Enhancing Stakeholder TRUST

Stakeholders decide to engage with an organisation when they feel assured of its : A - Competence : Both comprising of leaders at the helm and a fit with their offerings B- Compliance: That they adhere to the requirement of external lay of the land regulations and have robust internal governance C- Integrity and ethics : Are viewed as authentic in ‘walking the talk’ on what they espouse of their Purpose All of this requires hard work by organisations to build soundness on the above aspects to garner stakeholder attention to start an engagement that hinges on TRUST. However in the TRUST equation, these are considered as hygiene, though important but not sufficient to stand out. In fact what converts stakeholders decision to opt for an organisation on what matters most, are the positive experiences that they undergo across their journey. Beyond on-boarding stakeholders, the organization needs to sustain in delivering these experiences to ensure stickiness and retention, ultimately leading to stakeholder TRUST enhancement. The qualifier of these experiences are rooted in fairness.

D- Fair Experiences are the prime driver in impacting Trust capital by 60% Organisations needs to be intentional in delivering to this primary driver of Trust. Here are key points to be factored in delivering stakeholder TRUST in a sustained manner

1- Expand the stakeholder set : In an interconnected and dynamic world, the TRUST game needs to demonstrate consistency by encompassing a broader set of stakeholders who also assumes multiple personas i.e. employees, customers, candidates, investors, vendors, GTM partners, CSR partners who will provide the much needed resilience. Experience for one also impacts expectations with another.

2- Across the Stakeholder journey : The experiences impacting Trust has to be across the stakeholder journey not limited to just specific instances providing the overall picture of whether value was delivered as promised. 3- Measurement : Trust needs to be measured for all stakeholders with prime emphasis given on Fair Experiences which is the key amplifier of Trust. There has to be tangibility on assessing what constitutes Fair Stakeholder Experiences. 4- Plugging the self- perception gap: It needs to plug the growing gap between self-perception of how organisations see themselves delivering on Trust vs the reality of how they are experienced from the lens of the stakeholders. 5- Ownership : Most importantly, Trust needs to be a Board agenda whereby the CEO assumes or assigns clear ownership on who drives Trust in the organisation proactively in a concerted manner not limited to reacting to incidents. Do share with us your take across these decision parameters on building TRUST.

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