Hello CMAA! My sincere thanks to all who attended the World Conference and Club Business Expo in San Diego, CA. It was exactly the break we needed to recharge and spend time with each other. Thank you for making this Conference a special one.
2022 Executive Committee
February 2022
San Diego, CAThis month I want to ask about trust:
Does your club team trust you?
How about your members?
I am sure your answer to these is an affirmative one. Our ability to give and receive trust is paramount to healthy clubs, a healthy environment, and a healthy relationship with our boards and members.
Now let’s switch and put you in the driver’s seat! Who do you trust? Hopefully the people you work with and your members. Now let’s broaden the question a bit more. Do you trust the companies your club does business with? Do you trust the national or local news media? How about your government? I suspect your trust may not be as strong.
Edelman, a global public relations firm, has been measuring public trust for the past 22 years. In its first year (2001) of measurement – NGOs (non-governmental organizations), like associations were rated the most trusted. By 2006, the most trust was given to “someone like me that I relate to.” By 2019, the most trust was in our workplace and, in 2022, businesses are the most trustworthy. I share this with you as I don’t believe we can take trust for granted; awareness that levels of trust can change among our friends, co-workers, members, our club business suppliers, the media, and our government is important.
In this current study, businesses ranked top, just ahead of NGOs. Government and media ranked the lowest. The data shows that while business is the most trusted, it is not doing enough to address societal problems, climate change, economic inequality, and workforce development. People are looking for business to take the lead on some big issues because they trust business the most. The mistrust of government and media is strong, as the public doesn’t currently find them capable of fixing societal issues. They are viewed as divisive forces in society. In fact, government leaders and journalists are seen as the least trusted people in society.
Leadership is being passed to business to take the lead. At the local level, clubs would be in this category. My point in sharing this information is as club leaders we need to understand the mindset of those around us. The role and expectation of business and clubs is to be a leader.
If we take the results of this study into our clubs, one can suggest that members are probably watching our stewardship role much more closely with higher expectations. Likely the people we are interviewing for jobs are too. For instance, are we sharing a positive story on sustainability or about staff team diversity? Our current staff and prospective members are also watching. And it isn’t just how we act, but we are also likely being evaluated on who we do business with.
The vendors we use and the choices we make on behalf of our organization help us to be trusted. We are watched more for our own leadership when we can’t trust many of the other entities in the world. NGOs, like your association (CMAA), is right there with you in this role as we are just a step behind you in the trust factor.
It is wonderful to be in the most trusted category. But it also comes with responsibility. As they say, “heavy is the head that wears the crown.” As I end this month, I want to congratulate all of us for being some of the most trusted in current times. I know being trustworthy is a core trait for you and isn’t something new. However, I encourage everyone to understand how society evolves their expectations as their trust increases or decreases. We are in a different spot than we were five years or a decade ago. If you don’t have time to read the full report, at least take a moment and review Edelman’s summarization.