It has been proven time after time that an organization that has a high level of trust is more successful than one that doesn’t. Trusted behaviors should permeate every decision that an organization and its leaders make. It must be part of its philosophy. It’s DNA if you will. How an organization does business should be more important than what business it does. When high-trust is present within an organization, the following five business objectives can be met: Grow Profits, Strengthen Leadership, Grow Market Share, Retain Talent, and Increase Social Consciousness.
Grow Profits There is a strong correlation between trust and profits. From CFO Magazine: “Best Buy has already had success in connecting improved employee-engagement scores to store performance: it found that for every tenth of a point it boosted the former, its stores saw a $100,000 increase in operating income.” This phenomenon isn’t new. A 1999 Watson Wyatt Worldwide survey reported “companies with employees who had high trust and confidence in senior management had a three year total return to shareholders of 108% versus a 66% return for companies with low trust and confidence levels.” Without trust consumers choose to make different purchasing decisions that negatively affect an organization’s bottom line.
Strengthen Leadership There are many challenges organizations face when trying to build, retain and train their leadership. Every person is different and every organization is different. Finding that right balance of nurturing and education, versus flexibility and independence is quite daunting. A 2008 Hay Group/Chief Executive survey found that “the top 20 best companies for leaders make leadership development a priority. 70 percent of the top 20 companies say they have a formal process to identify individuals for leadership roles, versus 37 percent of all companies. 65 percent of companies say that talent management is driven by a clear business strategy versus 39 percent of all other companies. 55 percent have formal programs to accelerate leader development versus 34 percent of all other companies.”
Grow Market Share To be able to profit from one’s reputation, an organization can’t just one day decide that its reputation needs a buff and shine. There has to have been a commitment long before that. Global brands like Toyota, Walt Disney, Coke, Apple and FedEx invest huge sums of money to make sure that they are perceived as good organizations, that they provide reliable products and services and that they can be trusted. According to the 2010 Global Reputation Pulse Study, jointly presented by the Reputation Institute and Forbes magazine “the general public is five times more likely to support the most reputable companies”. In addition, the survey goes on to state “corporate reputation has strong impact on business results - having a strong recommendation, more benefit of the doubt and purchase than ever before.”
Retain Talent When employees are engaged and committed, they can be highly-motivated and valuable assets to an organization. According to a 2008 BlessingWhite Intelligence survey, it found that “there is a clear correlation between engagement and retention, with 85% of engaged employees indicating that they plan to stay with their employer." Additionally, “75% of employees trust their immediate managers, but only 53% of employees trust their organization’s senior leaders.” With 70% of an organization's costs often invested its workforce, small positive steps in engagement, motivation, training and retention can translate into huge dividends of organizational trust and capacity.
Increase Social Consciousness Tightly woven in an organization’s ‘brand’ and public persona is its social consciousness. Ruder-Finn, a New York-base public relations firm conducted a poll in late 2010 through its research arm, RF insights. They found that “American consumers want their purchases to not only not cause harm — environmental degradation or sweat shops — but to actually use their buying power to foster a specific positive social impact. According to the survey, over 90% of Americans said they would prefer to purchase a product with a positive impact, and 54% said they would actually pay more for this product with all else being equal.” If your organization isn’t working on its social reputation, it better do so because consumers are increasingly making buying decision based on how socially-conscious you are.
Like snowflakes, every organization is different. We understand that because Work Effects has worked with hundreds of clients in dozens of industries and has seen what works. Building trust isn't easy and it isn't quick. Its a smart long-term investment that will provide hearty returns. With our more than twenty years of experience, we know that an organization that makes a commitment to trust-building will be successful. Its supported by research and proven in the marketplace.
If you are interested to learn more about how Work Effects can help your organization build trust through one of our practice areas Leadership Development, Organization & Culture, Performance Management, please contact us at 612-333-4272 or
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