Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

Leaders and their organizations must earn trust before they can build it.

Failure to earn trust leaves the enterprise vulnerable to countless risks. —

Barbara Brooks Kimmel

Trust building can be implemented through the following sequence of actions and initiatives. We call this the VIP Trust Model.

• VISION & VALUES: Leaders identify, with input from all stakeholders, the organization’s principles or core values. Why does the organization exist and what does it stand for? Write a meaningful credo with buy-in from all silos.
• INTEGRITY: Practice and regularly communicate the moral principles and purpose of the leadership team and the organization. Hold training for employees in leading with trust in their behaviors and interactions. Lose the “sales scripts.”
• PROMISES & PROCESS: Ensure that leadership is held accountable for doing what they say they will do, and for regularly communicating the vision, values and promises to all stakeholders. Make this a daily function of your corporate responsibility team in collaboration with compliance and communications.

Implement ways of doing things that translate the principles above into organized group behavior. Internally this includes the hiring and training of employees, structure of meetings, transparency of/fair personnel policies, how decisions are made and accessibility to leadership. With external stakeholders (vendors, customers, community, etc.), trust can be enhanced using quantitative measurement, benchmark and screening “tools” like Trust Across America’s FACTS® Framework.

About the Author:

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its seventh year, the program’s proprietary FACTS® Framework ranks and measures the trustworthiness of over 2,000 U.S. public companies on five quantitative indicators of trust. Barbara is also the editor of the award-winning TRUST INC. book series and a Managing Member at FACTS® Asset Management, a New Jersey registered investment advisor.

Nominations are now open for the 7th annual Top Thought Leaders in Trust.

Copyright (c)  2016, Next Decade, Inc.

It’s Week #31 of 2016. This latest article is part of a series drawn from our 3rd annual 2016 Trust Poster….now hanging in hundreds of offices around the world. Get yours today!

52 Ideas That You Can Implement to Build Trust

Nan Russell offers this week’s advice. Nan is both a Trust Across America Top Thought Leader in Trust and a member of our Trust Alliance.

Treat people as the talented, creative, resourceful, and innovative adults they are. 

Beliefs affect actions. Do you believe most people are talented and resourceful, or most people aren’t? Most are trustworthy or most aren’t? When we act in accordance with our expectations, we enable those expectations. It’s called the Pygmalion Effect. The connection between what we expect and what we get is well documented. Behavioral scientists at the University of Zurich have confirmed experimentally that “if you trust people, you make them more trustworthy.” And, conversely, “sanctions designed to deter people from cheating actually make them cheat.”  Yet many leaders don’t realize that withholding trust reduces the exact behaviors they want and need. When you treat people as the talented, creative, resourceful, and innovative adults they are, you’re likely to get the great results you seek, plus the added dividends of increased trust and engagement.

Will you choose to take this valuable advice to your organization this week? If not, ask yourself “why not?”

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its seventh year, the program’s proprietary FACTS® Framework ranks and measures the trustworthiness of over 2000 US public companies on five quantitative indicators of trustworthy business behavior. Barbara is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine.

Copyright 2016, Next Decade, Inc.

It’s Week #30 of 2016. This latest article is part of a series drawn from our 3rd annual 2016 Trust Poster….now hanging in hundreds of offices around the world. Get yours today!

52 Ideas That You Can Implement to Build Trust

Lea Brovedani offers this week’s advice. Lea is a member of our Trust Alliance.

“If you can’t do something, admit it”

Being honest and authentic has a powerful affect on people you lead. Many leaders are afraid to show they don’t know something because they believe they will be viewed as less authoritative and knowledgeable.  The opposite is true. You are in charge because you have the competency to lead but it doesn’t mean you are expected to have all of the answers. As Kouzes and Posner state, “A leader must model the way”. If you want to have your followers be honest with you, it must start with you being honest with them.

By admitting you don’t have all of the answers and are willing to learn, you allow your team to disclose areas that need to be addressed, and isn’t that a good thing? 

Will you choose to implement this valuable advice in your organization this week? If not, ask yourself “why not?”

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its seventh year, the program’s proprietary FACTS® Framework ranks and measures the trustworthiness of over 2000 US public companies on five quantitative indicators of trustworthy business behavior. Barbara is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine.

Copyright 2016, Next Decade, Inc.

It’s Week #28 of 2016. This latest article is part of a series drawn from our 3rd annual 2016 Trust Poster….now hanging in hundreds of offices around the world. Get yours today!

52 Ideas That You Can Implement to Build Trust

Nadine Hack offers this week’s advice. Nadine is both a Top Thought Leader in Trust and a member of our Trust Alliance.

Be transparent about what’s working and what’s not. 

Whether you’re internal or external stakeholders, everyone appreciates and responds better to honesty. The impulse to “cover up” things that are not working so well is strong.

Leaders fear that if their initial decision is not panning out well, they will lose the confidence of their stakeholders. If you try to “sweep problems under the rug” or “fudge” on your reporting, this will be true.

If instead, you openly, candidly admit an error of judgment or acknowledge unanticipated events that make no longer valid what was a correct determination under different circumstances, your stakeholders will respect and trust you even more.

They will know they can count on the accuracy of your information when you share positive updates and they will be more likely to support your efforts regardless of outcomes at any specific moment.

Will you choose to implement this valuable advice in your organization this week? If not, ask yourself “why not?”

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its seventh year, the program’s proprietary FACTS® Framework ranks and measures the trustworthiness of over 2000 US public companies on five quantitative indicators of trustworthy business behavior. Barbara is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine.

Copyright 2016, Next Decade, Inc.

It’s Week #26 of 2016. This latest article is part of a series drawn from our 3rd annual 2016 Trust Poster….now hanging in hundreds of offices around the world. Get yours today!

52 Ideas That You Can Implement to Build Trust

Robert Vanourek offers this week’s advice. Bob is both a Top Thought Leader in Trust and a member of our Trust Alliance. Bob has a brand new book out called Leadership Wisdom that I highly recommend.

Have the backs of people who act for what is right.

1. Seek those people out and tell them you appreciate their doing what’s right.
2. Tell your colleagues you appreciate that person who acted for what’s right.
3. Defend people who act for what’s right if they are attacked.
4. Set an example yourself of doing what’s right to encourage others to do so as well.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its seventh year, the program’s proprietary FACTS® Framework ranks and measures the trustworthiness of over 2000 US public companies on five quantitative indicators of trustworthy business behavior. Barbara is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine.

Copyright 2016, Next Decade, Inc.

It’s Week #25 of 2016. This latest article is part of a series drawn from our 3rd annual 2016 Trust Poster….now hanging in hundreds of offices around the world. Get yours today!

52 Ideas That You Can Implement to Build Trust

Holly Latty-Mann offers this week’s advice. Holly is both a Top Thought Leader in Trust and an active member of our Trust Alliance.

Go public when expressing gratitude;

go private when expressing disappointment.

While cultural differences do exist regarding response to positive public recognition, no company on record has ever lost an employee due to discomfort with public praise. David Sturt (HBR, November, 2015) shared findings that employees in the USA, India, and Mexico tend to revel in it, while those from Australia and the UK enjoy it with less fanfare. When publicly acknowledging the Japanese, Germans, and French, small-scale publicity is more appropriate.   

What about shame-based management via public chastisement? Not all employer humiliation or harassment is illegal as long as the verbal abuse is unrelated to demographics (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity). Perhaps that explains the high prevalence of managers belittling coworkers publicly on job performance, yet across all cultures, such behaviors are shown to compromise trust in management, for which statistical evidence clearly points to a compromised bottom line (bit.ly/1WBOBp6).

A final note:  Company morale goes respectively up or down when a single person is publicly honored or dishonored, and the literature is prolific with studies showing strong positive correlations among morale, productivity, and revenue.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its seventh year, the program’s proprietary FACTS® Framework ranks and measures the trustworthiness of over 2000 US public companies on five quantitative indicators of trustworthy business behavior. Barbara is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine.

Copyright 2016, Next Decade, Inc.

It’s Week #24 of 2016. This latest article is part of a series drawn from our 3rd annual 2016 Trust Poster….now hanging in hundreds of offices around the world. Get yours today!

52 Ideas That You Can Implement to Build Trust

As the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World, I offer this week’s idea:

When trust is made a business imperative, leadership must “own” it.

Ask almost any employee from the ground floor to the C-Suite who “owns” trust in the organization and don’t be surprised at the blank stares coming back your way. The truth is, “trust” is an orphan child simply because most leaders suffer from two false assumptions:

• Trust is a soft skill.
• Trust can’t be measured or tied to profitability. 

But our own FACTS(R)  Framework research paints a very different picture. Trust is NOT soft and it CAN be measured. During the three-year period from February 2013-February 2016 America’s most trustworthy public companies outperformed the S&P 500 by 1.8x. The composite results translate to 16.7% annualized for FACTS® vs. 9.5% for the S&P 500.

This was not a “test” but rather actual money under management, followed by an independent audit verifying the returns.

When leaders embrace trust as an intentional business strategy it translates into a hard asset and profits soar. Building organizational trust is a top down strategy and almost always involves a period of culture change. If the leader doesn’t recognize the need for change, own it and budget for it, it will never happen. The most progressive leaders are out of the “trust” gate and ahead of their peers.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its seventh year, the program’s proprietary FACTS® Framework ranks and measures the trustworthiness of over 2000 US public companies on five quantitative indicators of trustworthy business behavior. Barbara is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine.

Copyright 2016, Next Decade, Inc.

It’s Week #21 of 2016. This latest article is part of a series drawn from our 3rd annual 2016 Trust Poster….now hanging in hundreds of offices around the world. Get yours today!

52 Ideas That You Can Implement to Build Trust

Davia Temin is a Trust Alliance member, a Trust Across America Top Thought Leader and a contributor to our Trust Inc. book series. She offers this week’s idea:

Say what you do, do what you say.

Reliability, dependability, integrity — these are the essential building blocks of trust. Sounds simple, yet they are so difficult to achieve day in, day out. 

Under-promising and over-delivery is the ticket, of course.  

Whether we are tempted to over promise because of enthusiasm, a lack of operational expertise, expediency, or duplicity, the results are the same — distrust is created. And once there is distrust, rebuilding trust becomes almost impossible without a significant shaming, and transformation, of the organization. 

So if you seek to build trust, don’t promise what you can’t deliver, either in your ads, your speeches, your press releases or in your town halls. Stick to what you can deliver. The public is so jaded by hyperbole, they will most likely appreciate and respect your honesty. And even if they do not, you will know you have done the right thing… And that counts for a lot. 

Thank you Davia. We hope our readers heed this week’s advice.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its seventh year, the program’s proprietary FACTS® Framework ranks and measures the trustworthiness of over 2000 US public companies on five quantitative indicators of trustworthy business behavior. Barbara is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine.

Copyright 2016, Next Decade, Inc.

It’s Week #20 of 2016. This latest article is part of a series drawn from our 3rd annual 2016 Trust Poster….now hanging in hundreds of offices around the world. Get yours today!

52 Ideas That You Can Implement to Build Trust

Bob Whipple is a Trust Alliance member and a Trust Across America Lifetime Achievement Award Winner. He offers this week’s idea:

The absence of fear is the incubator of trust. The leadership behavior that reduces fear the most is reinforcing candor.

Fear at work is often a very rational emotion based on experience and the observed behaviors of the managers. That kind of toxic environment eliminates the possibility of growing real trust. Faced with enduring hypocrisy many will flee to greener pastures. But those employees who continually seek a better environment may find themselves moving to a different job only to find the conditions there are even worse than what they left.

I believe trust can kindle spontaneously in an environment where fear is low.

If your organization runs on a steady diet of fear because people are afraid of the consequences of speaking their truth, you are likely to have a toxic, low trust culture. That is a signal that there is an amazing level of productivity increase available if the leaders can change their behaviors to reduce the fear. Using candor may just be the fastest means to that end. I recall # 8 of Deming’s famous 14 points was “drive out fear.” I believe the famous quality guru was right. 

Thank you Bob. We hope our readers heed this week’s advice.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its seventh year, the program’s proprietary FACTS® Framework ranks and measures the trustworthiness of over 2000 US public companies on five quantitative indicators of trustworthy business behavior. Barbara is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine.

Copyright 2016, Next Decade, Inc.

It’s Week #18 of 2016. This latest article is part of a series drawn from our 3rd annual 2016 Trust Poster….now hanging in hundreds of offices around the world. Get yours today!

52 Ideas That You Can Implement to Build Trust

David Reiling is the CEO of Sunrise Banks and a multi-year Top Thought Leader in Trust who offers the following suggestion:

“Set intentional promises and expectations on what you will deliver to all stakeholders.” 

When you’re setting goals sometimes those goals are attainable and other times you miss them. To keep yourself always ‘in the game’ it is important to set goals and make yourself accountable. I challenge you to take it one step further and make yourself accountable for delivering results to others (stakeholders). This commitment to others will keep your drive and mindset in the right place. It doesn’t feel good when you break a promise to others. So be strong, be transparent and be intentional with others and let your goals and promises be seen and heard. Doing this will keep you on the track to deliver amazing results.

Thank you David. We hope our readers heed this week’s advice.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. Now in its seventh year, the program’s proprietary FACTS® Framework ranks and measures the trustworthiness of over 2000 US public companies on five quantitative indicators of trustworthy business behavior. Barbara is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine.

Copyright 2016, Next Decade, Inc.