30 January 2011
A trustworthy organizational culture starts with the CEO
Findings from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer reveal trust in the CEO is at its lowest level for the the first time in nine years. Internal communicators believe its imperative credibility is rebuilt citing the CEO as the figure who is the most influential in creating a trustworthy culture in the organization.
Employees have more trust in one another than they have in senior leadership, and CEOs are becoming less a source of trusted information in organizations.
According to the findings from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, CEO credibility has declined from 50 percent to 38 percent, 12 points down from last year, and its biggest drop in nine years.
“A person like me” has re-emerged as one of the three-most credible spokespeople, with its biggest increase in credibility since 2004. Seeing a similar rise in integrity is trust in regular employees, which jumped 16 points, according to one of the findings from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer.
A lack of listening to customer needs, treating employees well, placing customers ahead of profits, and having ethical business practices are all considered more important than delivering consistent financial returns and are cited as the reasons behind a lack of trust.
We further explored the reasons for the the decline in CEO credibility in a recent global Melcrum poll, by asking internal communicators: "Is the CEO too distant a figure by which to measure levels of trust in an organization?". The result was almost split.
Almost half of respondents agreed, with 45.6 percent believing the CEO was too distant a figure to really have any influence in trust and citing managers as the one who influence the level of trust in organizations.
However, the majority of internal communicators surveyed disagreed, with 53.2 percent maintaining that the CEO sets the tone for a more trustworthy culture.
Have your say
Do you believe the CEO is too distant a figure by which to measure levels of trust in an organization? Is it the responsibility of line managers to set the tone of trust to it's direct workforce? Share your views...
Recommended resources:
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Steering leaders out of a crisis using effective communication
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