Has anyone seen Trust? I haven't seen her for years

If in February 2021 I already tried the Edelman Trusted Global Barometer 2021, today it is the turn to analyze the specific results in the Spanish market. And they're somewhat worse., why fool us, has anyone seen Confianza in Spain? is it hidden?

If you're short on time, I'll sum it up for you in a minute: 

Edelman Trust 2021: Trust in Spain

I must warn, as I already advanced a few months ago, than the report 2021 collects the results of 2020, year of onset of the Covid pandemic. So you can imagine that the results, very good they are not. And in Spain less. Spain is always more in everything, and in falling as well. But why?? 

Trust in institutions

The Edelman barometer measures citizens' confidence in four institutions: Government (understood as all public administrations), Companies, NGOs and the media.

Let's look at this comparative chart in terms of overall confidence status: 

Multiple data: 

• The global confidence index is neutral 56/100 and increases 2 Points. In Spain there is persistent mistrust.
• Trust in companies is high (61) globally and neutrally in Spain (52). That's for sure., at least in both cases there are two points of increase.
• It seems that in Spain (-6) and globally (-1) we don't just trust NGOs very much.
• Globally the government has an approved (53 And +3) while in Spain it is a suspense (34 +4) full-fleds.
• And the media approve by the minimum globally (53 And +3) and in Spain they remain in the territory of mistrust (42)

A first conclusion:

Spaniards put the weight of general distrust in government and media, while companies and NGOs pass the cut by the minimum. Globally, we citizens trust that companies will save us.

Competence and ethics

An interesting analysis variable that supports (or not) trust is the communion between competition (getting it right) and ethics.

Here we have a comparative table of Spain (top) with the global map (inferior): 

The data: 

• In Spain, the upper right quadrant is deserted: None of the four institutions is considered competent and ethical at the same time. Bad thing.
• On a global scale, only companies have these two attributes, in my opinion 100% indispensable to generate trust.
• Government and media are in a poor situation globally, both in competition and in ethics, and in a regrettable situation in Spain, the situation of public administrations being particularly critical.

A second conclusion:

Have cross-cutting leadership, with professionals with the right hard and soft skills and applying maximum transparency are the formulas that citizens require from companies, NGOs and especially, to governments and the media.

More and better information, more trust

Curiously, the big pockets of distrust are more in the general population than in what Edelman calls "informed public" (people with higher education). I would always have thought that ignorance breeds naïve trust, But no, since it becomes "wedge" and that's a dangerous combination (I don't know but I think I know). 

I attribute the distance between the two audiences to the fact that the informed reaches greater perspective by having greater sources of information, but above all, by contrasting them. Wedge-d'eels are very prone to the distribution of fake news.

The data: 

• Among the informed public, only Russia gets a suspense in confidence, being Spain in the "neutral" range with 57/100.
• Among the general population, 13 are the countries that suspend, being among them Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, the U.S. USA and Spain.

A third conclusion:

Perhaps institutions require a new department / ministry: the trusted one. Explaining progress and achievements in a simple way and standing up and acknowledging the mistake in the face of mistakes would help. Transparency and ethics are key vitamins for trust. To this end, it would be good if governments stopped exerting pressure on the media., Companies, NGOs, and that political parties have no power in the election of judges.

Distrust is the door of fear

And of course, whether trust is the basis for everything working properly, mistrust is the prelude to fear. Let's look at this comparative picture: 

The data: 

• In Spain, all fears are more bulging than globally. But we agree that job losses and climate change are the biggest concerns.
• In Spain, However, the third concern (the fifth globally) it is the loss of individual freedoms.
• On the other hand, hackers and cyber-attacks, to whom many attribute a possible destruction of the planet, in Spain, being just as worrying in percentage as overall, is the fifth (and not third) worry.

A fourth conclusion:

It seems that Spain has a tendency to citizen syndrome "and I more" than the rest of the planet, and that the distance between worry and fear is worse. Policies dedicated to preventing job losses and worsening climate require new leadership and attention from three key institutions: Governments, companies and media.

A ray of hope: the credibility of spokespersons

Despite the fact that the credibility of the spokesmen plummets with respect to previous years, it remains higher in Spain than in the global framework.

Let's look at the graph of Spain (the global does not include the same comparative variables, but there are some 10 points below in each stakeholder stakeholder. 

The data: 

• The academic expert and technical expert (company) remain more credible stakeholders, despite the drop in points.
• On the dark side, Political, steering boards, Journalists (refers to media directors) and CEO's star in the "dark side".
• Curiously, the biggest drop is taken by the employee, which apparently has not helped to improve confidence in the four institutions.

A fifth conclusion:

Spanish institutions must take advantage of the credibility offered by academic experts, technicians and regular employees to put them at the forefront of public information, as trusted brand ambassadors. At the same time, it is indispensable that politicians, steering boards, newspaper directors and CEO's bet on giving greater perspective and transparency to information.

I agree, and what does all this have to do with personal branding? 

More than you think. Trust is the bargaining chip of any transaction. If we don't trust, we do not buy goods or services, we do not vote, we do not donate, we don't read.

All the institutions are adversely affected by the lack of trust: 

• Governments, by apathy and lack of affection of the citizens, That which translates to abstention of vote and what is worse, in vote towards the ULTRA.
• Companies, because if they do not issue trust neither will their brands to the market. To do this they must enable P2P protocols, person-to-person, since a company, brand or market are "imagined realities".
• NGOs because depend on trust and the economic bonanza for citizens to support.
• The media, because they are the responsible for the fact that the sources of information are verified and without ideological bias.

From the personal branding you can act on better communication training of leaders (executive branding), of employees (brand ambassador programs). Corporate discourse can be improved, helping to build and spread the purpose (corporate account). And job stability can be improved, helping institutions to retain and give confidence to their employees and to attract the best talent (employer branding).

Here you can download the full report Edelman Trust Spain 2021.

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