Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

Welcome to TRUSTGiving 2014, our first annual weeklong trust awareness campaign.  Join the Alliance of Trustworthy Business Experts as our members help our readers navigate the complexities of trust. We will be blogging (several times a day) and posting on Twitter #TrustGiving2014.

The headlines speak for themselves…

• Trust in business is down
• Washington can’t be trusted
• The NFL has trust issues.

….or do they? 

Have you ever paused to consider that businesses, Washington and the NFL are all run by people?  Institutions are only as trustworthy as those who lead them. In reality, we don’t have a crisis of trust. We have too many “low trust” leaders.

Trust is built on three pillars: Character, competence & consistency. If the first of these pillars comes naturally, the second two are easy to construct. How do you measure character? Michael Josephson has built his “Character Counts” program on 6 pillars. Notice the first is trustworthiness.

If you lead an organization and the headlines are continuously working against you, take a few minutes to consider the following:

• Do you cheat or deceive others?
• Are you reliable? (consistency)
• Do you keep your word?
• Do you have courage to do the right thing?
• Do you have a good reputation? (competence)
• Are you loyal?
• Do you stand by your family, friends and country?

You may have noticed that competence and consistency are attributes of good character. If organizations were run by people who could answer “Yes” to all these questions, or even took the time to consider them, the headlines would read differently.

Being trustworthy is not rocket science. It’s simply a choice. Make it yours.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities for which they were previously unaware.” –David Armistead

I am excited to share the results of a brand new research study called “Building Workplace Trust” from our  trust alliance members at Interaction Associates.

Leaders: did you know there’s a 60 percent chance your employees don’t trust you much? It’s true, according to brand-new research from Interaction Associates. And this is the case despite the fact that eight in ten workers say they need to trust their bosses in order to be effective on the job.

Just four out of ten workers report they have a high level of trust in their leaders and their organizations. Perhaps even more worrying: one-quarter of employees surveyed say they trust their boss less this year than they did in 2013.

So why is this important? The study demonstrates that companies which enjoy high levels of trust among their employees are two and a half times more likely than those that don’t to enjoy superior revenue growth. High-trust businesses significantly outperform all other organizations in achieving a wide variety of business goals, including customer loyalty and retention; competitive market position; values-driven behavior and actions; predictable business and financial results; and profit growth.

So how do these high-trust, highly successful companies earn the trust of their employees? Those surveyed chose these as the top five actions leaders can take in order to build trust.

1. Ask for input into decisions that affect employees.
2. Give employees background information so they can understand why decisions are being made.
3. Set workers up for success by providing them with learning opportunities and the resources they need.
4. Admit your mistakes.
5. Don’t punish employees for raising issues or concerns: in other words, don’t shoot the messenger.

To complete the research study, Interaction Associates surveyed 500 employees at companies worldwide in a range of job functions and industries.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this with our audience.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

                                                                                                 Coming Soon!

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality. 

Joe Paterno

Today I am excited to be one of the first to share a brand new research study from the Chartered Management Institute titled The Moral DNA of Performance and co-authored by one of our trust alliance members in the UK, Roger Steare. This is a fascinating report that further supports our business case for trust & ethics and concludes with the following:

Trust is an essential agent of social development and organizational sustainability. Robert Easton, Accenture

(from Trust Across America’s Weekly Reflections on Trust 2014)

Organizational Trust this Week is a new weekly feature that we began to write in October. We review the “trust news” of the week and report on the “Good,” the “Bad” and the “Ugly.” Each story contains a trust component and at least one lesson for organizations seeking to make trust a business imperative.

THE GOOD

Industry is NOT destiny, even in financial services. Our brand new magazine TRUST! tells the stories of the “good guys” who have built trust into the DNA of their organizations.

We often overlook the importance of testimonials, but in reality, they are a great way to build trust. Read more here.

Should business have a social purpose and what should be the role of trust? Includes an interesting graph!

And along the same theme of social purpose, short-termism and trust don’t make great bedfellows according to the CEO of Nestle.

THE BAD

What are the Best Five Ways to Break a Consumer’s Trust in a Brand?

Long-term trust cannot be built based on quarterly performance. Was Sanofi’s CEO Fired for the Right Reasons or Was He Just Having a Bad Quarter? 

Americans Report Declining Trust in Banks, but once you start reading the fine print, the headline is a bit misleading.

THE UGLY

The folks at Motley Fool put an interesting but not surprising twist on trust this week. If it doesn’t effect EPS, why should the public care?

OUR MOST POPULAR POST THIS WEEK

And finally, Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s most popular post on LinkedIn Pulse this week. With trust industry is never destiny.

Send us your stories for consideration in future editions of Organizational Trust this Week: barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

                                                                                               Coming Soon!

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved–  William Jennings Bryan

Early this week we published the inaugural edition of TRUST! Magazine. It features stories of companies and leaders in the financial services industry who are NOT the bad apples we read about daily in the press. These stories contain dozens of best practices that can be emulated and replicated in companies that choose to put trust on their daily docket.

The people who contributed to this magazine are as diverse as the subject of trust itself- Jan Lynn Owen, a California Banking Commissioner, Brad Katsuyama, who’s name you may recall from 60 Minutes, Steven Mandis a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, Bruce Cahan a visiting scholar at Stanford University, Jack Hubbard, a member of our trust alliance, who has spent decades teaching bankers how to be trustworthy, and David Reiling the CEO of Sunrise Banks, to name just a few. These are the people who are leading the movement to change the way business is done. These are the people who not only talk trust but walk it too.

In compiling this magazine, I was reminded again and again that industry is not destiny. Similar to the NFL, the good players have their reputation’s tarnished by a handful of thugs.

Five years ago, Trust Across America-Trust Around the World developed the only holistic, quantitative measurement of the trustworthiness of public companies. We call it our FACTS Framework and we have been carefully tracking individual company and industry performance since then. The “trust trends”, and even the risks we see, are very different than what some of the companies choose to talk about, and what the opinion polls would have you believe. Companies that rise to the top of our model have similar DNA, regardless of their industry. Their thinking is holistic and “long-term” and they crush their competition.

Trust begins with trustworthy leadership at the Board & C-Suite level. We’ve published two award-winning books on the subject with a third out in November. Trust is built over time and in incremental steps. It doesn’t matter what the industry. The steps are the same. If trust is considered a business imperative, it is built into the corporate credo, vision and values, and practiced every day by everyone. It is reinforced at every opportunity.

No company is perfect, but trust ALWAYS begins with the internal actions of leadership. Don’t believe for a minute that industry is destiny. Not yet convinced? Read our magazine and see for yourself.

PS- An early observation based on sales… the majority of buyers are not US based. What does that tell you?

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

Have you seen our brand new magazine TRUST!

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity– Dalai Lama

How many of the following ten “trust” danger signs are present in your organization?

1. Passion is missing and so is the boss
2. Bureaucracy is increasing as is the compliance staff
3. Closed doors have become the norm, as well as the conversations behind them
4. Decisions take forever
5. Employees are disengaged and turnover is increasing
6. There is more talk and less listening
7. Nobody ever fails, a sign of little to no innovation
8. Empathy and kindness are rarities
9. Transparency has taken a back seat to secrecy
10. The “giving” has stopped and the day of the “free turkey” is over

The business case for trust  has been made. Beware of the “trust” danger signs and address them before distrust becomes the norm.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

Have you seen our brand new magazine TRUST!

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Lay a strong foundation of trust or make a costly fix in the future. You decide.  Barbara Brooks Kimmel

Over time, homes built on weak foundations develop structural issues- cracked walls, crooked floors, leaky roofs. Organizations are no different.

Yesterday I was speaking with someone who holds a senior position in a startup company. I asked him whether trust is being built into the DNA. After he rolled his eyes, he said “the “team” was too busy for that.” I cautioned that the road ahead could be very bumpy and inefficient, and that long-term success was questionable. Then I turned my back and rolled my eyes!

Building trust into the business strategy at the startup stage increases efficiency (more timely, less costly) and is so much easier and less expensive than making the repairs later on.

These are three steps startups can take to build a foundation of trust. We call this our VIP Model (Values, Integrity, Promises Kept).

Vision & Values: Leaders must collaboratively identify what the organization wants to achieve. Why does it exist and what does it stand for? Bring the team together to write a statement of values or a corporate credo. Discuss it weekly. Modify as required. Don’t know where to start? Here’s a sample. We can direct you to other resources as well.

Integrity: Model openness and vulnerability; use transparent decision making; listen carefully; ask for input; don’t bite off more than you can chew; don’t exaggerate or make false claims; communicate and then communicate again.

Promises: What are the goals and intentions for each of your stakeholder groups? What promises can you make and what steps do you need to take to fulfill them? Do not make promises you can’t keep.

Don’t wait to build trust into your organization’s DNA. The stronger the foundation, the lower the likelihood of cracked walls in the future.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

Have you seen our brand new magazine TRUST!

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness. William Arthur Ward

There are several frameworks and models of trustworthy leadership. Some describe the “three C’S” of Character, Competence and Consistency, while another substitutes “consistency” for compassion. Randy Conley, the Vice President of Client Services & Trust Practice Leader for The Ken Blanchard Companies, and one of our Alliance members, employs the ABCDs as a model (Able, Believable, Connected, Dependable.) At Trust Across America we like to say that trustworthy leaders are VIPS’s (Values, Integrity and Promises kept.)

Yesterday a colleague shared this Harvard Business Review article discussing the work of behavioral science researchers at Princeton (Amy Cuddy and Susan Fiske) and Lawrence University’s Peter Glick.  Simply, the most influential traits of great leaders are warmth and strength. The difficulty comes in deciding which comes first, and if you are like me, you will be surprised at the findings.

Why are these traits so important? Because they answer two critical questions: “What are this person’s intentions toward me?” and “Is he or she capable of acting on those intentions?” Together, these assessments underlie our emotional and behavioral reactions to other people, groups, and even brands and companies. 

When considering the most important traits of those who lead with trust, which do you think comes first, warmth or strength?

Drop me a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com or leave a comment.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series and the Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

Have you seen our brand new magazine TRUST!

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, but of choice.

Not something to wish for, but to attain.”

— William Jennings Bryan

Since the financial crisis of 2008 the media’s fixation on the “rotten apples” in the industry has been unrelenting. Under the theory that “bad news sells” the public is reminded daily and left with diminishing expectations for a return to a more trustworthy financial services environment.

But what if I told you there is a silver lining? Contrary to popular belief, when it comes to trust, industry is NEVER destiny.

In the inaugural edition of TRUST! Magazine, we bring together global experts to help us explore companies and leaders who have chosen a different path. These are NOT the stories we hear about in the news, but they are the ones that SHOULD be reported. We have chosen to provide the public with the “other side” of this coin, not just corporate window dressing “best practices,” but actually, the “real deal.”

Trust has been built into the corporate DNA at these financial institutions. It is at the heart of how business is done, and it is practiced and reinforced daily. When we started Trust Across America-Trust Around the World in 2009, our mission was to highlight the “good guys” and showcase their best practices in an unbiased and impartial manner.  Consistent with our approach over the past five years, our readers will not find a single advertisement in this 50+ page magazine. We have elected instead to charge a small fee to cover our costs.

We hope you find value in the Magazine and choose to share it with others. Together we can push this enormous trust boulder up the hill.

ACCESS THE TABLE OF CONTENTS AND LEARN MORE

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series, and Executive Editor of TRUST! Magazine. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing. Rollo May

Nan Russell, a member of our Trust Alliance and author of Trust, Inc.: How to Create a Business Culture That Will Ignite Passion, Engagement, and Innovation, shares 12 Communication Practices That Elevate Communication and Build Trust in today’s blog post:

The communication practices below lift understanding, create aligned purpose, improve relationships, and enable healthy and productive differences, and while doing so, increase trust-building:

1. Know what matters to the people you lead
2. Have dialogues without personal agendas or assumed answers
3. Express heartfelt, specific gratitude
4. Be forthcoming about your objective, purpose, or goal
5. Align your actions with your words
6. Operate with thoughtful transparency
7. Paint word-pictures to make something seeable, doable, and purposeful
8. Be about the right action, not the action that’s right for you
9. Be open to all methods of communication
10. Offer feedback as opinion, not fact
11. Listen to learn
12. Be the message, not the messenger, for respect, integrity, and compassion

Communication that builds trust is elevated because it brings honesty, integrity, authenticity, and caring into the conversation.

Thank you Nan for sharing this guest blog post with us. For more information about Nan, visit her website.

Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

Nominations are now being accepted for Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s 5th annual Global Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.

                                                                                               Coming Soon!

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.