Already this year we’ve seen the publication of the IoIC’s IC Index 2024: The Trust Issue – as well as Gallagher’s 2024 State of the Sector & Workforce Trends Report, Gallup’s State of the Global Workforce report, the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer report and PwC’s 2024 Trust Survey. The insights are revealing, highlighting not only the major IC trends and challenges, but also the underlying evidence which communicators can use (alongside their own organisational data) to set priorities for 2024 and beyond.
A question of trust
Trust has always been a key pillar of internal communication, particularly trust in leadership. But with uncertainty and anxiety increasingly finding their way into the workplace, it’s now even more of a critical factor for business and people.
From an external perspective, the level of trust in organisations and leaders is not good. According to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, 61% of global respondents worry that business leaders are deliberately misleading them. The report adds that the UK is now one of the least trusting countries in the world, with just 48% of the public trusting businesses (compared to a global average of 63%).
Internally, however, the outlook is much brighter – with 77% of UK respondents claiming to trust their employer according to the Edelman report. This is echoed in the IC Trust Index, with combined levels of trust in managers, senior leaders and CEOs sitting at 63% positive.
Once you get into the specifics, though, the situation is much more nuanced. While three-quarters of participants in the IC Index trust their direct line manager, this fades the higher up the ladder you go. Just 55% of participants say they trust their organisation’s CEO or most senior leader.
There are several reasons for this. For one, senior leaders are seen as too remote – only 42% of IC Index respondents felt their leaders were genuinely accessible. There are also concerns about insufficient transparency by leaders, and a failure to adapt personal leader communication styles to the needs of a changing workforce. To round off, more than one in five employees are also ‘all-round cynics’ with very low levels of trust in general.
Steps to building trust
1. Drive belief in the strategy
Employee belief in the organisational strategy is an important foundation of trust in leadership. Currently, just 56% of IC Index respondents said they believe theirs is the right strategy for success. Even worse, almost one in five respondents have no clarity on strategy, performance or their contribution at all.
The secret is to show employees how their personal efforts contribute to company goals. Managers are perfectly positioned to do this since they can drill into individual objectives with their teams and ensure there’s clear line of sight between the individual and the strategy. This means equipping managers to communicate the strategy confidently and consistently, as well as enabling them to lead team discussions. This can include providing real-time support and resources, such as offering workshops and self-serve communication toolkits. (We’ll also explore what managers need in greater detail later in this series.)
2. Improve IC to build trust
Great communication increases trust in leadership, especially during turbulent times. In fact, the IC Index found a 74% difference in the level of trust in senior leaders between employees who rate communication as excellent compared with those who rate it as poor.
Employees’ top expectations of ‘excellent’ IC are:
- be clear about the reasons behind the change
- be honest about the impacts of the change
- listen more to employees about their views on the change
- give more detail about what is happening and when.
A good first move is to commission an independent review or audit of your channels and content. According to Gallagher’s State of the Sector report, this is the most effective way of listening to employees. Furthermore, those who asked employees about their preferences reported higher channel effectiveness.
In light of those findings, it could be time to review and refresh your IC strategy. That might include:
- creating a master comms plan for the year
- refining your channel framework
- aligning your IC strategy more closely with current business objectives
- segmenting your audiences to better target their needs
- acknowledging neurodiversity in how you create and format communications
- reviewing how frequently you update colleagues on change programme progress.
3. Improve leadership visibility and communication skills
In an uncertain world, the role of leaders in setting the vision, modelling organisational values and inspiring colleagues has never been more important.
Yet senior leaders are still frequently seen as remote, not just because of their rank, but also due to an expectation among Gen-Z workers, in particular, for transparency and regular interaction with their leaders. There’s a clear disconnect with senior leaders given that less than half of IC Index participants thought their employer had their interests at heart.
Now, as many employees return to the office full-time or in hybrid roles, it’s vital that senior leaders show up and are accessible. When it comes to the workspace, familiarity breeds trust, rather than contempt! Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report states that organisations with accessible leaders experience 25% higher employee engagement levels. Moreover, according to PwC’s 2024 Trust Survey, more than two-thirds of employees consider listening by their bosses very important to building trust. Meaningful steps for leaders include communicating with empathy, a curiosity to hear what employees have to say and being open-minded to new ideas or challenging perspectives.
The solution lies in recognising that to build ‘trust’, you first need to build ‘trustworthiness’ in individuals. “Trust without trustworthiness is just gullibility,” as American political scientist Robert Putnam said.
So, start by encouraging senior leaders to maintain a regular presence both physically and virtually. The Gallagher State of the Sector 2024 report suggests that regular town halls, video updates, and informal virtual interactions can significantly bridge the gap between employees and leadership.
Additionally, invest in communications skills training for leaders to help them share messages clearly, with a good understanding of their audience, while also not being afraid to show their human side. Much has been made of a generational mismatch between the language, cultural references and expectations of work of Gen-Z employees versus their older colleagues and bosses. “Gen-Z represent the greatest generational shift we’ve seen and will present profound challenges for leadership,” said Dr Paul Redmond, Director of Student Experience and Enhancement at the University of Liverpool.
You can use coaching and/or develop self-serve tools to make leaders aware of these challenges and compensate accordingly. This includes equipping them with storytelling techniques and encouraging empathetic, open conversations to build trust and engagement.
Of course, all of this is just a big picture overview you should use in partnership with your own employee data.
Key takeaways:
- On the surface, employees largely trust their organisations, but it’s a much more nuanced picture when you dig a little deeper
- While more than three quarters of employees trust their line managers, this quickly falls away the higher you go in the organisation
- Lack of visibility and transparency (and sometimes personal communication style) were all seen as barriers to trust
- Drive belief in the strategy by showing employees how their personal efforts contribute to company goals
- Cultivate excellent internal communications by being clear about the reasons for change, being honest about the impacts of change, listening to employee views, providing details of what’s going on and when, and updating colleagues on progress.
- Ensure that leaders are visible and are supported to communicate with empathy, a curiosity to hear what employees have to say and are open to new perspectives.
Written by Damon Bowles, Head of Strategic Internal Communications and Content at Definition.
Next in the series:
Align employees around purpose, strategy and values
