Trust Falls

Who would you like to have living next door?

A generation or two ago many people in Canada would have happily welcomed charity leaders, regular church-goers, police officers, members of the media, or political types. You might not agree with them on everything, but you felt pretty good about having them as neighbours.

Now all of those groups are viewed with much higher suspicion than before. (See this from Seth Godin for more stats).

There’s been plenty of analysis on why this is happening, what I’m thinking about is the lag between the loss of trust and the recognition of it by those who are now less trusted.

My guess is that most people in these groups still perceive themselves as good folks. The internal sense is that we’re decent, committed, and hard-working; exactly the kind of people others want around.

But that sentiment is fading fast on the outside.

Leaders need to deal with reality. In this case, the reality of the decline of trust.

(It may be that we should still be trusted; that some inaccurate or unfair critiques are giving the public the wrong idea about us. But attacking our critics rarely restores our status.)

So what do we do?

We need to understand that being held in high regard is a privilege. It brings advantages and opportunities. It makes doing what we do easier and usually less expensive financially and otherwise.

And without those short cuts we must be more diligent about our character, better at expressing who we are and what we do, intentional in how we communicate since we no longer receive the benefit of the doubt.

Reputation matters.

Trust is like a piggy bank where the deposits are mostly small and they accumulate slowly. Withdrawals happen quickly and are bigger.

Rebuilding trust takes effort. And it may be that we realize we don’t need to be esteemed by everyone. Or that we need to start with a segment of the population that is particularly relevant. Consistency is key.

The challenge for leaders is to honestly and humbly consider both how we are perceived by those outside our circles and what (true or false impressions) fuel that perception. Then we can be intentional about working to earn credibility with those who’s opinions are crucial to what we want to accomplish.

Contact me if I can be helpful to you and/or your organization.

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