What level of trust do you have in your company’s leadership?

Another recent poll on LinkedIn shows some interesting results.  The poll is on the level of trust that people have in their company's leadership.  Trust is the foundation of leadership.  Without trust, few, if any, will follow.  Violate your people's trust and you've lost the ability to lead them.

Let's take a look at the results.  The first is "responses by seniority".  Typically you'll find more positive results the higher you go in the organization.  The first chart bears this out with a minor exception: management is the lowest ratings for Very High and High.  Not a good sign, and usually indicates the "mushroom" effect--keep them in the dark and feed them sh!t.

The second graph shows results by company size.  This also indicates typical results.  Large companies tend to score lower on trust than smaller companies.  It's easier for the leadership of a small company to communicate directly to its people than in a larger company.  There is a greater connection, thus, a tendancy for greater trust.

The next chart shows results by function.  This is also interesting, though not surprising to me, having worked in a technical field for many years.  Look at the engineer and product numbers:

Both have much lower ratings on Very High and High.  My assumption is that many of these roles have been outsourced to other countries over the years, and with the high number of IT workers on LinkedIn, I'm guessing this has something to do with it.  I've seen this with many I've worked with.  They have little trust in the company leadership because they either hear nothing about job cuts or they hear "don't worry", only to watch their friends get laid off soon afterward.  Just a guess...

The last charts show the results by gender and age.  Men and women are nearly identical in their responses, with women giving slightly more positive ratings.

When it comes to age, the 55+ crowd has the least trust in their leadership, though the total number of votes is low.  Sort of like the engineer or product person above, this group has seen and heard much to lead to a lack of trust.  I am a bit surprised (pleasantly) by the two youngest groups.  Their numbers are nearly identical, and overall, positive.

We have along way to go in this country and the rest of the world when it comes to leadership, both in business and government.  Leadership is a fundamental that doesn't really change with time.  Sure, there are few new things that leaders need to be up to speed on.  Technology and the global economy are two, but the rest is no different than thousands of years ago.  People, and they way you deal with, them hasn't changed much. 

I see great promise in the younger crowd coming out of college. When I hear some complain about the younger generation, I tell them they are either looking in the wrong place or they came across someone in that small percentage that is part of every group.  There are some fantastic young people that I know will have a huge impact on the world.  I can't wait to see what they do!