Ethical Trust: Trust is the goal. Ethics is the actions we take to develop and maintain trusting relationships.
Ethical Trust ultimately is about relationships and The Golden Rule: “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.”
Today, there is a dramatic loss of trust - and with it the implied
loss of ethical standards - throughout every aspect of our society. (See Edelman Trust Barometer Report.)
This loss of trust fundamentally impacts every organization’s efficacy and
bottom line. On a larger scale, the degradation of trust undermines the very
fabric of our society.
Ethical Trust® (ET)
is a new paradigm. It is based on the premise that the end goal of ethics is to create trusting relationships.
High-trust organizations are implicitly ethical.
Using
proprietary models and software technologies, ET analyzes, measures, and quantifies discrete components
of trust and provides composite scores. When tied to other organizational metrics,
this intelligence offers a roadmap for the implementation of targeted strategies
to optimize levels of trust between stakeholders throughout an
organization. When the stakeholder pool is expanded to include
communities, the environment, the society-at-large, Ethical Trust® offers
a measurable approach to bettering the
world.
Introduction:
Ethics and Trust are the foundation upon which our society is
based. Ethics-based Trust, or Ethical Trust, as we call it, is an essential
element to good personal client relationships, business to business relations,
and superior management relationships. When trust is violated it undermines
entire institutions, governments, and economies.
Though this fact is generally acknowledged as true, making ethical
trust a working component of marketing strategies and business delivery remains
elusive. The challenge is that trust has heretofore been an abstract and
qualitative reality, resistant to quantification. As a result trust has rarely
been directly addressed in business.
In addition, press headlines, social media, and the current political climate
negatively bias both the customer base and the working population in its
perception of trust. In today’s culture it has become imperative to not only
understand trust, but to implement ethical strategies to cultivate it.
Business practices that focus solely on high margin returns
and do not include an “ethical trust factor” run the risk of failed
expectations and disaffection of its markets. Addressing strategies that
balance high revenue return with high levels of trust provide the foundation
for long term sustainability and growth.
The Power of Ethical Trust is a simple, direct program. It begins with the analysis and quantification of trust between stakeholders, providing a roadmap for actionable strategies that can be implemented and be applied to:
- Business Acquisition and Sales
- Customer Relationships
- Marketing and Advertising
- Human Resources
- Training and Management of Personnel
- Sexual Harassment
- Discrimination
- Compliance
- Conflicts of Interest
Many ethics-based training programs are defensive, creating heightened stress in the workplace. Ethical Trust programs are proactive, striving to create positive workplace cultures.
Recognizing that each organization faces unique challenges, every Ethical Trust program is customized - in consultation with an organization’s management - to meet those needs.
