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What emerged clearly from a workshop on business
trust held at Deloitte & Touche in Johannesburg and
co-ordinated by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Novo
Nordisk and the University of Cambridge during the
Summit in Johannesburg is that the need to build
trust between business, government and NGOs demands
new approaches in the way that both business and
government operate in order to address the challenge
of sustainable development effectively. The workshop
was well attended by delegates from the Summit,
business leaders, academics and representatives from
civil society groups, financial services and NGOs.
The lack of transparency, accountability and
inclusivity, as well as unequal power relations,
were seen as the main reason for the breakdown in
trust. In addition, the growing role and importance
of values was seen to be central to the debate of
building trust. Consistent and shared values need to
be established as a pre-condition to building trust
between partners. When personal, individual values
are negated by behaviour required by corporate
objectives, trust is undermined – both internally
and externally.
These factors combine with fear of the increasing
power of multinationals, the distrust created by
past experiences and the disappointments caused by
unfulfilled promises and agreements on all sides.
Ineffective and untruthful leadership combined with
overblown marketing programmes, which distort facts
in the interest of vested parties complete the
witches’ brew and we find ourselves in an
increasingly dysfunctional society incapable of
giving trust. Yet relationships of trust are
essential for people to work and live with others.
Solutions proposed by delegates first addressed the
most obvious responses: adopting a more accountable
business mode by providing more power-sharing,
greater openness, a heightened commitment to
integrity and especially inclusivity.
“Accountability is the essential basis for building
trust,” said Preben Sorensen, global partner for
environment and sustainability at Deloitte Touche
Tohmatsu, “it provides the foundation for needed
change.”
Moderator Tim O’Riordan, UK Commissioner for
Sustainable Development agreed, adding that the next
vital element was greater stakeholder participation
at all levels. “That requires due deliberation as a
vital ingredient in building trust and
understanding. Stakeholders must genuinely believe
that they can influence outcomes, that their views
are heard and opinions listened to and that
provision is made for their recommendations,” he
said.
Lise Kingo, executive vice president of Novo Nordisk
stressed the need for this positive interaction with
stakeholders. “Trust is gained by a willingness to
deal with dilemmas,” she said. “And there is a need
to redefine business models – just adding a bit of
social responsibility and environment concerns to
initiatives and strategies already in place is no
solution.”. With that, she introduced the concept of
a fundamental change in doing business, with a
greater emphasis placed on partnerships.
“Much time is required to build a dialogue and
understand different viewpoints,” she said. “The
challenge is learning how to talk and understand
different viewpoints,” she continued, adding that
trust is also reinforced when parties can accept
that they will not agree on all issues, but can
still find common ground to move forward.
Delegates then considered the opportunities now
available to those companies which by their actions
could show their accountability and thus their
trustworthiness not only to partners and other
stakeholders, but to the investor community and the
public at large. “The pressure from the capital
market to pursue shareholder value at all costs has
proved to be wrong,” pointed out O’Riordan. The
failure has to a certain extent paralysed the
investor community, but it provides unprecedented
opportunities for companies to show that an
accountable business makes a successful business.
Delegates agreed that a paradigm shift is needed.
The old models and structures are sterile. Business
needs to be assessed not only according to financial
criteria but on wider issues, such as its
contribution to wellbeing, livelihoods, environment,
social impact. Business itself needs to take action
against those organisations that operate without
conscience or scruple.
There was a level of consensus that what companies
should do might well be imposed by regulatory
frameworks but how companies should do this should
be left to the companies themselves to create
innovative approaches. Whilst some delegates called
for strict regulations of corporate reporting,
others felt that a voluntary approach allowed for
the necessary development and innovations.
Video highlights and salient points from the
discussions during the day will be made available at
the organisers' websites before end of September.
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