), build credibility and trust through better decision-making with Decision Mojo, and reinforce employee engagement and retention with career development. Our favorites for that include AccelerateME, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, and (coming soon!) Promotions Are SO Yesterday. 

If you’d like to know more about these or other learning experiences we are deploying this year to help organizations meet the unique challenges of 2022, we’ll be happy to share details.

One great thing for 03.22.22 – TED Talk: Why Play Is Essential for Business: Strategist Martin Reeves makes a pitch for embracing play to spark innovative business ideas — and invites us to try out a series of imagination games that he uses to get leaders to stretch their thinking and dream up new possibilities.