A trust-centered culture contributes to real business results. When people work in an organization with an ethical culture of trust at its core, they are 11 times more likely than rivals to innovate, and 32 times more likely to take risks with potential to benefit the company, according to LRN research.
A recent CEB study indicates that employees from strong cultures of integrity are 90 percent less likely to observe misconduct and are more likely to report that which they do see. Yet only 8 percent of organizations have cultures where people trust and collaborate with each other, and let purpose and values guide their behavior.
These findings reveal a disconnect: CEOs and chief ethics and compliance officers (CECOs) know that an ethical culture is good for their people and business, but often struggle to create those cultures.
One way to bridge the gap lies in focusing on three elements of behavior that can influence a company’s culture and performance. They are: reporting misconduct, listening to concerns and linking performance evaluation to ethics. Organizations that create barriers to reporting misconduct or raising concerns often create trust deficits. On the other hand, when organizations enable their workforce to speak out against misconduct and encourage staff to use available platforms, they are more likely to build a culture that rewards ethical behavior and helps sustain it across the organization.
According to the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer, trust across institutions is at its lowest levels in decades, indicating we are experiencing a global crisis in trust. Many of the organizations we work with are recognizing that trust in leadership is declining and are responding by building healthy dialogue and implementing safe platforms for colleagues to report misconduct. Enabling and encouraging the workforce to raise concerns and report misconduct without fear of retribution can help rebuild part of this trust, which is good for organizational culture and the business. For more on how to do so, click here for the full article.