It's time corporates appointed a chief trust officer

The world will be a great place when we trust each other! Purpose-driven organisations look at building trust for their long-term growth and value creation to enhance their trust quotient by taking specific, consistent, and conscious actions with the right intent. There is a greater realisation amongst corporates that they cannot consider trust as an area of attention only when there is an accident, rather they appreciate that it is an actionable and strategic asset which can be created and enhanced through a structured approach and focus. If it is of great significance, then very clearly there is a compelling case for identifying the ownership of nurturing, measuring, and monitoring trust for corporates.

Trust begins at home
Level Five leaders build trust from the inside out. An organisation that does not have the trust of its employees can never earn the trust of its customers. There is a saying that a successful team is not of people who work together but those who trust each other. Hence, it is very critical that any action to build trust for companies should start from within, with their employees. Trust is very clearly a C Suite agenda on an exclusive basis and a Chief Trust Officer (CTrO) is ideally positioned to drive that agenda forward by having an empathetic approach to understand the employee trust sentiments and views and can prioritise actions on a concurrent basis. Having a CTrO as part of the organisation structure demonstrates the commitment of the organisation to valuing the Trust element of its employees.

External perceptions matter
assessing why and up to what extent someone trusts or does not trust an entity which cannot be assessed with a simple feedback mechanism. This needs to be looked at from a different lens using a clear framework, understanding their emotional perspective in an unbiased manner which could be based on a variety of factors. Fortunately, now with the latest technology and data science, the sentiments of the external stakeholders can be gathered, segmented meaningfully, analysed thoroughly, and converted into measurable metrics for further consolidation and presentation. CTrOs can drive this exercise for organisations by leveraging the internal and external expertise available in this emerging field.

Looking from the lens of the Board and the Audit Committees
Whilst the CEO and the leadership are responsible for the Entity Trust, having a CTrO as a direct delegate of the Board and the Audit Committee would go a long way in an independent assessment of the Trust factor in the entity. Given the onerous responsibilities of the Audit committees and the independent directors under the legal provisions, a comprehensive and continuous trust assessment would help them in discharging their duties in a robust manner.

What is happening around the globe?
Global organisations have recognised the significance of harnessing Trust and have initiated a path towards establishing a dedicated CTrO position that directly reports to the board. These CTrOs within global organisations are responsible for crafting the trust framework, maintaining continuous engagement with both internal and external stakeholders, measuring trust levels, and identifying the key factors that influence trust, whether positively or negatively.

Trust Ownership- Must for Indian conglomerates
Everyone would agree that Trust is critical for the success of the corporates and it is an inherent element in the roles and responsibilities of all their employees.

The original article was published in The Hindu businessline on 13 December 2023.