With so much research being produced in and around the area of organisational learning it can be hard to stay on top of what the new evidence is telling learning professionals. That’s why we look at latest research that you can use to develop your practice.
Now in its 17th year, the Edelman Trust Barometer tracks the levels of trust across government, business, 
media and non-governmental organisations (NGO's). This year, the barometer, which surveyed more than 33,000 adults across 28 countries, showed a big drop in trust.
The research shows trust in the media is at an all-time low in 17 countries, while trust levels in government dropped in 14 markets and is the least trusted institution in half of the 28 countries surveyed. The credibility of leaders is also is in peril: the credibility of CEO's dropped 12 points globally to an all-time low in every country covered by the research.
So how can this research help learning and development professionals? The answer: it helps make the case for developing more collaborative opportunities in learning.
Trust is at the heart of collaboration and without it collaboration won’t work which makes this research challenging for organisations. If colleagues do not trust their CEO's then organisations have a serious problem.
There is some good news in the research, however. Despite the fact there has been a drop in trust for CEO's, business is viewed as the only institution that can make a difference. Three out of four respondents agree a company can take actions to both increase profits and improve economic and social conditions in the 
community where it operates. Moreover, among those who are uncertain about whether the system is working for them, it is business that they trust most.
Interestingly, employees are trusted more than senior executives when it comes to information shared on a range of organisational issues including employee/customer relations, financial earnings, crisis management and industry issues.
This has implications for how organisations communicate with colleagues, what is said and how it is said. The research asked respondents what type of communication is more believable. As you can see, authentic and direct ways of communicating are seen as more trustworthy:
Spontaneous speaker (57%) vs rehearsed speaker (43%)
Blunt and outspoken (54%) vs diplomatic and polite (46%)
Personal experience (51%) vs data (49%)
The researchers conclude that employees want to be talked ‘with’, not ‘at’. This will be a big challenge for organisations that are used to telling employees what they need to know and what they should learn. Employees find this approach less believable which means it will have to change.
The solution is to work collaboratively with employees to break down silos and hierarchies. This approach will help build trust within organisations.
Building a collaborative culture represents a huge opportunity for L&D professionals as they are very well placed to build collaboration into learning experiences. This research suggests that employees already trust each other more than their senior executives. Surely this is an invitation for L&D to start to create opportunities to collaborate from the bottom up?
Previous research round-ups and related articles:
2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends
Transforming Formal Learning summarising the Towards Maturity report, which can be accessed in full here.
Why classroom facilitators play a critical role in digital innovation by Towards Maturity.