Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™

It’s Week #29 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

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

Listen with the intent to be influenced.

Listening is one of the most valuable skills a leader can employ to build trust, yet it’s also one of the most under appreciated and least developed leadership competencies.

Most leaders would agree that listening is important and they even understand many of the basics, even if they don’t practice them: don’t interrupt, give the speaker your undivided attention, ask open-ended questions to draw out more information, and paraphrase occasionally to ensure understanding. These are all necessary and valuable skills.

What’s more important, however, is your mindset and attitude about listening. You should listen with the intent of being influenced. Most of us listen with an agenda. We enter a conversation with a preconceived idea of where we want the conversation to go and the desired outcome we’re trying to achieve. That signals to the other party that what they have to say really doesn’t matter much because we’ve already made up our mind about the final decision. That’s demoralizing and erodes trust with the people we lead.

Instead, listen without an agenda. Open yourself to be influenced by what the speaker has to say. Look for opportunities to incorporate their ideas and suggestions into the final outcome. Listening in this way builds trust because it communicates to the speaker that he/she is important and what they have to say is valuable and worthy of consideration. Listening with the intent to be influenced also causes us to speak less, which is the major roadblock to effective listening.

My grandpa was fond of saying that the Lord gave us one mouth and two ears and we should use them in that proportion. Listen with the intent to be influenced and watch trust blossom in your relationships.

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.

How does one say “Thank you” to friends and colleagues who have helped foster trustworthy relationships?

We hope you enjoy our 2014 Weekly Reflections on Organizational Trust, another collaborative effort of the contributors to our new book  Trust Inc., our Alliance of Trustworthy Business Experts, and friends of Trust Across America – Trust Around the World. (Listed alphabetically)

If you are receiving this gift, we know that trust is important to you, and we hope you will share it with your audience.

Thank you to all who have assisted Trust Across America – Trust Around the World in building organizational trust.

May we continue to make progress in 2014.

With much gratitude and trust!

Barbara Brooks Kimmel

PS- This poster prints 11×14.

 2014TrustPoster

BARBARA KIMMEL INTERVIEWS RANDY CONLEY,

DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICES AND TRUST PRACTICE LEADER AT THE KEN BLANCHARD COMPANIES

Barbara Kimmel: Randy – tell us a bit about your background, qualifications and expertise. If you have written a book, please provide the title.

Randy Conley: I’ve been a part of The Ken Blanchard companies for nearly seventeen years, where I hold two roles: Director of Client Services and Trust Practice Leader. I think my dual role allows me to have a “real world” perspective when I work with clients to help them improve their abilities to build trust in their leadership practices. I have a Master’s Degree in Executive Leadership from the University of San Diego, and although I haven’t written a book (yet!), I do quite a bit of writing on my blog (www.leadingwithtrust.com). On the personal side, my wife and I are celebrating our 25^th wedding anniversary this year and our relationship has definitely been a living laboratory on the importance of trust in relationships!

Barbara Kimmel: Trust Across America’s mission is to rebuild trustworthy business behavior across the globe.  How would you generally define trustworthy business behavior? 

Randy Conley: I would define trustworthy business behavior as “doing the right thing” regardless of the circumstances. This applies to individual leaders as well as organizations as a whole. Of course there are many different components that fall under the umbrella of “doing the right thing” and that’s the beauty of the trust alliance Trust Across America has put together. bit.ly/13TX5Kj All of us have strengths and passions in the different aspects of trustworthy business behavior and together we can make a big difference in organizations around the world.

Barbara Kimmel: In your opinion, what are some of the specific components of trustworthy business behavior?

Randy Conley: My specific focus is the component of interpersonal trust. I believe that trustworthy business practices start at the individual level. How do you and I build trust as leaders and members of an organization? Once you’re clear on that, then I think you can apply the same principles and practices to the other areas of your business such as organizational governance, sustainability, public relations, brand management, etc.

Barbara Kimmel: We all know that the erosion of corporate trust is a big problem. What are companies doing to combat this, and is it enough?

Randy Conley: Some companies, not enough, but some are starting to “get it” when it comes to understanding the value of being trustworthy organizations. They are realizing that being trustworthy is not just the right thing to do in terms of ethical business practices, but there are bottom-line economic benefits to being trustworthy.

Barbara Kimmel: Is the global “trust” climate improving or worsening? What actions will turn things around?

Randy Conley: When you look at the various surveys and reports it appears that the climate of trust isn’t improving. It’s been at historic lows and is continuing to stay there. Leaders have to take specific, proactive steps to build and maintain trust with their stakeholders. Trust doesn’t “just happen” over time. It takes intentional effort over an extended period of time.

Barbara Kimmel: Can you provide a few examples of companies that are doing the “right” thing in your opinion? What steps are being taken by these companies that sets them apart?

Randy Conley: I think Whole Foods is a good example. Their CEO, John Mackey, is a proponent of trustworthy business behavior and puts specific focus on it as part of how he runs his company. I also work with a range of companies, from those in the Fortune 500 to small businesses that understand the importance of trust and are implementing training and development programs to create cultures of trust.

Barbara Kimmel: Anything else you would like to add as a closing comment?

Randy Conley: The last thing that I would add is that I don’t see a more important leadership competency than that of building trust. Trust is the foundation of any successful and healthy relationship and the most successful leaders in the 21^st century are going to be those that have the ability to create trustworthy relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

Barbara Kimmel: Randy, it’s always a pleasure hearing your insights on building cultures of trustworthy business. Thank you for your time.

Randy Conley can be reached at randy.conley@kenblanchard.com

and more information about The Ken Blanchard Companies can be found at:

www.kenblanchard.com

Do you have questions or comments? Email Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com

Barbara Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America, global leaders in information, standards, data and Who’s Who in trustworthy business. www.trustacrossamerica.com

News Release

For Immediate Release

For Additional Information contact:

Barbara Kimmel

Executive Director

Trust Across America

908-879-6625

Trust in Business Essential for 2013:

Global Experts Join Forces to Combat Trust Crisis

Chester, N.J.  January 3, 2013—After a well-documented 10+ years of declining trust in government, business and the media, Trust Across America (TAA) (www.trustacrossamerica.com) and its ambassadors are launching the Campaign for Trust™, a two-year initiative to reverse this cycle.  “As the leaders in information, standards, data and the Who’s Who of trustworthy business, this is the next step in our initiative that began in 2009,” said Barbara Brooks Kimmel, a Co-founder and the Executive Director.

In the fourth quarter of 2012 TAA created The Alliance of Trustworthy Business Experts (ATBE) to collaborate in advancing the cause of trustworthy business through the creation of trust tools and communications outreach. Over 100 global thought leaders from Fortune 500 companies; leading academic institutions; global media and consulting have joined since the mid-October launch.

Much of the work of the alliance will be via strategic partnerships with our Founding Members listed alphabetically: Patricia Aburdene (Co-author of Megatrends 2000); William Benner (WW Consulting); Randy Conley (The Ken Blanchard Companies); Stephen M.R. Covey (Franklin Covey-Speed of Trust); Linda Fisher Thornton (Leading in Context); Bahar Gidwani (CSRHub); Charles Green (Trusted Advisor Associates); Nadine Hack (beCause Global Consulting); Michael Hopkins (MHC International); Gary Judd (Franklin Covey-Speed of Trust); Barbara Kimmel (Trust Across America); Jim Kouzes (The Leadership Challenge); Deb Krizmanich (Powernoodle); Mike Krzus (Co-author of One Report); Greg Link (Franklin Covey-Speed of Trust); Linda Locke (Reputare Consulting); Edward Marshall (Author Building Trust at the Speed of Change); Jon Mertz (Thin Difference); Deb Mills-Scofield (Innovanomics™); Robert Vanourek (Triple Crown Leadership); and Bob Whipple (Leadergrow Inc.).

According to Kimmel, “We will be assembling a Trust Toolbox™ in 2013 to assist businesses in building trust with their stakeholders. Collaborative projects in development include the publication of a book- Trust Inc.: Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset, a collection of short essays from our global thought leaders; the Trust Directory™ designed for companies who seek advice and counsel; the creation of trust assessments; the development of a Trust Index™; educational Trust Talks™; a monthly publication called the Trust Sheet ™, announcing trust alliance member news from around the world; and the opening of our online Trust Store™, a virtual one-stop shop for trust products.”

Kicking off the campaign will be the January 14 announcement of Trust Across America’s 3rd annual Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business. Our 2013 recognition list will honor the late Dr. Stephen R. Covey, whose professional accomplishments in the field of trust were instrumental to the founding of the Trust Across America initiative four years ago.

According to Amy Lyman co-founder of Great Place to Work Institute and author of The Trustworthy Leader, “The evidence is irrefutable. Cultures of trust, created by leaders who are credible, respectful and fair bring with them significant economic, social, community and environmental benefits. It is what every employee wants and what every business leader should strive for.” Trust Across America, through its new trust alliance, hopes to develop the requisite tools to enhance cultures of trust, and encourages those interested in furthering the cause of trustworthy business to join the alliance. trustacrossamerica.com/cgi-bin/alliance.cgi

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