We recently came across an article by Shonaig Macpherson, chair at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, which suggested that a failure of business leaders to trust their gut and provide an instinctive and authentic reaction is the reason behind the general public’s lack of trust in business.
Macpherson noted that in the past decade or so, business leaders have found themselves falling ‘into the trap of suspending our own judgement’, perhaps due to business regulation, processes and systems – often self- imposed – that prevent them from looking at a business situation and noting that it just doesn’t ‘feel’ right.
Macpherson links this reduction in use of professional judgement with a significant decline in business trust – with almost 50% of people responding to the Global Trust Barometer Study stating that businesses are not trustworthy.
As a business leader or manager, you are no doubt aware that building trust in a business can take a long time, and this trust can be lost in seconds, whether it be down to a bad review or poor customer service. Macpherson suggests that building trust in a business is dependent on having leaders that ‘act with integrity and authenticity, and are true to their own values and those embedded in the business’s culture’.
She concludes: “If trust is to be rebuilt, then we need to adopt a ‘presumption of trust’, starting with trusting ourselves. To be authentic, don’t we have to trust our own decisions? If we don’t follow our gut, we’re not really being true to ourselves. A good start would surely be to claim back the vast realm of judgement that has been ceded to process and risk-management frameworks.”
If you are struggling to grow your business, perhaps you should consider whether you have worked to gain the trust of your clients or customers. RVR Management offer business advice and support, interim sales and marketing support and management training,
About Author Rakesh Shah RVR Management has over 20 years’ experience of growing sales in large corporate companies as well as SME companies, in UK/Europe USA and Asia. He is technically, MBA and CIM qualified with a background of delivering growth within engineering/manufacturing sectors and offer a range of business tools and support services that deliver results.
Contact Rakesh Shah : 0778 555 8344