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According to most CEOs, the main hurdles hindering business reinvention are the lack of skills and technological know-how. In the increasingly digitised economy that businesses operate in today, technology is a catalyst for disruption — but trust remains at the centre of reinvention.
In collaboration with the Asia School of Business, we surveyed over 11,000 employees in Malaysia to better understand the synergies between employee trust in an organisation and business reinvention. Our study shows that a workforce in a high-trust organisation is not only more receptive of a leader’s decisions, they are more resilient to the turbulence that comes with new strategies as well.
Building trust with employees isn't just about engagement — it's about their willingness to let employers make decisions that will impact them. It’s about vulnerability.
Watch the video below for key takeways from our report.
2:07
Trust teaser
The payoff of a high-trust organisation
A high-trust organisation is one where employees are more willing to be open and vulnerable to leaders’ decisions. To cultivate a high-trust organisation, leaders can:
| 1 | Implement fair and transparent reward systems |
| 2 | Cultivate a culture of openness and respect |
| 3 | Foster diversity and inclusion |
A workforce in a high-trust organisation is…
13x
more likely to believe that the company will reward efforts fairly in the future
8x
more likely to adopt AI in the workplace, unlocking productive capacity
7x
more likely to support the company’s efforts to conserve the environment
6x
more likely to seek out new ways to learn and innovate
Leading reinvention can sometimes feel like being on one side of a chasm, with everyone else on the other side. The challenge for CEOs and business leaders is to inspire the workforce to take the leap with them. This may require employees to take risks and make trade-offs, and this requires great trust in their leaders.
In other words, cultivating a high-trust organisation is important. The good news is — this trust shift falls squarely within the purview of CEOs.
Trust and your reinvention journey
Failure is a common worry that lingers in every CEO’s mind when it comes to business reinvention. But CEOs simply cannot ignore two megatrends driving business reinvention anymore: the rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and the urgent need to address climate change.
Where should leaders start? With trust.
Redefining job security in the GenAI journey
It is hard to start a conversation on productivity and business reinvention today without mentioning GenAI. The Malaysia Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution predicted that GenAI will unlock USD113.4 billion in productive capacity for the country.
Despite the promise of increased productivity, there is a concern about the potential workforce redundancy. 25% of CEOs in Malaysia predicted that a reduction in headcount would come along with GenAI. But the fear of becoming obsolete doesn’t have to stop you in your tracks.
Our study finds that a workforce in a high-trust organisation relates to higher willingness to adopt AI in the workplace.
How likely will respondent trust in AI
Answering the right questions on your sustainability journey
Companies are launching sustainability initiatives at a frenzied pace. However, targets are still not being met. PwC's Net Zero Economy Index 2023 notes that Malaysia’s current decarbonisation rate is at 2.5%, still behind what is required to meet the nationally determined contributions target of 7.2%. Besides that, Malaysians are 6.5 times* more likely to say that businesses are not doing enough to fight climate change than overstepping their role.
To answer this, CEOs must look at the business’s nucleus, its workforce. The sustainability landscape is every-changing and employees can struggle to keep up. Our study shows that employees in high-trust organizations are more emotionally connected to sustainability goals, motivated, and innovative. Thus, the key is to foster high-trust within the organization.
The key, therefore, is to become a high-trust organisation.
*2023 Edelman Trust Barometer, Malaysia Report
How likely will an employee support the company's ESG efforts?
Effective strategies to build a high-trust organisation
With so many things already on the modern day CEO’s plate, what are the shortcuts to building a high-trust organisation? Our survey identifies three key factors impacting their readiness to reinvent: a fair rewards system, a culture of openness and respect and the diversity climate of the company. Click on each factor in the diagram to learn more:
Build trust with a fair rewards system
Transparency is a big part of making fairness principles work. That means engaging with your people so they know how and why they’re being compensated. A company that embraces a transparent and fair rewards system conveys so much more than just the rewards itself — it’s the subtext that decision-makers can be trusted.
Create a culture of openness and respect
The basis of trust is the willingness to be vulnerable. Embracing and celebrating differing views and innovative efforts with respect — even those that lead to minor failures — can shift workforce trust. When employees are treated with respect and dignity, they trust leaders enough to voice their opinions.
Cultivate and empower a diverse team
Beyond understanding potential biases, inclusive leadership requires the capacity to appreciate individual’s unique lived experience, while fostering an environment of safety in which everyone feels empowered to speak up. Qualities such as these equip people to harness the power of diversity, practice allyship and bring out the best in diverse teams to deliver innovation and impact.
Leadership perspective
“In 2010, we initiated a concerted effort to attract women to our plantation manager training programmes. We went all out to show the women who joined our programme that this was a job they could do, contrary to popular belief. Then, in 2018, we formalised this initiative and introduced the Female Management Development Programme (FMDP) in SD Guthrie’s Malaysia upstream operations. Through FMDP, we empowered and enhanced the skills of female employees to take on management roles. It included skills-based training, technical training, and coaching sessions. Since then, we have seen a clear shift with our women making inroads in this historically male-dominated industry. We now have a female Chief Operating Officer of Upstream Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, two female estate managers, a biodiesel plant manager and a mill manager.”
“We encourage our employees to embrace innovation and adaptability by promoting a growth mindset and celebrating learning milestones. By offering robust learning pathways, development programs and collaborative projects, we ensure our team members feel supported and empowered to enhance their skills. Furthermore, we prioritise transparent communication about industry trends and technological shifts, reassuring our workforce that their development is a strategic priority.”
“Through our commitment to the career growth and employability of our people, we address job security concerns through active communications of the benefits and applications of AI that demonstrate its usefulness as a tool to enhance their work, not replace them.”
“Our business decisions and strategy executions have facilitated a conducive working environment for our employees to develop new skills and growth opportunities in emerging sustainable sectors. This helps to build a sense of pride and purpose amongst our workforce.”
“A large part of our EverGreen transformation strategy is making sure our employees reach their full potential by investing in them. By providing tools and platforms for them to develop their leadership skills, while also advocating an inclusive culture, our strategy has helped us build trust among our team members and driven impactful changes in the way we engage with our customers, consumers and communities.”
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Building Trust Programme Sponsor & Assurance Partner, PwC Malaysia
Tel: +60 (3) 2173 0946
