Edelman Trust 2020: Ethics and Skills are the key to Trust

As is customary by these dates, a few days ago, Edelman published its annual confidence report, the barometer Edelman Trust 2020. And as is customary in this blog, I summarize the key points that affect personal branding, marca corporativa y las oportunidades que emergen del barómetro.

See also: 

• Shy recovery from trust. Edelman Trust 2019 
• Trust is polarized: Edelman Trust 2018

If you're short on time, I invite you to watch this video-summary: 

Edelman Trust fact sheet 2020

Online survey conducted in 28 Countries. More than 34.000 respondents in total. Fieldwork carried out between the 19 October and the October 18 de noviembre de 2019.

It has differentiated between general and informed audiences. There is some bias towards a higher proportion of Generation Z (18 To 24 Years) with a total of 280 entrevistas.

Who is trust relevant to today?

• For Consumers and for Risk Resilience: Trusted companies have stronger consumer buyers and advocates
• For Employees and the Market: Confidence drives recommendations in the workplace
• For Regulators, Investors and media coverage : Trusted companies are more licensed to operate

A growing sense of inequity looms

There is the paradox that the informed public trusts more than the general population, with a difference of 14 Points. In the case of Spain, For example, the informed public gives an approval to the general confidence (59%), while the general suspends her with 42%, with a "gap" of 17 puntos de diferencia.

This inequity is more evident in trust in NGOs and companies (70% informed public vs. 55%). And in government and means there is also distance, where the informed public puts their trust, while the general public is clearly distrusting.

Trust in capitalism, in question

A risk appears in the trust in the system. For the first time, el ratio de desconfianza hacia esta forma de organización supera a la confianza con 56%.

La inequidad es un germen que provoca esa desconfianza contra un modo de vida que parece necesitar reinventarse.

Are we ready for the future of work?

Well, according to Edelman Trust 2020, everything points to not. A 83% respondents are afraid of losing their jobs due to one of the following reasons: 

• Increased "freelance" demand on a Gig-Economy model (economy on demand) 61%
• Impending recession 60%
• Poor skills training 58%
• Cheaper foreign competitors 55%
• Immigrants working for less 54%
• Automation 53%
• Jobs moving to other countries 50%

Respondents also point out that technological advancement outweighs them. That, to my way of seeing, we should also see it as an opportunity to learn (there's no age, just attitude) y vencer los miedos propios de algo tan inevitable y conveniente como la mejora y el avance de la tecnología.

The formula of trust: Ethics + Competences

This is the great contribution of Edelman Trust 2020: competent is not enough. Be just ethical, Either. Ethics is the study refers to elements such as Sense, Purpose, true values. They refer to the People priority – Planet – Benefits I talked about a few weeks ago in this blog in the post Leadership, vulnerability and personal branding.

As seen in the chart, there is no single institution that meets both premises: ethics and competencies. NGOs carry ethics in their DNA, but they don't manage to be competent enough to solve the problems of this world. On his side, companies approve in competitions, pero su falta de valores y ética las pone en jaque.

a lot public administrations as means suspend claramente al no alcanzar ninguna de las premisas generadoras de confianza.

Ethical drivers are 3 times more important to the company's confidence than the competition

As if that weren't enough, it's not that ethics is important, but it's three times more important, al menos para las empresas.

Ask yourself a question do you think your company, or the company you're working on is putting ethics ahead?

Integrity, reliability and purpose are the ethical armament of 76% preference for respondents over their own competencies, con un 24%.

And let's be clear that here it's not about tomorrow's company deciding that its values are integrity and reliability and drafting a purpose. This is a cultural change Full, something that could explain very well Christian Fernandez, Director de Personas y Cultura de Andorra Telecom.

Employees and customers, priority stakeholders

Many companies keep repeating that they are due to their customers. Pero la realidad es que actúan movidos por los intereses de los accionistas.

The graph shows how people equally value respect for two priority stakeholders: employees and customers. On the other, accionistas y comunidades no deberían ser los responsables de las decisiones clave de las organizaciones.

Public-private collaboration, necessary in employment

Collaboration between companies and administrations is considered to be very necessary to avoid a debacle in employment derived from gig-economy and automation. Particularly sensitive sectors will be public servants and businesses. Pero se estima que soy las empresas las que deberán liderar la formación.

And how the ethical-compete binomial affects the personal brand

As a proper interpretation of the study in personal brand code I highlight the following points: 

• Managing our brand is more important than ever, either outside or within organizations. Our values are real, uns designed, and can help institutions (NGOs, Companies, administrations and media) a humanizar sus mensajes y dar sentido a sus propósitos.
• The internal influencer or "emfluencer"transmits the company's values and purpose better than the outside influencer. First because he knows those values and purpose better than anyone. And secondly because he also knows as no one the attributes of the brands of the organization. That's it, For me, a branding appeal to all organizations that have not defined their "brand purpose" and vital elements such as Employer Value Proposition, la razón por la que los empleados y los externos deben confiar en esa marca.
• The programs employee advocacy must put forward the communication of values and purpose. Many consumers are worrying about issues such as whether the product has respected the age and equity of workers, working conditions...
• The CEO must be the spearhead of the personal brand in the corporate sphere. The study makes it clear that the CEO of organizations must face more than ever. And from what I see in the training programs in staff branding, many managers are absent when should be the first participants. 

There is much more information in the Edelman Trust's executive PDF summary 2020. 

Stock Photos from Atstock Productions / Shutterstock