Harnessing the power of trust

Today’s complex challenges—a global pandemic, the climate crisis, social and political upheaval, and systemic societal inequities—are happening at a time when there is a significant lack of trust. And they’re happening in large part because of that deficit. At no time has trust been more tested or more valued in our leaders, both government and business, and each other.

For their part, organizations have begun to recognize the impact that trust has on outcomes, both positive and negative:

Trust crises are felt financially

Market cap falls by 20-56% when companies are impacted by trust incidents.¹

Trust hits the bottom line

A lack of trust costs global brands US$2.5 trillion per year.³

A breach of trust can set you back

Organizations affected by trust events fall in value 26-74% behind their industry peers.⁵

Trust drives loyalty and brand reputation

Of customers who highly trust a brand, 88% have bought again from that brand and 73% have tried a new product or service from it.²

Stronger trust is associated with stronger performance

Trustworthy companies outperform their competitors by 2.5 times.⁴

Trust builds psychological safety and goodwill

Employees at companies with higher degrees of trust experience 74% less negative stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction, and 40% less burnout.⁶

In The Power of Trust: How Companies Earn It, Lose It, Regain It, Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta—executive advisors to Deloitte’s Centre for Trust—examine the economic impact of trust and the science behind it. They conclusively prove that trust is built from the inside-out. It emerges from a company being the “real deal,” creating products and services that work, having good intentions, treating people fairly, and taking responsibility for all the results an organization generates, whether intentional or not. The authors also outline an innovative framework to help organizations operationalize trust to help them build and retain trust with their stakeholders.

How does this apply to the public sector? Tune into our podcast, Restoring trust in government, to hear Sandra and Shalene discuss the growing importance of trust for government.

Download the transcript
Restoring trust in government

You can also check out this recent Deloitte Insights article, Sustaining public trust in government.

Michael Cherny

Senior Lead, Centre for Trust

micherny@deloitte.ca

416-601-6428

¹ Deloitte, “Trust as a Driver of Enterprise Value”, Wall Street Journal, Risk and Compliance Journal (March 4, 2021)

² Deloitte Digital, A new measure of trust for consumer industries, 2020, p. 2

³ Ibid

⁴ Punit Remjen, Deloitte, The value of resilient leadership, Deloitte Insights, 2020, p. 4

⁵ Deloitte, The chemistry of trust, Part I: The future of trust, 2020, p. 4

⁶ Marissa Levin, “8 ways to Build a Culture of Trust Based on Harvard’s Neuroscience Research”, Inc.com (October 5, 2017)

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