Within last week’s video interview with Jane Jordan-Meier, on her new book The Four Stages of Highly Effective Crisis Management, Jane brought up a very interesting survey done by the Edelman Trust Barometer. She said that:
“This year [The Edelman Trust Survey] showed that the trust in CEOs is at a record low. 38% of us around the globe trust CEOs. And if you’re in a financial institution, that’s even worse. […] We expect organizations to lie – isn’t that sad? […] The Edelman Trust Survey shows as well, that the believability and the trust in people like you and I, the frontline employees, ordinary everyday people, has gone up – along with analysts – it’s very high, it’s shot right up.”
38% is in fact a record low – one that’s screaming to be payed attention to
38% of people from around the globe trust CEOs. That means that 62% of us do not. And when it comes to a crisis, when your organization depends on the trust your customers and your market have in you, this all-time low risks some serious repercussions for your brand.
How can the C-suites improve their reputation and raise the level of trust society has in them?
Before we take a look at how today’s CEOs can raise their trust barometer, let’s take a look at who the frontline employees are, and how they have managed to place themselves in the lead when it comes to being trusted by your clients and your market.
Your frontline employees are those within your company or organization who face, deal with, and build a relationship with your customers and market on a daily basis. They’re the regular, likable people who make an effort to connect with, and render good service to, your customers and market.
I’m always saying that it’s important to focus on building a relationship with your customers, fans and followers. But a strong relationship is built on trust, and if building strong relationships helps to prevent and overcome a crisis, how can you aim to accomplish this without trust?
What do your frontline people do?
They connect with customers. They form strong and valuable relationships with your market. They interact and engage on social media. They’re trusted by 62% of society (if not more).
What do your CEOs do?
They tend to sit behind the scenes, away from the front-lines. They run corporations but do not spend time personally connecting with those buying into their corporation. They get blamed for the company’s wrong-doings and are not trusted when those wrong-doings develop into a crisis.
What if we changed a link in the pattern?
What if CEOs started to take a more active role in social media? What if they began to focus on building the relationship with their customers and fans and developing a credible name and reputation for themselves? If it works for the frontline employees, would it not work for them? And what good would this raised trust do for your company or organization, as a whole, in a crisis?
I’m not saying that being active on social media is all it will take to raise the trust society has in CEOs as a whole. I am saying that it would be a start in the right direction. Bad choices, faulty cover-ups and hiding behind CEO lines have resulted in 62% of the globe not trusting the leaders of today’s corporations.
“Here’s the bottom line. Once you lose credibility, the game is over.” – Jane Jordan-Meier
Well, ladies and gentlemen, the credibility is being lost and it’s time to focus on building it back up.
As Jane put it:
“The 80+ year old Bill Marriott, head of the Marriott Hotel chain, [is] actively involved in social media [and] he’s 80 plus! If he can do it, then there’s no excuse, really.”
What do you think of the Edelman Trust Survey and do you think that CEOs, taking a cue from the frontline employees and actively focusing on building relationships, would begin to see a number shift? Share your thoughts with me below – I know you’ve got some!
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
Hi Melissa,
I think it would help if CEOs were on social networks. However, there needs to be a purpose. Many of the CEOs I've come in contact with would not be good on social nets. They may be terrific speakers and solid people, but they just would not translate on, say, Twitter.
That said, I think the main point here should be to make sure the whole company is doing a good job at putting the brand in a good light… and that includes social. It all must be part of an overall marketing/PR plan.
I enjoyed reading this!
Jason
@JasMollica
Excellent point Jason!
The brand as a whole can do a big part in connecting with it's audience and market and building a trusting relationship with the public. Today, social media plays a crucial part in this – not to mention that building up your social network and online brand advocates proves itself extremely beneficial in a crisis, and should absolutely, 100% be a part of any and every corporation's marketing and communications strategy.
Melissa – in this era of radical transparency, where we, the people, have taken control – thanks to "digital democracy" our tolerance for "bad boys behaving badly" is very low indeed. The real engagement and trust lies with everyday employees, th front-line of an oragnization. That is the emtional heart fo the organization. They need a voice too, particularly in a crisis. They can help the CEO with credibility.
But really when it comes down to it – it's good, old-fahioned honesty and humility that will win the day. Now that is the heart, that is the values that we live by. And that is a societal issue as much as it is a oragnizational issue.
Jane, there's no denying the influential and beneficial role of the frontline employees in an organization's everyday communications, in their customer service, as well as their (not so everyday – we hope!) crisis communications. They need a voice, and they have it – they use it!
It's a scary thought that the public has barely any trust in the CEOs that run the biggest institutions and organizations of the world. And it's their "bad boys behaving badly" and lack of action in an emergency (think Japan) that has made it so. I would like to see them take a cue from the frontline employees, and focus on relationship building with their customers and market. Sharing the front lines would only empower an organization, in both their communications and marketing, as well as in a crisis.
Thank you! This is a geat discussion. And I am honoured to be part of it.
Building trust in an organization tyically starts with comptence – do we trust the leader to do a good job or not? Likeabilty is a factor but comptence is bigger.
What can we do to build our comptence? To be very expert in what we do.
Great question! I love how you say "like-ability is a factor but competence is bigger" – how right that is!
We may not like an individual for whatever reason, but to see them take the right action, exude confidence, calm and reassure the public and take part in the resolution of a crisis that involves their organization, whether they are "liked" or not, they will be respected for their competence and appreciated by the victims and the public in a crisis. And this, goes a very
long way in rebuilding the trust and reputation of an organization.
Glad to have you a part of the discussion, Jane!