Thursday, June 26, 2008

A Crisis of Trust

Increasingly I am finding organizations suffering from a lack of execution and effective communication to such a degree that operations are slowing down and in some cases, going in to reverse. I am finding that there is one common thread that links these companies and that is an atmosphere devoid of trust. Teams who don’t trust have meetings that are dysfunctional and become a waste of time. A lack of organizational trust undermines communication, commitment, accountability and inevitably, results.

Few organizations realize that there is a lot that can be done to increase trust and that doing so can have a huge impact. Even fewer realize that developing team and organizational trust can happen much faster than you think.

When we look at the surveys on issues of trust in America, it becomes clear that we have created a society that has becoming increasingly distrustful in the very broadest sense of the word. In America we are suffering from a crisis of trust and recent Harris Polling provides some interesting data:

Only 22% trust media

12% trust big companies

8% trust political parties

27% trust government

Only 34% trust other people (America)

Organizational Trust:

Only 51% of employees trust senior mgmt.

36% believe leaders act honestly

76% have observed unethical conduct in the workplace

The #1 reason people leave their jobs is a bad relationship with their boss

Trust on an Individual Level:

Who Cheats?

43% Liberal Arts Students

52% Education Students

63% Medical Students

63% Law Students

75% Business Students

1 comments:

Nathan Ives said...

StrategyDriven contributors believe accountable organizations are unique creatures; standing out from others because of their superior performance, greater employee loyalty, and higher customer satisfaction. Although the rewards are great, many companies will not embark on the journey to accountability because attaining and maintaining high levels of organizational accountability is extremely difficult.

Organizational accountability exists when all members of the workforce individually and collectively act to consequentially promote the timely accomplishment of the organization’s mission. Examined more closely, this means that:

* all members of the workforce: Includes executives, managers, and individual contributors. Executives and managers are responsible for holding their subordinates accountable for the effective and efficient conduct of activities supporting mission achievement. Subordinates, through their actions, set an example by which positive pressure is applied to their peers and seniors for greater accountability.

* individually act: Enough individuals throughout the organization must act accountably in order to achieve the critical mass necessary for the existence of an accountable organization. Some individuals, such as the chief executive officer, must exhibit and reinforce accountable behaviors for the organization to be truly accountable.

* collectively act: Often, groups of executives, managers, or individual contributors make and execute the organization’s decisions. Under these circumstances, it is critical that the group act in accordance with the organization’s values to accomplish its mission and avoid easy outs and the tendency to fall into a mode of group think.

* consequentially promote: Accountability cannot exist without both positive and negative consequences. To consequentially promote the organization’s mission implies that individuals and groups will not only act in ways that seek to accomplish the mission but will recognize and reward those who do so exceptionally and appropriately act to minimize behaviors less supportive of the organization’s goals.

* timely accomplishment of the organization’s mission: For accountability to exist, one must know what is to be accomplished and within what timeframe. No one can be accountable for accomplishing an undetermined goal for there is no basis against which to measure their accomplishments. Likewise, a goal that is not bound by time can never be considered to be incomplete or have insufficient progress because the individual or group working toward such a goal has an infinite amount of time to reach it.

Posts in our member’s only Organizational Accountability category explore the key attributes of accountable organizations and why many executives and managers intentionally or unconsciously avoid raising their organization’s accountability. Our posts identify the programs, processes, and actions that can be taken to help promote increased accountability. Finally, we examine the many benefits that accompany higher levels of organizational accountability and why accountable organizations realize them while others don’t.

Registered Members of the StrategyDriven website receive access to the many StrategyDriven whitepapers, models, and members only categories Organizational Accountability and Decision-Making. Registration is FREE! If you have not already done so, please click here to register and join the conversation.

All the Best,
Nathan Ives
Principal Contributor and
co-Host, StrategyDriven Podcast
StrategyDriven

www.StrategyDriven.com