Trust: The foundation of agile, purposeful cultures

90% of CEOs say their business is too slow. They're asking critical questions: How do I create an agile, high performance culture? How do I engage and align our people? How do I create trust in our business?

There’s an old story about two hikers who are confronted by a large bear in the woods. One calmly sits down, removes his boots and puts on a pair of running shoes. “What are you doing!” his panicked friend asks, “you’ll never outrun a bear.” “I don’t have to” he replies” I only have to outrun you”.

Whilst CEOs may be right that their business isn’t moving fast enough, they only need to go faster than the other guy.  It’s therefore worth asking who is wearing the running shoes in your industry. Which are the agile businesses you face, and what are they doing that you are not?

The answer tends to be the businesses that are smaller, newer, less encumbered with legacy; in other words, the entrepreneurial ones.

Entrepreneurial thinking; a mindset not a legal entity

Yet, entrepreneurial thinking actually has very little to do with scale or age. It’s a mindset. It’s therefore worth taking a really close look at what entrepreneurially-minded businesses, of whatever size, actually do. How is that they create that agility of culture, productivity of people and performance of management. And can this be replicated?

In our experience, a big part of what drives agile business is a compelling and engaging purpose which is authentically and consistently held in the organisation. This engenders the behaviours of alignment and engagement in people, clarity and velocity in management, and openness and creativity in cultures which are the hallmarks of the agile, entrepreneurial business.

The First Rule: Trust Above All

Entrepreneurially-minded and purposeful businesses have three major attributes: context, psychological ownership, and TRUST. 

Companies where purpose lives and breathes tend to be open, compassionate and creative rather than inward looking, fearful and controlling. In more traditional cultures based on control, people are instinctively fearful and therefore distrustful of the purpose. Hence it has no power to change things for the better.

What drives trust, allows purpose to thrive and transforms cultures is the organisation's approach to people. An example of this is provided by a major European Bank. The Bank had made purpose a top priority and it was well received in internal surveys. Yet it made little difference how people felt or behaved. The leadership team couldn't understand why their purpose was not 'working.'

Research showed the Bank's purpose was quite well understood; it just wasn't trusted. In fact less than 25% of employees really believed the authenticity of the purpose.

The solution was nothing to do with 'purpose' itself, but rather demonstrating its authenticity and rebuilding trust by a fundamental reappraisal of how people were treated and encouraged to treat each other.

Extraordinary Results Through Trust

The results were extraordinary. In teams taking part in the programme, positive beliefs and behaviours jumped by an average 33% after only 6 months of participation. In particular, the critical measures of trust, openness and compassion increased by 40%. Purpose was now working because it had been activated by trust. Most extraordinary of all, in a wholly surprising and unintentional consequence, revenues in the pilot teams had increased by an average of 15%.

Without trust, muddle, distrust and cynicism will persevere in middle management and purpose will not take root. What drives the extraordinary agility of the best entrepreneurial businesses is not 'having a purpose' but that purposefulness is credibly, congruently, consistently and authentically lived in the organisation.

Without trust, no business can hope to be agile. It will always be outrun. And in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world the bear is very large and very real.

 

Continue Reading:

Trust is just the beginning. Discover how the other two pillars work together to create truly agile organisations:

Ownership: Turning passengers into drivers - Learn how emotional investment drives alignment, engagement, and autonomy across your organisation.

Context: Managing with clarity and velocity - Explore how contextual management creates the speed and adaptability that defines entrepreneurial success.