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.

Read what Randy Conley has to say about trust and betrayal.

How Can You Give Trust When You Have Been Betrayed?

Suffering a betrayal of trust can be one of the most difficult and challenging times in your life. Depending on the severity of the offense, some people choose not to pursue recovery of the relationship. For those that do, the process of restoration can take days, weeks, months, or even years. If you choose to invest the time and energy to rebuild a relationship with someone who has broken your trust, you have to begin with forgiveness. 

As you consider forgiving someone who has betrayed your trust, here are some things to keep in mind:

• Forgiveness is a choice – It’s not a feeling or an attitude. Forgiving someone is a mental decision, a choice that you have complete control over. You don’t have to wait until you “feel” like forgiving someone.
• Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting – You don’t have to forget the betrayal in order to forgive. You may never forget what happened, and those memories will creep in occasionally, but you can choose to forgive and move on.
• Forgiveness doesn’t eliminate consequences – Some people are reticent to give forgiveness because somehow they think it lets the other person off-the-hook from what they did wrong. Not true. Consequences should still be enforced even if you grant forgiveness.
• Forgiving doesn’t make you a weakling or a doormat – Forgiveness shows maturity and depth of character. If you allow repeated violations of your trust then you’re a doormat. But forgiving others while adhering to healthy boundaries is a sign of strength, not weakness.
• Don’t forgive just to avoid pain – It can be easy to quickly grant forgiveness in order to avoid conflict and pain in the relationship. This usually is an attempt at conflict avoidance rather than true forgiveness. Take the appropriate amount of time to think through the situation and what will be involved in repairing the relationship before you grant forgiveness.
• Don’t use forgiveness as a weapon – If you truly forgive someone, you won’t use their past behavior as a tool to harm them whenever you feel the need to get a little revenge.
• Forgiveness isn’t dependent on the other person showing remorse – Whether or not the person who violated your trust apologizes or shows remorse for their behavior, the decision to forgive rests solely with you. Withholding forgiveness doesn’t hurt the other person, it only hurts you, and it’s not going to change anything that happened in the past. Forgiveness is up to you.
• Forgiveness is freedom – Holding on to pain and bitterness drains your energy and negatively colors your outlook on life. Granting forgiveness allows you to let go of the negative emotions that hold you back and gives you the ability to move forward with freedom and optimism.

Forgiveness is the first step in rebuilding a relationship with someone who has betrayed your trust.  As we head into the holiday season, TRUSTGiving2014 is an ideal time to take action to repair those low-trust relationships you’ve been tolerating. The choice is yours. Will you choose to forgive?

Randy Conley is the Vice President of Client Services & Trust Practice Leader for The Ken Blanchard Companies. He works with clients around the globe helping them design & deliver training and consulting solutions that build trust in the workplace and oversees Blanchard’s client delivery operations. He has been named a Top 100 Thought Leader in Trustworthy Business Behavior by Trust Across America. Randy holds a Masters Degree in Executive Leadership from the University of San Diego. You can follow Randy on Twitter @RandyConley where he shares thoughts on leadership and trust.

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.

Copyright 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

I am grateful when companies “do the right thing.” How about you? Isn’t it time we began acknowledging them instead of always focusing on the negative?

Here are 2 quick stories that deserve recognition.

The Cookie Caper

Have you ever heard of DiCamillo Bakery in upstate NY? I hadn’t until a few weeks ago when I came across their name in a catalog and decided to send a Thanksgiving basket to a relative. Here’s a quick company history from their website.

“In 1920, with the help of their eleven children, Tomaso and Addolorata Di Camillo opened their first bakery in Niagara Falls, New York. From basement ovens in this store, the Di Camillo family began baking bread and delivering it to their neighbors in horse-drawn wagons. Today second, third, and fourth generation members of the Di Camillo family continue this uninterrupted tradition of making wholesome hearth-baked bread and classic Italian cookies and confections for our friends and neighbors. Although our menu of breads and biscotti has greatly expanded, and our neighbors can be found all over the world, our standards, our traditions, and the pride in the products that we make remain the same.”

A few days later I received a call from the gift recipient, thanking me for the wonderful cookies and macaroons. The problem was, I hadn’t sent cookies and macaroons. A quick call to Di Camillo and the problem was solved. They admitted their mistake and shipped the correct order, at no cost. My first hat goes off to Di Camillo who apparently “does things right.” By the way, their prices are reasonable and their baked goods are delicious.

Leaky Faucets

I recently called Kohler to inquire about replacing a broken head on my kitchen faucet. The call wait time was very short, an English-speaking customer service rep picked up the phone, some basic information was collected (name, address, etc.) and the matter was resolved in under 5 minutes. The outcome: The part is being replaced at no charge. There was little discussion of warranties. The closest was the question as to when the item was purchased. I told the CSR I had no idea, as I could not remember when we had our kitchen remodeled.

So hat’s off to Kohler for standing behind their product and “doing what is right” instead of only “what is legal.” And the way they do business is clearly not by accident. Founded in 1873, Kohler is a family-owned business, and a privately held company. You can read their mission statement here. Their employees seem happy and they have won many awards. Herbert Kohler, Jr. is the CEO and the founder’s grandson. And I’ll bet you didn’t know that the company owns several golf courses and an arts center in Wisconsin!

Do you think culture and values are high on the priority list of these two companies? Are you surprised they have been in business for so long? I’m not. It seems they try to “do right” by all their stakeholders. I doubt either company is perfect, but they certainly set high standards.

Thank you Di Camillo’s Bakery and Kohler. You are truly role models for trustworthy business.

Let’s celebrate the “good guys.” Send me your “do the right thing” stories and I’ll be happy to feature them in upcoming blog posts. Email 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.

Copyright 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

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.

In this post, Frank Sonnenberg discusses the disconnect between trust’s perceived value and the priority it is (or is not) given.

People like talking about trust. Parents expect it, recruiters require it, and leaders demand it. In fact, whenever trust is mentioned, everyone smiles and nods their head. That’s because trust is like motherhood and apple pie.

Yet, there seems to be a disconnect between the perceived value of trust and the priority that it receives. Some folks view trust as nothing more than a motivational speech, a clever slogan, or a fancy book collecting dust on a shelf.

Why doesn’t trust receive the priority that it rightly deserves? In some cases, people are short-term thinkers. They’ll do anything to get what they want and aren’t willing to make the long-term commitment.  Others conclude that it’s hard to measure the impact that our words and actions have on trust –– so why pay the price? Let’s look at what happens in the absence of trust.

Distrust Commands a Heavy Price

In the relationships between people and groups, a lack of trust:

Creates a distraction. Distrust causes people to lose sight of what’s important and become sidetracked by trivial matters.

Damages relationships. Distrust promotes disharmony and uncertainty. It causes people to scrutinize what others say and second-guess their intent.

Destroys communication. Distrust fosters dishonesty and lack of transparency. People spend more effort reading between the lines than listening to what’s being said.

Damages teamwork. Distrust creates dissension. It pits people against one another. You can expect finger pointing, the blame game, and witch hunts to thrive where there is distrust.

Reduces competitiveness. When there’s distrust, people spend more time answering to the “paperwork police” than doing their job. This increases costs, but rarely adds value to the product or the customer experience. 

Encourages game playing. Distrust encourages people to spend more time trying to beat the system rather than trying to do something meaningful.

Destroys individual initiative. Distrust encourages people to look busy rather than to actually be productive.

Creates a toxic environment. Distrust creates an atmosphere that can be cut with a knife. In these environments, people opt for the political solution rather than for doing what’s right.

Hurts loyalty and morale. Distrust is anxiety provoking and debilitating. Good people would rather leave an organization for greener pastures than spend their days covering their behind.

It’s time to put your money where your mouth is. 

The Magic of Trust

What if I told you that mistrust could kill our individual aspirations, cripple our personal and business relationships, strip the muscle from our most powerful leaders, and crush the productivity and morale of our best and brightest people? Would I have your attention? Then why don’t we give trust the attention it deserves?

You may not think that paying lip service to trust bears a cost, but it commands a very handsome price. If you care about your credibility and reputation, desire the respect of friends and family, or want to be taken seriously in life … trust matters. Trust is more than a platitude; it defines you as a person. There is a tendency to believe that if something cannot be seen or heard, it does not exist. It brings to mind the question: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Trust, as with other soft issues, is like the tree that falls in a forest. If we don’t believe that trust makes a sound, maybe it’s time to get our hearing checked.

Frank Sonnenberg is an award-winning author. He has written five books and over 300 articles. Frank was recently named one of  100 “Global Thought Leaders” and nominated as one of “America’s Most Influential Small Business Experts.” Frank has served on several boards and has consulted to some of the largest and most respected companies in the world. Additionally, FrankSonnenbergOnline was named among the “Best 21st Century Leadership Blogs.” Frank’s new book, Follow Your Conscience is available November 2014.

© 2014 Frank Sonnenberg. All rights reserved.

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.

Copyright 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

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.

In this post, Bob Whipple discusses the bilateral nature of trust.

I have studied trust for two decades.  It is such a rich topic area that the angles of insights are limitless. A concept I want to discuss here is the bilateral nature of trust.  We often think of trust as one dimensional: about how we feel toward another person. In reality, trust goes both directions at all times.

If we recognize this aspect of trust, one of the best ways to receive more trust in your life is to give more of it to others.  If a child trusts us to keep her from falling on her first bike ride, we rise to that trust by being worthy of it.

The same kind of reciprocal trust goes on in the workplace every day.  If we extend more trust to people then we will build more trust for us in return. It is this cycle of giving and receiving trust that is so helpful for anyone in a leadership position.

I work with leaders all the time. Many of them show little trust in their workers because they say, “how can I trust them when they show that they are not trustworthy.”  These leaders foster low trust actions and the cycle continues.  If they would only seek ways to show higher trust, in little ways, there is a Pygmalion way to walk out of the darkness to where higher trust extension is possible.

Take proactive step of extending more trust to people who work for you. This means doing things like:

• Giving people more authority
• Refraining from micromanaging
• Eliminating restrictive rules

These types of actions allow people to know you are serious about trusting them more, and they will rise to a higher level of performance as a result.

Bob Whipple (AKA “The Trust Ambassador”) is CEO of Leadergrow Inc., an organization dedicated to the development of leaders.  He has written four books on trust and leadership and has made contributions to several other trust books.  He has written hundreds of articles on trust and leadership topics.

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.

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.

Building organizational trust is a whole lot easier if people truly, deeply, emotionally like their boss. Robert Galford, Center for Leading Organizations

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

Organizational Trust this Week is a new feature beginning with the “Good”, moving through the “Debatable” and occasionally ending with the “Ugly.” Each story contains a trust component and at least one lesson for organizations seeking to make trust a business imperative.

THE GOOD

This CEO sees trust as the ULTIMATE career weapon.

Not all marketing firms are “spinning” the truth. Here’s an example where trust matters in marketing.

THE DEBATABLE

Are you trustworthy just because you didn’t break any rules?

Two new reports offer different conclusions about whether big companies offer too little disclosure about their operations, or perhaps too much.

How about a Chief Trust Officer first?  Chief Distruption Officer will bring innovation, but not without trust.

THE UGLY

Who wins when the Chairman and CEO don’t get along? Nobody. And in this case, especially the shareholders.

Imagine the level of innovation, engagement and success when employees don’t trust their employer.

OUR MOST POPULAR POST THIS WEEK

And finally, Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s most popular post on LinkedIn Pulse this week. Our 6-month update on Trust & the Bottom Line. 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.

Our brand new magazine TRUST! makes the case that in Financial Services, Industry is NOT Destiny

We will be publishing our third book at the end of November.

                                                                                               Coming Soon!

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

Copyright 2014 Next Decade, Inc.

Why should companies build trust into their DNA as well as their daily business agenda?

THIS IS WHY!

Trust Across America-Trust Around the World, via its FACTS® Framework has developed and refined a unique model that has been tracking the performance of the most trustworthy public companies since 2010. Every six months we update our results and share them publicly. The model continues to support the “bottom line” business case for trust.  We began producing the chart above in August 2012. Since then, the most trustworthy companies have registered an 81.6% return vs. the S&P’s 46.3%.

And still the daily headlines explode with countless  stories about bad corporate behavior and the ongoing distrust of business. The word “trust” is rarely uttered by senior managers until they attempt to minimize the fallout from the latest corporate crisis. And what is usually the root cause of the crisis? Low trust, and the failure of senior leadership to place trust on its agenda. If it sounds like a vicious cycle it is, and certainly no way to reverse decades of declining trust in business.

Combine the chart above with the following data and The Case for Trust  becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.

The Hard Costs of Low Trust

• Gallup’s research (2011) places 71% percent of U.S. workers as either not engaged or actively disengaged.

• The disengaged workforce (Gallup, August, 2013) is costing the US economy $450-550 billion a year, which is over 15% of payroll costs.

• The Washington Post reported that “the federal government imposed an estimated $216 billion in regulatory costs on the economy (in 2012), nearly double its previous record.”
• The cost of the tort litigation system alone in the United States is over $250 billion. – or 2% of GDP (Forbes, January 2012)

• The six biggest U.S. banks, led by JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. have piled up $103 billion in legal costs since the financial crisis (Bloomberg, August 2013)

• According to The Economist Intelligence Unit (2010), 84% of senior leaders say disengaged employees are considered one of the biggest threats facing their business. However, only 12% of them reported doing anything about this problem.

• According to Edelman globally, 50% of consumers trust businesses, but just 18% trust business leadership.

• The United States, the statistics are similar, but the story is a bit worse for leadership. While 50% of U.S. consumers trust businesses, just 15% trust business leadership.

• And finally this:  according to a recent report published in the New York Times, the daily cost to house, feed and guard a single prison inmate in New York City is $459.54. In the sharpest of contrasts to the cement-block walls of a cold jail cell, the Ritz Carlton Hotel is the paragon of luxury. World-class service, beautiful design, 600 thread-count sheets. And yet, the average cost for a night at the Ritz — $323, according to its public filings — is 30% less than the cost of a night in city jail. (Josh Linkner, Detroit Free Press, November 9, 2014)

The trust gap not only impacts a company’s revenue, market share, brand reputation, employee engagement and turnover, stock price, and bottom line profitability, but every facet of society.

The Low Cost of Hard Trust

Building a trustworthy business will improve a company’s long-term profitability and organizational sustainability.

A growing body of evidence shows increasing correlation between trustworthiness and superior financial performance. Over the past decade, a series of qualitative and quantitative studies have built a strong case for senior business leaders to place building trust among stakeholders high on their priority list. While none of these studies are perfect, over the next decade their results will be increasingly difficult to ignore.

This is brand-new research from Interaction Associates 

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.

and more from the Chartered Management Institute  follow this link.

As we look more closely at the morality of managers through the lens of MoralDNA, we see that being good and doing things right is mostly about our empathy, our reason and our values. It is much less about the achievement of narrow financial targets; or our robotic compliance with rules and regulations. And yet governments, businesses, public services and charities still persist in a focus on quantitative targets and bureaucratic red-tape that drive dysfunctional and unethical workplace cultures. This has to change.

In a Harvard Business School working paper from July 2013 called The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance, Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou, and George Serafeim provide evidence that High Sustainability companies (those integrating both environmental and social issues) significantly outperform their counterparts over the long-term, both in terms of stock market as well as accounting performance.

According to Fortune’s  “100 Best Companies to Work For”, based on Great Place to Work Employee Surveys, best companies experience as much as 50% less turnover and Great Workplaces perform more than 2X better than the general market (Source: Russell Investment Group)

Forbes and GMI Ratings have produced the “Most Trustworthy Companies” list for the past six years. They examine over 8,000 firms traded on U.S. stock exchanges using forensic accounting measures, a more limited definition of trustworthy companies than Trust Across America’s FACTS Framework but still somewhat revealing. The conclusions they draw are:

• “… the cost of capital of the most trustworthy companies is lower …”
• “… outperform their peers over the long run …”
• “… their risk of negative events is minimized …”

 In addition to the chart above, numerous indirect indicators of trust also show a direct correlation to superior financial performance.

From Deutsche Bank:

• 100% concurrence on Lower Cost of Capital (“… academic studies agree that companies with high ratings for CSR (corporate social responsibility) and ESG (environment, social responsibility, governance) factors have a lower cost of capital in terms of debt (loans and bonds) and equity.”)
• 89% concurrence on Superior Market Performance (“,,,studies indicate companies with high ratings for ESG factors outperform market-based indices”)
• 85% concurrence on Greater Performance on Accounting –Based Standards (“… studies reveal these types of company’s consistently outperform their rivals on accounting-based criteria.”)

From Global Alliance for Banking on Values, (see more on the GABV in our new magazine TRUST!,) which compared values-based and sustainable banks to their big-bank rivals and found:

• 7% higher Return on Equity for values-based banks (7.1% ROE compared to 6.6% for big banks).
•  51% higher Return On Assets for sustainable banks (.50% average ROA for sustainable banks compared to big bank earning 0.33%)

These studies are bolstered by analyses from other respected sources including the American Association of Individual Investors, the Dutch University of Maastricht, Erasmus University, and Harvard Business Review.

Business leaders may choose to continue to challenge the business case for trust but the evidence is mounting. There is not only a business case but also a financial case for trust.  Trust works not only in business, but in all organizations regardless of their industry, size or location. Is it working for 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.

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.

Trust is critical to building a good name. Leslie Gaines Ross, Weber Shandwick

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

Organizational Trust this Week is a new feature beginning with the “Good” and ending with the “Ugly.” Each story contains a trust component and at least one lesson for organizations seeking to make trust a business imperative.

THE GOOD

Editor’s Pick of the Week! If you don’t read any further, read this great story about trust and leadership.

When the CEO becomes the Waiter

Accenture’s CEO Leads from Principles. What does leading from principles mean? Thank you Charlie Green!

A CEOs Best Advice!  Kudos to Indra Nooyi for acknowledging the importance of trust.

Is Humility the Key to Building Trust? This CEO thinks so.

THE BAD

I reported on Home Depot when the data security breach first occurred. This latest news doesn’t come as any surprise to me.

This CEO is often cited as one of the most trustworthy, but the Daily Mail is asking if that’s still true. Can Richard Branson still be trusted?

THE UGLY

A great CEO lesson on how NOT to do trust, just cut your competitor off at the knees

OUR MOST POPULAR POST THIS WEEK

And finally, Trust Across America-Trust Around the World’s most popular post on LinkedIn Pulse this week. New research on Trust & the Moral DNA of Performance. 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.

Our brand new magazine TRUST! makes the case that in Financial Services,

Industry is NOT Destiny

We will be publishing our third book at the end of November.

                                                                                               Coming Soon!

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

From  November 17-24, concerned citizens from around the globe will be joining Trust Across America-Trust Around the World in its first annual TRUSTGiving social awareness campaign. If you strongly believe that trust is an important component of all personal and professional relationships, we invite you to join us by using this emblem, placing the dates on your calendar and sharing this note with others.

More information is available on our website at this link.

We will be using this hashtag during the week.

#TrustGiving2014

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.

Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

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.

Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.—

Adam Smith

Yesterday I was speaking with a friend who recently changed jobs and is now employed by a public company.  We were discussing how the new firm requires more dotting of i’s and crossing of t’s in justifying business expenses.  I immediately pictured Oz behind the curtain saying something to the effect of “Prove to me that all your expenses are justified,” and then I envisioned all the layers of bureaucracy (and payroll expenses) that feed this “control” process monster screaming, “We can’t trust you to do the right thing because our regulations don’t allow us to.”

And then today, another acquaintance wrote a piece on LinkedIn Pulse called Smart Compliance Doesn’t Require Mega-$ or Armies of People. I was excited when I first read the article’s title, but that quickly faded. Imagine having 10% of your employees dedicated to compliance? The author makes the argument that financial firms in particular need  “Smart, integrated compliance, risk and reputation management that creates organizational resilience and sustainable success.”

Taking this argument one step further, even in financial institutions, integrated compliance, risk and reputation management costs will be even lower when organizational trust is high. It may not be regulated, but that doesn’t make trust soft. In fact, quite the opposite. As we have recently shown in our new magazine TRUST!, industry is not destiny, even in financial services. What if we surveyed the financial institutions mentioned in this magazine issue to determine what percentage of their employees are dedicated to compliance, and how much their employees feel bogged down by bureaucracy? The business case for trust has already been made and I’ll bet the survey would further support it.

Good luck to those firms who are bogged down by bureaucracy and compliance. They are spending their money in all the wrong places. What do you think? If you work in compliance, risk or reputation management, please weigh in.

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

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