Things are not as they seem. Everywhere I look, I read about fake news, government corruption, corruption in business, the failure of leaders, and attacks on the integrity of journalists.

One of the big losses in this context is trust. Think about it.

You believe X about a person or organisation. You discover a different perspective (which may be true, or may be generated by fake news) on X. Suddenly what you knew to be true, may not be. Your commitment to X falters, permanently in some cases, hopefully not when you have the wherewithal to dismiss opinion change based on fake news.

What is trust? Rossouw (2015, 14) says a trusting person, in aiming to achieve a goal, is optimistic and chooses to take the risk of relying on another person to achieve that goal. “It starts from the assumption that the person in which I have laid my trust will not abuse my vulnerability.”

How is trust an ethical issue? If ethics is about considering the good of self and others, trust trumps “narrow self-interest” because you trust another person or entity when you include them in your personal goals and projects (Rossouw, 151).

These are lofty concepts. How do you make them relevant in your working world?

Start by being aware how you can cause others to trust.

Neville Bews (2000, quoted in Rossouw) found in research done in Africa that managers are perceived to be trustworthy by their reports when they are open, competent, show integrity, are benevolent and have a reputation for these attributes.

There’s much to be said about each of these elements of trustworthiness, so I’ll start with openness.

Openness is about sharing information with those who need it to do their jobs eg. Employees, shareholders, supplier or customers.

You can ‘do’ openness by putting structures in place that enable sharing of information in a regular way. This sounds easy but there is a fine line to tread when, as leader or manager, you are authorised only to share certain information with certain others at certain times.

In my experience, the trick is to be open that you are not fully divulging all info because ethically you are bound by a employment contract, and the interests of others.

Shed light. Share frequently, as much as you can, formally (regular communication sessions) and informally (within your networks).

This builds you a reputation for knowledge-sharing, and works to create one of the intangible norms of organisational DNA – the way people believe the organisation should work.

Resolve to take the risk of trusting.

Resolve to be trustworthy.

Shed light. Stand out for the right reasons in this season of fakes and failures.

 

References

Neilsen, G. L. 2014. The 10 Principles of Organisational DNA. https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/The-10-Principles-of-Organizational-DNA

Rossouw, G. 2015. Business Ethics fifth edition. Cape Town: Oxford University Press