Late last year Trust Across America-Trust Around the World  published the first in a planned series of award-winning books. The book, TRUST INC. Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset brings together the wisdom of 32 experts and is divided into six chapters:

1. Why Trust Matters- read our blog of July 18 to find out Why Trust Matters
2. Trust in Practice- read our blog of July 18 for Trust in Practice from Apple to Africa
3. Trustworthy Leadership (today’s post)
4. Building Trustworthy Teams
5. Restoring Trust
6. The Future of Trust

Over a six day period, our blog will extract highlights from these chapters. Each one stands alone as an excellent resource in helping leaders understand why trust matters, and provides tools for those who choose to implement trust building programs in their organization. Today we take a closer look at Trustworthy Leadership via the alphabet and other great strategies.

Randy Conley teaches us “The ABCDs of Leading with Trust”

Able—Being Able is about demonstrating competence. One-way leaders demonstrate their competence is by having the expertise needed to do their jobs. 

Believable—A Believable leader acts with integrity. Dealing with people in an honest fashion by keeping promises, not lying or stretching the truth, and not gossiping are ways to demonstrate integrity. Believable leaders also have a clear set of values that have been articulated to their direct reports and they behave consistently with those values—they walk the talk. 

Connected—Connected leaders show care and concern for people, which builds trust and helps to create an engaging work environment. Research by The Ken Blanchard Companies® has identified “connectedness with leader” and “connectedness with colleague” as 2 of the 12 key factors involved in creating employee work passion, and trust is a necessary ingredient in those relationships. 

Dependable—Being Dependable and maintaining reliability is the fourth element of trust. One of the quickest ways to erode trust is by not following through on commitments. 

***********

Stephen M.R. Covey and Greg Link show us how to “Lead Out in Extending Trust”

When managers don’t extend trust, people often tend to perpetuate vicious, collusive downward cycles of distrust and suspicion. As a result, they become trapped in a world where people don’t trust each other— where management doesn’t trust employees and employees don’t trust management; where suppliers don’t trust partners and partners don’t trust suppliers; where companies don’t trust customers and customers don’t trust companies; where marriage partners don’t trust each other; and where parents don’t trust their children and children don’t trust their parents. 

**********

In Leading with Trust: Learning from Mistakes Amy Lyman looks inside two companies.

The stories of mistakes made, lessons learned and the success that followed, along with the humor of the pink erasers, has deepened the process of learning from mistakes that has helped EILEEN FISHER to be so successful.

The story from Scripps Health CEO Chris Van Gorder illustrates the powerful impact that a brief encounter can have on our lives and of our ability to learn from the mistakes of others long past the time of the incident. It is also a powerful reminder to leaders that any encounter can be an opportunity to build up, or tear down, trust.

Leaders who learn from their mistakes and share their stories will develop committed rather than compliant followers. When they ask for more from people they will have a green light rather than dragging feet. Leading with trust works.

**********

In Ethical Leader as Ethics Coach Chris Macdonald lays out a plan for becoming an ethics coach:

1) Learn the basic vocabulary of ethics; educate yourself on the terminology that experts in the field have found useful in making key distinctions and expressing important values. You can’t coach others on ethics if you don’t know how to talk about the topic.

2) Learn what you can about the known barriers to effective ethical conversations about ethics. Many people find it hard to talk about ethics. Find out why, and do what you can to start breaking down those barriers.

3) Think about what you do – and what you can do – to make your workplace a place where employees are empowered to make ethical decisions. Is your organization one where ethics is on the table? Do employees feel trusted to make decisions and to take a range of ethical factors into consideration?

4) Reflect frequently not just on the substance of the choices you make, but also on the underlying values and principles and how you would explain them to others. Even when the right thing seems obvious to you, it might not seem obvious to others.

5) Practice talking about ethics. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone. That means doing more than reading up on the topic. 

************

I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peak into the trust treasures contained in our book. Did I mention that the book has won both a Nautilus Business Book and Eric Hoffer Grand Business Prize Award? Tomorrow I’ll pull some similar gems from Building Trustworthy Teams. Check back with us soon.

If this brief look behind the door has been helpful, follow this link to order the book online.

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.

. 

If you would like to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Late last year Trust Across America-Trust Around the World  published the first in a planned series of award-winning books. The book, TRUST INC. Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset brings together the wisdom of 32 experts and is divided into six chapters:

1. Why Trust Matters- read our blog of July 18 to find out Why Trust Matters
2. Trust in Practice
3. Trustworthy Leadership
4. Building Trustworthy Teams
5. Restoring Trust
6. The Future of Trust

Over a six day period, our blog will extract highlights from each chapter. Each one can serve as an excellent resource in helping leaders understand why trust matters, and provide tools for those who choose to implement trust building programs in their organization. In these five stories covering trust building from Apple, Inc. all the way to Africa, you will read how organizations have successfully built trust.

“In Apple We Trust” Cynthia Figge explores trust building under Apple’s new leadership.

In terms of company supremacy, Apple must surely rank near the top. They have maintained one of the largest market values for a public company and Fast Company named Apple as “The World’s Most Innovative Company” in 2012. What could be better? At the end of 2012 in a December 6^th Business Week article. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, said he would continue the company’s focus on creating great products to enrich people’s lives (“higher cause for the product”) under his leadership. He also noted that Apple would become more transparent to both make a difference and have others follow its leadership. For a company where secrecy has been sacred, was this a signal that transparency is being adopted as a business driver – perhaps ultimately an issue of customer loyalty and trust? Or was the external mounting pressure from Apple stakeholders great enough to change the company’s course? Or both? 

***********

In “Four Lock Box” John Gerzema describes the creation of a savings club in Kenya and how trust played a key role in its success.

The long-term payoff for Kenya could be seen in the rising health and education levels of the farm children who will soon be young adults. With its urban population growing at nearly five percent per year, Kenya will need more jobs in commerce and industry, and these positions require workers with sufficient schooling. However, many of today’s adults in Kenya also need immediate access to work and incomes, and cannot devote years to study. For this segment of the population, one of the world’s oldest aid groups—Catholic Relief Services—promotes a saving and lending scheme that serves people who are so poor that they cannot qualify even for the kind of microfinance loans popular in many parts of the world.

**********

In “Brand Trust is the Foundation to Brand Loyalty” James Gregory discusses trust and brand loyalty using stories from Apple, AIG and BP.

Marketing professionals generally think of brand building as nothing more than a combination of product/service packaging, public relations and advertising. In reality, the effort needed to build a trusted brand touches every aspect of a business. You can’t just claim to be trustworthy; you must act and behave accordingly. Building brand loyalty through trustworthy behavior motivates audiences to continually select your brand over competitors, improving financial performance. Brand loyalty can also bolster your company’s performance through economic shifts, public relations gaffes and even significant management changes. 

**********

In “Trust the Great Economic Game Changer” Robert Porter Lynch provides an eye opening essay on the auto industry. A great read for Mary Barra and GM’s Board of Directors.

One industry that’s dear to everyone is the auto industry – the world’s most visible and best-studied business sector. In 2009, General Motors and Chrysler both filed for bankruptcy and Ford came darned close. Being “too big to fail,” every taxpayer in the United States, through the action of the President, became an investor in GM and Chrysler through a bailout program (as taxpayers also did with the banks that failed).

What is not well known is that in the five year period leading up to the auto crisis, the “Big Three” U.S. automakers collectively had lost over $100 billion in the prior five years running up to the 2008 financial meltdown. The financial cataclysm did not cause their failure; it just put them over the precipice.

How could such large companies, staffed by highly educated management professionals, make such horrific mistakes? What really happened? What can we learn from this debacle?

**********

And finally Deb Mills-Scofield shows how Menasha Packaging Corp proved “You Can’t Take 164 Years of Trust for Granted”.

Menasha Packaging Corp (MPC), a 164 year old, 6^th generation family business, has grown from making wooden pails in 1849 to a design-oriented packaging company that today delights customers, employees and their communities with over $1 billion in revenue.  How? By leveraging their culture of entrepreneurship, collaboration, and autonomy based on trust and faith in each other. 

In Menasha’s history, there have been times of great trust and times of wavering trust.  The early 1990s were a time of tension between many corporations and their unions.  During that time, MPC, a strong believer in collaboration, started a formal team-based manufacturing program in their plants between management and plant workers, including union representatives. The output was increased innovation from the employees on the floor that improved productivity and the outcome was increased collaboration and trust.  While this may be common sense to many of us today, it was not the “norm” 20+ years ago.

************

I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peak into the trust treasures contained in our book. Did I mention that the book has won both a Nautilus Business Book and Eric Hoffer Grand Business Prize Award? Tomorrow I’ll pull some similar gems from Trustworthy Leadership. Check back with us soon.

If you have enjoyed this brief look behind the door, follow this link to order the book online.

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.

. 

If you would like to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

What do pickles, kindness and employee engagement have in common? Read on.

This morning my younger son was packing up to head to Vermont for a few days with a friend and his family. He had just returned from the bagel shop with a Baker’s Dozen and a container of cream cheese to share during the trip. On his way out the door I remembered that last evening I had brewed up our first batch of summer refrigerator pickles from our bounty of organic garden cucumbers. (For those of you who think pickles must be made in a crock and “cooked” for months, there’s a shortcut that actually tastes better and only takes 3 or 4 days. Think “crunchy” and Google “garlic dill refrigerator pickles.)”

I suggested to my son that he take a jar to his host family. His response surprised me. He said he believed one kind gesture (the bag of bagels) was sufficient. I reminded him that you can never do too many nice things for others.

Same applies to leaders in any organization. Who in the C-Suite is tasked with doing the “right” thing and keeping everyone happy, the equivalent of a Chief Kindness Officer? It all starts with the CEO.  How often do you hear about companies doing nice things just because they want to, as opposed to well crafted PR campaigns or corporate window dressing? Some do. Howard Schultz at Starbucks just announced a program to pay college tuition.

According to Gallup, only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work. Do you think building kindness into the corporate culture might raise that engagement? Acts of kindness build trust. They make for good business.

I have compiled a short list of the various ways leaders can build trust through deliberate acts of kindness.

• Set long-term goals and establish a benchmark
• Put trust high on the agenda every day
• Create an intentional culture
• Hire the right people who are aligned with that culture (don’t forget to let HR know)
• Communicate openly
• Support advancement
• Catch someone doing something right every day, announce it and reward it
• Tell the truth
• Park your ego at the door and do more listening than talking
• Come down out of your ivory tower and on to the shop floor
• Keep your word
• Offer to buy lunch, bring a jar of pickles, and sit down at the table.

Start today. Set some long-term employee engagement goals and put trust high on the daily agenda. Let me know the outcome.

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.

. 

Drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

We’ve all heard them, those annoying robot recordings and canned phrases that companies and their customer service “professionals”  have adopted because it’s what “policy” dictates. I would love a seat at those policy meeting tables to remind management that without customers, business ceases to exist.

Here’s a short list of my favorite first hand trust-busters and the way my brain translates them:

CSR: “I understand how you feel”

ME: No you don’t. You think that by saying “I understand how you feel” that I feel better, but actually you haven’t resolved the problem so I feel worse.

CSR: Sorry, but this is our policy.

ME: You’re not sorry at all. You’re giving me a stock answer because that’s all your company permits you to say.

CSR: “I’m doing the best I can.”

ME: Well then I feel sorry for YOU because you’ve set your own bar very low.

CSR: Hobbily gobbily gobeldy gook. (The CSR is not a native English speaker and I can’t understand a thing they are saying.)

ME: This company doesn’t care enough about it’s customers to ensure that their reps speak English well enough to be understood.

CSR: “We can’t give you a time when we will be there.”

ME: You don’t value my time so customer service is clearly not a priority.

CSR: Our computers are very slow today.

ME: Funny, every time I call you, you tell me the same story. Please suggest to management that the computers be fixed.

And the best one:

CSR: You’re not the first one to call and complain about this.

ME: Then let me calculate the gross time wasted by all the callers instead of just my call. And now that I have finished my calculations, I  feel better knowing that you are letting all your customers down and wasting all their time, not just mine.

And I can’t help but recall of all those times I’ve dialed, listened to the recording, entered  the info and account numbers, sat on hold and then the CSR finally picks up… and the call is disconnected.

Certain kinds of companies are famous for poor customer service. Health insurers, utility and cable companies and airlines come to mind first. Also, all the local businesses that deliver appliances and the like. The remainder of companies, get it “right” more often than wrong, but it’s probably because we never need to call them.  And in some cases like utilities, we have no choice but to do business with these companies, and they know it. We are a captive audience.

What this tells me is that the “right” leaders are absent at the policy meetings (probably because they are too busy putting out fires.) The company is not customer focused and therefore not trustworthy. Management is more concerned with lining their own pocketbooks than in meeting the needs of all their stakeholders, including their customers. Their focus is short-term and they are fooling no one but themselves, and the lack of customer focus is usually indicative of more serious underlying and systemic problems, starting with untrustworthy leaders. As a consumer, I avoid these companies whenever I can. We all have choices (most of the time). Whenever possible, choose to give your business to those who don’t train their CSR’s to give stock answers to real concerns, and who apparently have no respect for the people who ultimately pay their salaries, their customers.

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.

. 

Drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Business leaders are constrained by the number of hours in the day, and how they prioritize their time. Many spend a large percentage of it reacting to crises and extinguishing fires rather than proactively building business. If more leaders embraced the benefits of trust, they might have their time freed up for more worthwhile pursuits. So, if you are a leader, here are ten questions to ask yourself.

Ten Questions For Leaders Seeking to Build Trustworthy Organizations

1. Am I trustworthy? Does trust matter to me as an individual or in my professional life?
2. Is trust mentioned in our mission statement or corporate credo?
3. Do all stakeholders view me as trustworthy? Have I asked?
4. Do I talk about the importance of trust on a regular basis?
5. Do I engage my employees in discussions about trust?
6. Am I transparent?
7. Do I celebrate achievements? Do I allow mistakes?
8. Am I more concerned with profits or values?
9. Would I compromise my integrity?
10. Do I acknowledge the business case for trust?

What other questions should leaders be asking themselves in pursuit of building trustworthy organizations?  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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

. 

Drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Sometimes our days don’t turn out as originally planned.

Yesterday was one of those days!

My intentions were good. I had a big project to tackle so I woke up extra early, walked the dogs, made coffee, sat down to check incoming emails, and suddenly the day derailed.

For those who can still remember back as far as childhood, some of us were blessed with a level of intelligence to the “right of center” on the bell curve. This attribute became a curse on days when tests or exams were administered, as there was often the classmate to the left or right, or sometimes behind us with, what was then known as “wandering eyes.” Their level of audacity was only limited by the teacher’s ability (and choice) to hear and see. When the tests were graded and returned, the cheater acted as if they had earned the grade themselves. They never bothered to thank the kid sitting next to them, and certainly never apologized.

Cheating still runs rampant in schools. In fact, it’s now at epidemic levels as all those cheating kids are now adults, raising a new generation of cheaters. Just ask Don McCabe at Rutgers University who was a guest on the TAA radio show back in 2010.

So as I read through my Google alerts yesterday morning, a new article on “trust” popped up. I read it, read it again, and then read it for the third time, assuming I was missing the most important component, the credit to the original author. Someone who is, ironically, on the faculty of the same university cited above, and who until yesterday I had no reason to believe was untrustworthy or had “wandering eyes” decided that plagiarism and copyright rules only apply to other people. I think I remember that  same “guy” sitting next to me in high school english class!

For those who know me, I have never said “No” to anyone who asks to republish or repurpose anything I have written, as I am a believer in the power of collaboration, especially when tackling a complex subject such as “trust.”  But this particular person forgot to ask permission, or perhaps thought he wouldn’t get caught. Instead, he threw me a bone with a brief mention of TAA (no link), and then proceeded to lift almost his entire article from this blog post with no attribution.

If you’ve never  looked up the definition of  “plagiarism,” according to Merriam-Webster.com it is:

“The act of using another person’s words or ideas without giving credit to that person : the act of plagiarizing something”

And for those who don’t know the definition of “copyright”, also from Merriam-Webster.com:

“The exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work)”

It’s Friday so this is a bit of a light hearted post, sharing a peek behind the curtain and into my life.

I have two sons who, without a doubt, are my proudest accomplishments. My younger son is a senior in high school and heading off to college in a year. This summer, he and has friends have been using my kitchen as a laboratory of sorts. Their goal is to master a recipe for the perfect glass of lemonade. This experiment has been ongoing for almost a month and each batch is getting better. I’ve been appointed “Chief Taste Tester,” a new title to add to my resume! (I’m also the one who mops the floor when they are done.)

Yesterday I was working from my home office, right above the kitchen and heard some quiet conversation below. I went downstairs and found four boys busy perfecting their craft. Each one had a job (washing, juicing, mixing, pouring) and the ongoing conversation had little to do with the task at hand, but instead was focused on the upcoming soccer game on TV. I could not identify a leader or boss.  The scene reminded me of a well-rehearsed Broadway show. All the actors came together naturally with no missteps and nobody shouting orders.

These boys have known each other since kindergarten and have grown up together as friends. What do they have in common?

• To start with, lots of history, similar demographics, and years to build trust
• Strong family values
• There’s not a single female among their siblings
• None are the first-born.

Perhaps these similar attributes don’t have a thing to do with their ability to work together in such a natural way, but my guess is some, or maybe all of them play a role.

Now let’s redirect this post to the time and money organizations spend on team building exercises, employee engagement programs, leadership training and culture change.

Maybe instead, they should simply make lemonade.

The next time you want to engage your team, buy a few bags of lemons, some sugar, and step back.  You have set up a powerful learning experiment in trust building and teamwork. The observations and conclusions may prove to be far more valuable than the ingredients purchased.  Compare the results to my experience. How are they similar? How do they differ? What’s working fine? What’s not? Let me know how it goes, and don’t forget to send me your recipe.

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.

. 

Feel free to leave a comment or drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

.

Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.

Yesterday I wrote about a commonly repeated expression “Trust Takes Years to Build But Can Be Lost In a Second” and why I believe that it doesn’t always hold true.  Then late in the afternoon I saw another interesting and somewhat popular statement “Character, Either You Have it Or You Don’t.”

The actual quote is credited to Anthony Bourdain.

“Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don’t have.”

― Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Sorry, but again I have to disagree. Character is a learned trait. It is a skill that can be honed throughout life.  It’s built from our earliest experiences, our family values and the influence of our childhood friends. In other words, it’s mostly “nurture” not “nature.”

Michael Josephson (Josephson Institute) created a popular youth-centered program called Character Counts. His framework contains basic values called the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. The program has been working effectively for decades. I like that the first pillar is trustworthiness.

So it seems that character is really a lifelong learning opportunity for those with an open mind and a motivation to elevate it. With the right mentor, the right leader, the right boss, the right spouse, the right friends, character can be learned and perfected throughout life. There is no deadline for developing character.

Imagine if C-Suite compensation was partially based on an annual character test! Would we see a sudden and positive shift in the way businesses are run? What do you think?

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.

. 

Yesterday at lunch my colleague made a statement I hear rather frequently.

“It takes years to build trust but it can be destroyed in a second.”

I don’t agree.

A person with high integrity, a leader with outstanding character, an organization that has committed the time to build a trust bank account will not have trust destroyed as quickly as those who haven’t.

Yes, trust building takes time.  In the long run it’s worth it. Your next misstep (and we all make them) may not be the one that brings down the house.

Why not start today?

What do you think? Leave your comments below or  send them along.

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

. 

This morning, Seth Godin’s daily blog  “Beware the Zeitgeister” caught my attention and got me thinking.

From my bird’s eye perch, it appears that in certain circles “trust” has become quite the fashion statement in 2014. With increasing frequency, I read about the importance of trust from outside experts in leadership, teamwork, culture, innovation, engagement and many other disciplines.  But there is a very large (and perhaps the most important) stakeholder group missing from the conversation.

Can you name it? It’s senior leadership.

Last week I did an exhaustive search in an attempt to find examples of corporate leaders proactively talking about trust.

This is what I was able to find:

Lloyd’s CEO to Discuss Leadership and Rebuilding Trust

Dennis Lally of PWC on Rebuilding Trust from Value to Values

Marillyn Hewson, CEO Lockheed Martin on The First Thing a New Leader Should Do to Build Trust

and finally, IBM’s CEO Visits China for Trust Building Talks

Returning to Seth’s blog, while there are lots of examples of senior leaders “Zeitgeisting” trust after their company’s latest crisis, why do they hesitate to proactively embrace it as a way to do business?

While many of the right people are beginning to focus on the importance of trust in all aspects of business, we’ve yet to get “buy in” from those who could benefit the most.

What will it take?

Do you have more examples of senior leadership talking about trust? Please send them along.

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. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.

.