Talking Trust

James: Hello and welcome to Talking Trust, Pwc Canada's new podcast series on the trust agenda. I'm James Temple, PwC Canada's chief corporate responsibility officer, and I'm your host. We all know that we're in an era like never before where trust has become a critical business imperative and a lever for value creation. In this podcast series, we're exploring some of the key elements of trust. We're talking about why trust matters so much today, some of the actions we've taken here at PwC Canada as part of our own journey and what it means for your people as well as your brand and your reputation. For our third episode today, I'm joined by Sofia Theodorou, PwC Canada's chief people officer. She'll talk to us about a very important aspect of the trust journey, your employees. Welcome, Sofia, and thanks for joining me today. Now to start things off. Can you give us an overview of how the trust agenda applies to our people?

Sofia: Thanks, James. It's a pleasure to be here. Yes, let's talk about trust. Trust is fundamental not only to attract and retain talent but to ignite the creativity required for innovation and business growth. And we're experiencing an area of great disruption with a global shortage of skills and economic rebalancing and a renewed focus on the meaning of work. There's a paradigm shift in the nature of employment. Workers are reevaluating their personal and professional motivations and expectations. Purpose and meaning have arrived at center stage. More than ever, people want to be fulfilled on the things that matter most to them in their lives. And as a result, we're seeing a war for talent with unprecedented attrition and lots of movement in the employment market. These trends only serves to emphasize the importance of trust in organizations.

James: Now, given the war on talent, the need to attract and retain people, they're definitely part of a bigger issue with this trust agenda. What are some of the other reasons why building trust with your people so important now?

Sofia: Well, trust has a significant impact on productivity. We've all, at some time in our career, worked at a place where we experience people that were unreliable or discounted our expertize or didn't share information freely related to our jobs or were leaders just didn't live the values of the organization. It feels so much harder to be successful in an environment where there's low trust in these instances. We typically experience less personal energy, lower levels of passion and creativity, and our productivity takes a hit. Now, if you overlay the employee experience today, employees have faced the stress of navigating two years of a pandemic and working remotely has become the new norm. These factors make trust even more important and often harder to build. These are some of the reasons why we at PwC Canada put a big focus on our people and our own trust journey.

James: What you said really resonates with me, especially feeling tired over the last two years. Now, another one of the things we found in creating our trust roadmap here at PwC Canada was that employees trust really is about personal relationships and more than just what things executives might focus on, like performance or ESG. Can you talk a little bit more about that and unpack that for us?

Sofia: That's absolutely true. And it's important to note that trust lives in people not in institutions. So it really begins with us. But what is trust? If we look at the internal dynamics of building trust, it comes down to three things, operating with consistency, competence and integrity. In other words, I build trust when there's consistency and quality of my actions and behaviors, and when I deliver on my promises and commitments and I can't overemphasize how communication, particularly listening, is a critical enabler of these. These elements are core to building the quality of relationships with your people. Without them, it's very hard to grow a relationship beyond a transactional connection. So when you invest in the quality of your relationship with people, you create the trust needed for a culture of belonging and participation.

James: I'm smiling because my grandmother once told me that you've got to listen to understand and not listen to respond. And I think from what you're saying, it's clear there's such a big role for leaders in building trust with their people.

Sofia: Oh, absolutely, leadership is critical. At the end of the day, leaders set the tone for any organization. So the choices they make in their actions and behaviors have the most impact on levels of trust. We know the people begin to feel disconnected in a relationship when they feel disrespected, not included or just not heard. And this leads to a sense of separateness and often results in people pursuing individual rather than shared goals. As I mentioned earlier, the disruption we've all experienced in the last two years has driven employees stress and burnout to an all time high. And connecting remotely, it's just not the same as in person. It requires more energy and focus to build trust in this kind of environment. And it puts pressure on leaders to spend more time really listening to people's feelings showing care, compassion and patience. These human skills are becoming increasingly more important for leaders to build the trust needed to attract and retain scarce skill sets required for the future.

James: What are some of the actions leaders can take to address burnout and well-being? I hear you around improving connections and relationships with people. It's so critical. How does it all really impact trust?

Sofia: Well, there's plenty of research that shows that fostering a culture of transparency through frequent communication and listening lower stress levels in organizations. Leaders can help improve well-being by being transparent about the current realities and listening for difficulties, taking time to explain the reason for certain decisions, answering questions and ensuring that all voices are heard. This adds to the trust bank account and helps people commit emotionally to the organization and not just their paycheck. And when this is applied consistently, it also nurtures a culture of belonging.

James: Could you talk to us about some of the things we're doing at PwC Canada to increase transparency in that sense of connection with your people? I like how you called it the trust bank account.

Sofia: Yeah. We believe at PwC, this is a critical time for leaders to proactively reengage with their people and ensure they feel safe to voice their concerns and have been truly listened to, irrespective of their role level. This often means finding ways to ensure that voices that are not normally in dialog together have the opportunity to engage in real and meaningful conversations. We realized this was an opportunity for us, and we used various forms to engage in meaningful conversations with our people. For example, our partners hosted many fireside chats with our inclusion networks to listen and understand how they were experiencing and navigating the current environment. We also introduced a networking platform across the firm where our leaders can host sessions on a variety of just-in-time topics. This has actually allowed us to reach more of our people than ever before, and we've benefited from their ideas and in turn have extended new support mechanisms that have helped build trust. We also recognize how leaders can improve employee well-being by helping focus on what matters most. In some instances, this may mean supporting them to take a step back to improve their well-being. This goes a long way in showing that you're not pursuing profit at the expense of people.

James: In her first podcast episode, our CEO Nicolas Marcoux, he spoke a lot about the need for leaders to make sure that their actions and their behaviors match their commitments and their intentions. How does this play out in practical terms when we think about employee trust?

Sofia: I think this notion is so important to understand, and it goes to integrity, which is at the heart of building trust. And there are two dimensions to integrity. The first one is personal integrity, which is about who we define ourselves to be. And it occurs when there's alignment between what we say and do. In other words, my behaviors and actions are consistently aligned to the promises that I make. And consistency is key here. The second one is organizational integrity, which is related to the way an organization operates as a collective. This is achieved when there is alignment between the mission, the purpose and the values of an organization and how its employees, customers, stakeholders experience it. It grows from a motivating vision and a shared set of values. What this means is that when leaders words and actions match and when leaders behaviors are in line with the company's mission and values, you're building deep levels of trust. This, in turn, allows employees to look beyond self-interest and work to the betterment of the whole organization. We actually looked at how Canadian leaders were faring against this important notion of integrity based on a global culture survey we conducted last year. Fifty six percent of Canadian respondents agreed their leadership team consistently models the organization's purpose, culture and values. This was lower than other countries analyzed, such as the U.S., where 65 percent agreed with that statement. This shows a gap for Canadian leaders and reinforces that trust should be part of the corporate agenda.

James: So how can they reduce that gap?

Sofia: Well, as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words in building trust. I'll illustrate the impact of having a gap between actions and commitments with an example. Let's say you have a leader who is urging employees to disconnect outside of their regular work hours and emphasizing the importance of taking their allotted vacation time. But then that same leader regularly sends after hours emails with an expectation of a response. This creates a gap between what's communicated as a valid priority and management behavior and actions. This breeds mistrust.

James: That's a really powerful example. What would you suggest leaders do, practically speaking?

Sofia: Well, I think the first step is to really reflect on a commitment you're making to fully understand its implications before you communicate it broadly. So if we take the prioritizing well-being example, what will it take to prioritize well-being? What will we need to do differently so our people received the level of support intended with this commitment? What tradeoffs situations where we face? Then we must pay consistent attention to the commitments we've made and the actions that are supporting or breaking those commitments. This often means seeking feedback from the teams we serve to understand where our behaviors are supporting or reducing trust. And there's one more thing. This often requires making hard and courageous decisions to either be vulnerable and honest enough to communicate that we may have to revisit a commitment when we discover there are insurmountable challenges to delivering on it.

James: How do you assess how much trust your employees have in the organization and its leaders, and what do you need to do in response?

Sofia: Well, James, you're going to see that I keep beating on the same drum here and reinforce the importance of two way communication. To understand where your team members are at, you actually have to ask them and be willing to be vulnerable and listen to the feedback that sometimes might just be a little hard to hear. Holding these conversations and following through on any actions builds trust. It also helps leaders gauge what they can do to deepen the bond with their team members. I know that in my experience, I've learned that assumptions I've made about how people feel and what they value were sometimes completely wrong, and it gave me the opportunity to adapt and create a more positive experience for them. I also think we as leaders can be proactive by keeping in mind some of the pitfalls that affect trust. So here are some very common examples. When changing the direction of your team or the business, ensure you're taking adequate time to provide the rationale for the change to your team so they understand the reasons behind the decision. Make sure you're accessible to your team members, that you're tapping into diverse and opposing points of view and they're you're open to receiving bad news. All of these things create psychological safety for others to share more of themselves with you. Now, if you want to get an indication of how strong these trust dynamics are within the organization, you need to employ a trust index survey. This is something we've done here at PwC Canada to monitor trust levels and help focus on the action we can take to deepen trust.

James: Sofia, I'm sitting here with a leadership checklist. Those are great examples. Now, can you talk about some of the things we've learned about employee trust here at PwC Canada?

Sofia: When we talk to our employees, a lot of the trust drivers reflect some of the cultural elements I've just described. So here's what we've heard. Employees want us to engage in courageous conversations in the moment, especially when there might be a negative impact. They also want transparency about the factors that inform our decision making. They look for us to treat them barely and well. And they need us to articulate what we stand for and act on our values. This could mean, for example, taking a stand on issues that matter most to society. One of the big things we learned is that employee expectations are evolving. While things like compensation and benefits continue to be important, flexibility, transparency and balance have trumped these elements in terms of what our people value most.

James: And what are the metrics and KPIs look like around some of these employee trust drivers you mentioned, it must be hard to measure.

Sofia: We've identified several KPIs to benchmark ourselves against what our employees have told us. Take, for example, our priority to treat stakeholders fairly and well. These are connected but different concepts. Since we can treat our employees well with good pay and benefits, but they may not perceive us to be treating them fairly with regards to decisions that are made that affect them in comparison to their colleagues. A 2022 workplace belonging survey recently conducted by Ipsos identified that being treated fairly and well as the most important factor to build a culture of belonging and productivity. And we don't want this gap between being treated fairly and well. So one of our KPIs is to close that gap completely within the next five years. In a similar vein, our Speak Up index will allow us to continuously measure our progress in building psychological safety with our people to share the ideas, concerns and bring their whole selves to work. And we also have a set of workforce representation metrics and targets. These look at the percentage of staff and partners who identify as women, visible minorities, indigenous and persons with a disability. We recognize that representation is closely tied to people feeling safe to disclose their identity and as a result of the trust levels we build internally. So we're on a journey.

James: And what are you doing as a firm to build trust in response to culture and burnout? Those concerns that you described earlier, it seems so critical, especially now.

Sofia: They're really are. And our first step was to acknowledge and empathize with the strain these last two years have put on our people and ensure that they had access to a broad set of wellbeing programs. We've also tried to reinforce our support through storytelling. For example, we have an employee communications feature called People of PwC, where we tell important stories about how our people are living our culture and values. Recently, we featured the story of one person who asked for support when they became burnt out in 2020. They were able to take the time they needed and importantly were still able to progress with the firm. They were promoted to partner in 2021. So stories like these can be very powerful in setting the right tone. We also found that our people needed help with setting boundaries, so we had many conversations about the importance of disconnecting from work and setting clear expectations with the teams that they work with, like setting work hours and their calendars so people can view their availability or encouraging people not to send after hours emails but rather scheduling them to be sent the next day during regular business hours. The challenges presented by the pandemic has really had an impact on workloads. And in recognition of that, we also provided our people with extra paid days off to recharge.

James: I can say that I took Friday off and it was so nice to be able to not think about work at all and reflect on my own well-being. So I take your points around living into our purpose. Now, before we close, what would your top takeaways be for other organizations looking at building trust with their people?

Sofia: I think in wrapping up, the three top takeaways would be trust needs to be part of your talent strategy. Recognize that leaders have the biggest impact on creating the psychological safety required to foster a high trust culture. And finally, the adage that you get what you measure also applies to the notion of trust. So consider creating mechanisms to measure the levels of trust in your organization.

James: Thank you for these great insights, Sofia. And thank you to our audience for listening today. For those wanting to learn more about our trust journey, you can explore our trust roadmap at trust.ca.pwc.com. Please stay tuned for our next episode and we'll continue exploring the trust agenda. Next up, I'm turning the tables on our Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Louanne Buckley. And I'll get her to walk us through the implications of the trust agenda for your brand and your reputation. I hope you enjoyed the podcast and look forward to bringing you further insights on the trust agenda in our next episode. I'm James Temple and this is Talking Trust.