The A-Z of Trust!
Inspired by Ruth Steinholz’s fantastic Alphabet of Ethics - I decided to do an A-Z of Trust! All this is in our trust report above.
A - Ask don’t Assume
The words of my primary school teacher Miss Rowe have stayed with me: “Hilary, don’t assume. Assume makes an Ass of U and Me”! Our assumptions about how others feel, or will react, what they think or don’t think, what they will see as trustworthy or not colours how we interact with them. But we are so often wrong. Don’t assume, ask, is an important starting point for trust.
So tempted to put this first. A is for Asshole. Being trustworthy is like being an asshole. It's not up to you to decide whether you are or not, that is for others to say!*
Some more good A’s - Showing you are Accountable is a great demonstrator of trustworthiness. Authenticity - being genuine and grounded is a great trust building trait. To avoid distrust - ditch the Arrogance.
B - Blame-free culture
Ruth’s excellent book gives compelling evidence of the important of a blame-free culture in terms of its importance for ethics, but it is critical also for trust. Hiding problems and punishing those who speak about against untrustworthy behaviour is a massive driver of distrust. See “Ethical Business Practice and Regulation: A Behavioural and Values-based Approach to Compliance ann Enforcement”.
Other good B’s are Balance - not achieving balance like scales, but finding the appropriate balance between collaboration and independent, inclusion and forward momentum, openness and confidentiality - to demonstrate you can be trusted. Our existing Beliefs are also massively important in our decision who we trust or not - knowing what they are is useful knowledge.
C - Competence
“Competence is a necessary condition for trust – an actor, whether a business or a government agency, with good intentions, but without the ability to deliver on expectations cannot be trusted”. So says the OECD Trust and Public Policy research.
Lots of other C’s: Trust facilitates Cooperation and makes Collaboration more successful - which is important in designing trustworthy tech and its governance. Consistency is also important to trust. As is understanding of the Context in which the trust decision is being made and the Cultural norms which are part of that context. Control and capabilities also proposed***
D - Distrust
Distrust can be stimulated by lots of things - the biggest driver of distrust in science, tech and its governance is the perception (and very often reality) that the making of money is being put before the wellbeing of people and planet.
Another good D - the importance of Diversity of genders, cultures, perspectives and cognitive diversity - all important in designing for trustworthiness.
E - Evidence of Trustworthiness
How is anyone to deem you worthy of their trust, without evidence that you are trustworthy? This is not just PR, but demonstrating by what you do, and how you communicate that your focus is on being trustworthy, not just hoping to PR your way into being trusted without doing the things it takes.
So many more good E’s - Explanations - a big part of the evidence is an open and honest explanation for your actions, particularly when decisions will not be supported by everyone concerned. Empathy is incredibly important in considering the perspectives of others and respecting their views. Empowerment, Equality and Engagement are great drivers of trust. Also in terms of trust and distrust our Experiences - both the influence of our lives to date and the behaviours of those wanting our trust are vital components of any trust decision.
F - Fairness
Perceptions and reality of fairness is keenly felt from a very young age and matter to our decisions to trust or not. Perceived unfairness is one of the biggest drivers of distrust. Conversely, “when a governance process is seen as fair, it leads to greater acceptance of decisions, better compliance with regulations and more co-operative behaviour” (OECD again)
G - Good Intent
A perception that your intent is unselfish, and in the wider rather than simply your own narrow personal (particularly financial) interest is an important consideration in a decision to trust. People are more likely to trust an organisation, a process, decision or outcome, even if it is not in their favour, if they can see the intent is for the general good of all.
H - Honesty
Being honest, having integrity, particularly about mistakes really matters. Mistakes will happen and people understand this. Trust is lost often not because of the initial problem, but the contortions organisations go through to cover them up.
An H to avoid is Hype. Over-promising, particularly if it is complemented by under-delivery is problematic. For tech and its governance over-hype building inflated expectations is an important driver of distrust.
I - Involvement
Being inclusive, collaborative and involving others is important for three reasons - here focused on governance design: (1) Because diverse perspectives results in better, wiser must trustworthy judgements. (2) giving genuine agency to others makes them more likely to trust those decisions (even if they don’t go their way) and (3) research shows citizens in general are more likely to trust a decision that has been influenced by ordinary people than one made solely by government or behind closed doors.“
Some other good I’s - independence & impartiality are important to trust in governance. Of course organisations cannot be independent of themselves but the positive judgement of independent others goes a long way in providing evidence of trustworthiness.
J - Justice
Justice is a driver of trust in three main ways. (1) Procedural justice - showing that a process can be trusted; (2) a just organisational culture which is open and welcomes accountability and (3) justice for those wronged - it is important that organisations are accountable for the harms to others.
K - Kaleidoscopic
Bear with me on this, K is hard! Perhaps trust can be envisaged as not so much the outcome of a cause and effect equation as it is popular to suggest, but as something kaleidoscopic? Like looking through a kaleidoscope it seems difficult to pinpoint exactly the sequence or constituents of a trust decision because it doesn’t appear to be the result of a mechanical, linear, traceable series of thoughts or contributing factors - even though it might be. It is the outcome of many different interpretive lenses that influence each other in seemingly endless configurations to help us make meaning out of complexity. Trust decisions are based on our genetics, experiences, context, culture and world view. The process is flexible and dynamic - bringing clarity for just long enough to form an action, but then moves on again; future trust decisions influenced in turn by the one just made.*****
L - Listening
Perhaps the most valuable finding of our trust project is the importance of listening and taking seriously the views of others. Particularly those we don’t agree with or who’s values clash with our own. Not just to demonstrate respect and understand concerns, but also gain new knowledge, diversity of input and spot early warnings of potential problems in advance.
M - Multi-stakeholder collaboration
A process, institution or outcome is likely to need to be seen as trustworthy to a wide range of stakeholders. A more collaborative process which involves all stakeholders is more likely to be and be seen as trustworthy by all involved. Building Trusted Environments which all stakeholders can and do trust each other and the process will be an important skill for organisations of all types.
N - Norms
Expectations about the way things or done, or the desired behaviour of individuals or institutions - what social scientists called norms - are incredibly important to trustworthiness and so trust. Changes in these norms - for example the relentless focus on making money at the heart of neoliberalism economies at the expense of people and equality; or the increasing acceptability of being ‘economical with the truth’ (or just blatant lies) in politics - erodes trust in civic institutions and the promotion of identity politics promotes distrust or each other.
For example, norms which stress collective goods, cooperation, collaboration, togetherness, altruism over individualism and ‘us and them’ identify politics have been shown in the covid pandemic to be far more effective in earning the trust of societies, and so the sense of communality needed to manage the virus.
O - Openness
Openness and transparency help increase understanding, demonstrate accountability, prevent and expose wrongdoing and provide the ‘evidence of trustworthiness’ needed to earn trust. But ‘warts and all’ transparency can make individuals and organisations reluctant to share opinions freely and difficult discussions go further underground. Goldilocks openness is required. A thoughtful, evidence based approach which delivers the right balance of openness and transparency to build external trust, whilst understanding where confidentiality maybe important to promote sharing and achieve public interest goals.
P - Predictability
Predictability, reliability, consistency helps make trusting a person or organisation an easier decision. If you can see from past behaviours and personal experience that they are worthy of trust then the barriers to trust are eased.
Q - Question yourself
Trust is personal, messy, contextual and two-way. How you view the person whose trust you are seeking will affect the way you behave towards them. Those seeking to be trusted should question their motivations, their starting point, their aims and the way they view others, and check them against what others perceive as trustworthy.
R - Respect
Do you trust someone who disrespects you? Not a chance. Perceived respect or disrespect is a powerful driver of trust. For example in civil disputes litigants belief that their case has been handled in a respectful manner was the single most powerful determinant of acceptance of even negative outcomes. In the design of citizen dialogues the decisions taken, even if they don’t align with desired outcomes, are more likely to be accepted if participants feel they and their views have been treated with respect.
Another great R is Responsiveness - how organisations and individuals respond to questions, problems or disagreements is a huge driver of trust and distrust. (Answer: quickly, respectfully, effectively addressing concerns). Reputation also an important driver of trust. What you are known for - being trustworthy or not!***
S - Seriously considering all views
Taking people seriously, even those we actually don’t really take seriously, is evidence of respect and of trustworthiness. This is about mindset. How do you take seriously and respect those you don’t respect? You decide to. Then you do the things that go with that.
T - Trust First
Taking a proactive step to trust first, with the hope and belief, though no guarantee, that you will be trusted back, significantly increases the likelihood of being trusted. It also increased the likely of the other party acting in a trustworthy way themselves. Automatically distrusting and so exhibiting more defensive, uncooperative or disrespectful behaviour is, surprise surprise, less likely to generate trust or trustworthiness in return.
Another great T - Truth**** instead of fudge, being ‘economic with the actualite’, lies. But in these days of supposed ‘post-truth’, truth can be in the eye of the beholder, it can be difficult to discern. Independent, impartial sources of truth without vested interest, or with evidence to support can help actual truth be trusted.
U - Understanding
Nobel Prize winning economist Daniel Kahneman, using all his depth of knowledge in psychology and behavioural science urges - “Don’t try to persuade, understand the source of resistance and address that.”
Taking steps to really understand the other’s perspective and why they think and act the way they do is an important first step towards finding the way to empathise, respect, take seriously and find areas of common ground with those who we disagree with. A vital skill in the coming decades and an important aspect of earning trust.
Another good U - Unintended consequences** of clumsy attempts to ‘win’ trust, but also consequences of failure to consider trustworthiness important.
V - Visibility
People trust regulation when they can see it is working, companies when they see their products and services work and are aligned with their needs and values and individuals when we can see we have things in common. But if these things are not visible, how can we know we can trust you? Opaque and secretive organisations and individuals leave a vacuum to be filled by speculation or prior assumptions. Visible evidence of your trustworthiness matters.
W - Welcome Warnings
The events which cause massive and lingering distrust don’t just happen out of the blue. So many implosions of trustworthiness and trust, like that experienced by Boeing, Volkswagen among many others, are the result of issues hiding in plain sight. Someone, somewhere has been drawing attention to the problem, often for some time. Often employees, NGOs or those citizens negatively affected.
But as Margaret Heffernan so compellingly illustrates Wilful Blindness prevents these from being recognised as important. Listening organisations welcome early warnings of problems and make it normal, and very easy, to speak up about potential problems before they become disasters and will very likely avoid catastrophic failures of trust.
X - Xpectation!
A decision to trust signals a hope that an organisation or individual will fulfil an expectation we have of them. We don’t lose trust in our plumber because she/he can’t mend our computer, the Civil Aviation Authority for a failure to regulate the banks, or an IT company because they can’t make good shampoo. But organisations often don’t know what is actually expected of them, what behaviours and outcomes their stakeholders consider important. Not knowing what people expect leads you open to failures in competence and values and are a minefield for trust.
Y - You
What you think about me fundamentally influences how you behave towards me. Knowing what one thinks of others is the first step to acting in a way which is trustworthy and earning their trust. Self-reflection, honesty and openness to learning things you don’t want to know about yourself go with this territory. They are challenging but are the starting point for the processes which will help you earn the trust of others.
Z - Zero tolerance
I am riffing-off Ruth here! For trust, like ethics, almost every decision is one where you can chose to be trustworthy, or not. Organisations should have Zero Tolerance for untrustworthiness and the behaviours which may drive distrust - selfish intent - eg prioritising making money to the detriment of people; thoughtless incompetence; lack of respect; lack of openness and covering up problems’; corruption or dishonesty; unfair treatment of employees, suppliers, customers, citizens.
* Thanks Davie Azoulay
**Thanks Roger Miles
*** Thanks Paulo Finuras
**** Thanks Jeff Mowatt
*****Thanks Dominika Noworolska
