Credibility and Trust are built on the fundamentally acceptable behavior of an organization and its leaders. The approach advocated here comes from observing hundreds of leaders and managers over 40 years and how they achieved a reputation for trustable behavior.
In general, these managers believed in or had a mantra similar to; “Credibility is conferred on us based on our past behavior.”
Seven Trust and Credibility Beliefs and Behaviors;
The Ingredients of Integrity
These Seven actionable tasks or assignments, when executed by leadership example and emulated by everyone in the organization fosters a reputation for trust and credibility and demonstrates extraordinary integrity.
I call this a manifesto because it contains language publicly professed to motivate, activate, energize, and inspire constructive action. It’s a public commitment to do what you say you’ll do, proof of your integrity, and a powerful proof of leadership. Employees love to talk about concepts like these.
- “When problems occur, we’ll be prepared to talk openly about them and act quickly to respond to them operationally.”
- “If the public should know about an issue or problem which could affect them, we will voluntarily talk about it as quickly and as completely as we can.”
- “When problems or changes occur, we will keep the community posted on a schedule they set until the problem or changes have been thoroughly explained or resolved.”
- “We will answer every question the community may have and suggest and volunteer additional information on matters the community has yet asked questions about, but will.”
- “We will answer every question, as long as questions are being asked, no matter how many times a question is asked and answered. When people stop asking questions, we will continue to publicize questions and answers to assure that all those affected by decisions and actions have a chance to recognize the information we’re providing.”
- “We will be cooperative with the various news platforms and organizations, but our primary responsibility is to communicate directly with those most directly affected by our actions as soon as possible.”
- “We will respect and seek to work with those who oppose us.”