INTRODUCTION

What happens when public trust in banks, media, public schools, organized religion, and government begins to fade? Rachel Botsman (2017) noted that in 40 years of Gallup survey polling, 2016 polling results indicated public confidence had fallen drastically across most of the major American institutions. Yet public trust in “5 star” ratings and reviews by strangers on the Internet remained high. What causes us to trust some systems, but not others? What causes us to trust some people and not others? 

The consideration of trust – where it comes from and how it impacts us – is an important topic to consider. How do you know if someone is trustworthy? What do you do to create trust in others? The answers are not only relevant to our personal success, but carry implications for the organizations where we work, the community, and larger society. Take a few minutes to consider and discuss why you place trust in others.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

• What are the considerations you rely upon to determine if someone is trustworthy?
• What could be done to improve how others perceive your trustworthiness?
• What could be done to improve the trustworthiness of an organization?
• Are these same criteria relevant to the community or local government? Why or why not?
• What are your trust related expectations of local leadership?

WANT TO KNOW MORE? 

When determining trust in leadership, Crisp (2023) summarized the foundational attributes of commitment, caring, consistency and competence. In addition, Tzafrir & Dolan (2004) also included perceived reliability and credibility in their scale for measuring trust. All of these are attributes which, when demonstrated by those in a formal leadership role, can build trust. The theory of Authentic Leadership (Luthans & Avolio, 2003) is rooted in the concept of trust and asserts that leaders must be authentic, true to themselves, and demonstrate high integrity. 

Because individuals have different personal priorities, experiences, and world views, each of us prioritize trustworthy traits of others differently, such as whether we value reliability and predictability more highly than characteristics of knowledge and creative problem solving. Context also plays a role in how we attribute trust. For close relationships, for example, trust may depend more on the degree to which we believe others are concerned for our personal well-being. Whereas, at broader social levels, our trust may rest on a shared commitment to the common good.

Morrone, Tontoranelli, & Ranuzzi (2009) remind us that establishing and maintaining trust has broad implications and requires a constant focus of attention for leadership. Self-assessments for trustworthiness can be helpful to understand how personal behaviors and attitudes can shape how we, and others may perceive trustworthiness. Keep in mind that trust is dynamic and can be built or eroded with daily interactions.

RESOURCES 

Botsman, R. (2017). Who can you trust?: how technology brought us together and why it might drive us apart. Public Affairs. ISBN: 978-0-241-29617-2 

Crisp, D. (2023), “The 4 C’s of Creating Trust,” LinkedIn.com, 11 January, 2023. 

Luthans, F. and Avolio, B.J. (2003) Authentic Leadership: A Positive Developmental Approach. In: Cameron, K.S., Dutton, J.E. and Quinn, R.E., Eds., Positive Organizational Scholarship, Barrett-Koehler, San Francisco, 241-261 

Morrone, A., N. Tontoranelli and G. Ranuzzi (2009), “How Good is Trust?: Measuring Trust and its Role for the Progress of Societies”, OECD Statistics Working Papers, No. 2009/03, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/220633873086. 

Reina, D., Reina, M., & Hudnut, D. (2017). Why trust is critical to team success. Center for Creative Leadership, 51. 

Siejts,G., de Clercy, C., Miller, R.(2023). Character and Trust in Crisis Leadership: Probing the Relationships Among Character, Identification-based Trust, and Perceptions of Effectiveness in Political Leadership During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. Vol 59(1)127- 154. SAGE. 

Sikes, S. (2014). A Foundation of Trust; effective models and activities for leaders, trainers, and facilitators engaging the issues of trust and trustworthiness. DoingWorks, Inc. ISBN: 978-0-9882046-5-2 

Sinek, S. (2017). Leaders Eat Last. Why some teams pull together and others don’t. Penguin Publishing. 

Tzafrir, S. S., & Dolan, S. L. (2004). Trust me: A scale for measuring manager‐employee trust. Management Research: Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management, 2(2), 115-132.

KENTUCKY COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS NETWORK provides an idea-sharing and networking platform for leadership program designers and facilitators to expand the leadership capacity of residents of Kentucky. The following organizations are supporting partners:

Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Executives

Kentucky State University

UK Cooperative Extension Service

Blueprint Kentucky, Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Kentucky

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