AI-generated summary
The recovery of trust requires the active involvement of all stakeholders and a systematic approach to addressing citizens’ primary concerns. For trust to reach optimal levels essential for societal function, organizations—both public and private—must focus on pressing issues such as the pandemic, unemployment, social inequalities, poverty, corruption, public health, crime, and violence. Without concrete actions to tackle these challenges, regaining public trust remains unlikely.
Experts from the Future Trends Forum recommend that gaining citizens’ trust hinges on authenticity, service delivery, and transparency, supported by four core pillars: integrity, skill, compliance, and purpose. The purpose must align with the triple bottom line—economic viability, social sustainability through inclusive support policies, and environmental sustainability by promoting clean energy and reducing pollution. In the digital era, technologies deployed must respect user privacy, meet or exceed expectations, and be free from bias, governed by ethical standards.
Additional expert suggestions include incorporating a trust index as a key performance indicator, fostering sector-wide platforms for transparency, and incentivizing stakeholders who contribute ideas that enhance trust. These comprehensive measures aim to rebuild and sustain trust crucial for the well-being and proper operation of society.
Presentation of the recommendations of the experts of the Future Trends Form to regain confidence in the future.
Trust needs recovery and the active involvement of all the actors involved in it. If we want there to be optimal levels of trust in the future for the proper functioning of society, it is necessary to systematically address the greatest concerns of citizens. If organizations do not take steps to resolve these concerns, trust can hardly be regained.
Thus, the pandemic, unemployment, social inequalities and poverty, corruption, public health and crime and violence must be the focus of attention of all public and private institutions that want the population to trust them, each to the extent of its possibilities.
As general conclusions, the recommendations of the experts of the Future Trends Forum are:
Gaining citizens’ trust
In order to gain citizens’ trust, the most important is:
- Authenticity
- Rendering the service and
- Transparency
Four pillars of action
For this, the support of these four pillars is necessary:
- Integrity
- Skill
- Compliance
- Purpose
The purpose must be definitely geared towards the triple bottom line: It must not only be economically sustainable, it must seek:
- Social sustainability, with inclusion and support policies for underprivileged groups and sectors.
- Environmental sustainability, driving forward clean energies, minimizing pollution through their own processes, and supporting initiatives to curb climate change.
Technology
Because we live in a digital age, we must ensure that the technologies we roll out:
- Respect user privacy.
- Meet or exceed their expectations.
- Are free from bias and governed by widely agreed and recognized ethical rules.
Other recommendations for trust in the future
Other recommendations from our experts point to:
- Include the trust index as a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) of the organization.
- Create or participate in sectoral or intersectoral platforms that promote transparency.
- Create an incentive program for stakeholders who contribute ideas to increase trust.