While trust in general has improved from the lows we hit during the pandemic, we are significantly less trusting than we were in 2016-2018. While I didn’t find clear stats for the years prior, I wouldn’t be surprised if the slope has been negative for a while. Why?
Erosion
Well, the pandemic certainly didn’t help. The uncertainty added cognitive load, general anxiety, and hyper-vigilance, all of which erode trust. Our trust in government has been challenged too. Whether legitimate lapses in integrity in government or attacks from the other side of a polarized political landscape, we collectively (and globally) see governments as less ethical and less competent than they used to be. The media hasn’t fared much better. Most people treat social media with skepticism, and the sheer volume of information we are exposed to has impacted our faith even in established media. There’s been an explosion of AI in the last year that is already making us question “is that video real?” or if we can trust the searches we run. Until we find new ways to develop trust, do we believe what we read, see and hear?
In business, there’s evidence that trust is growing globally, and yet only 43% of people trust small and medium business. Only 30% of us trust larger corporations. That’s lower than our trust in government and the media. And for those of you in BC, we’re the only province in which trust declined from 2023-2024.
Our trust is being nibbled away at from a bunch of different directions. That can’t be good, can it?
Value
Fostering trust with your customers builds loyalty (Apple and Costco are both highly trusted and benefit from strong customer loyalty). Building trust with your employees and partners fosters unity, aids retention and means people will follow where you lead. Beyond loyalty, trust spawns efficiency (Warren Buffet famously makes handshake deals while bankers conduct due diligence for months).
And on a personal level, trust just feels good. I would rather work with people that I trust, and I would rather be someone who people trust.
There’s lots of advice on building trust with your employees and customers (there’s even a toolkit for business leaders). Certainly, if you aren’t delivering on what you promise to your customer, or don’t show you care about the things you tell your employees you care about, that’s the place to start.
But the real opportunity may lie in countering some of the reasons trust has been eroding in general: withdrawal, high cognitive load, uncertainty and a fear of artificial intelligence.
Opportunities
High cognitive load from the pandemic and more sustained sources like social media have made it more likely people will disengage. Maybe it’s not enough to just ensure your systems run smoothly. How can you make doing business with your company simpler? Ask that question for everything from your sales process to your packaging to your customer support processes and systems. You can look inward too – what processes are unclear to your employees? Or inconsistent?
To lessen uncertainty for your customers, how do you protect them when something goes wrong? Is your guarantee simple, or does it have a bunch of fine print? For both customers and your team members, have you been clear? One of the tools in the toolbox at CoEfficiency Partners is what I call the “ClarityCascade”. Leadership must present a clear message to their team, and they should cascade that message to their teams, and so on throughout the organization.
With the profusion of conflicting opinions all presented as fact and truth, your customers and employees may feel less certain than they used to. Many will turn inward to their friends and family, or “do their own research” rather than trust what they’re told. How can you use social proof to support what you sell? Is there a trusted third party for your industry? How can you show your employees you mean what you say?
Artificial Intelligence and what it will bring are a threat to many. Two thirds of Canadians harbour skepticism towards AI. As a business leader, you’ve probably considered how you can use AI to make your business more efficient, but how can you use AI to make your customer or employee experience better?
When I started this post, I was thinking more negatively – the original title was “The Erosion of Trust”. But there really is opportunity in the lower trust levels in the world. And the best part is, taking advantage of them makes the world better (and more trusting).