Dame Carolyn McCall, chief executive of ITV, chose to talk about trust in business for this year’s Helen Alexander Memorial Lecture – a “Women on Business” initiative supported by the CBI, the Economist, Informa and the University of Southampton.
Here are some of her key points – and her experiences that bring them to life:
“Trust has to start with purpose”
McCall talked about the importance of an authentic purpose, that informs how companies behave with their people and customers, and how staff understand decisions that are made.
At ITV, for example, she highlighted the creation of the company’s first Social Purpose strategy. “We asked ourselves how we could use the power of our creativity and scale to create positive change in society and within ITV.”
The decision was taken to focus on making conversations about mental health and wellbeing as comfortable and common as those about physical wellbeing. It’s led to ITV signing up to the Time to Change employer pledge (designed to change how we all think and act around mental health) and on-screen initiatives such as Good Morning Britain’s One Million Minutes campaign, aimed at tackling loneliness.
“Bringing together and amplifying our social purpose both on screen and off, is all about doing the right thing for the long term, being proud of how we do that and building trust within ITV and with our consumers.”
“It’s action that really creates trust”
At easyJet, McCall lived the adage that trust can be lost in a few short weeks and takes a long time to build.
“A series of short-term decisions made to save money had actually cost the airline a great deal more in the long run,” she explained. “Trust was rebuilt by engaging with staff and putting the customer at the core of everything.”
She continued: “Over a period of time we took clear, consistent actions to show that what we were saying about our purpose and values was authentic.
“The priority was to build a resilient operation – that meant employing more pilots and cabin crew and having more aircraft spare in case of disruption. That improved punctuality over time for passengers and created more stable rosters for crew.
“We then moved to address the biggest bugbears for crew and passengers.”
That included putting pilots on permanent contracts; changing attitudes around passengers as customers; introducing allocated seating; getting rid of “gotcha” fees and charges; creating a Special Assistance Advisory Group; improving relationships with suppliers and partners; and an initiative to increase the number of female pilots.
“Revenue and profit growth followed all these changes as did entry into the FTSE 100, demonstrating that you can run a business in a very tough sector and create trust with your stakeholders,” said McCall.
Diversity and inclusion is at the heart of everything
Organisations need to reflect their customers and to create a culture that cares for the people in it, said McCall. She added that trust comes from actively listening to everyone, and involving them in solving your business problems.
In her current role, she has recognised how diversity and inclusion is critical to ITV staff – and how the media company has an important role in shaping this for viewers.
“Importantly, instead of simply being focused on the diversity stats, I want to really get to understand how it feels to work here if you are from a BAME background, or have a disability or you’re a junior female executive or gay.”
The company has set up a Diversity and Inclusion Council, which McCall will chair herself, which is designed to encourage people from all levels in ITV to come to and speak up.
“Collaboration and partnerships depend on trust”
McCall ended with a call for businesses to work together on critical issues affecting society – as in doing so, they stand a much greater chance of success. That will build trust in business, but trust has to be at the root of it too, she explained.
And focusing on some of the characteristics possessed by Helen Alexander – decency, unflappability, integrity, a brilliant networker and listener, open and direct – she highlighted the importance of strong leadership to achieve both collaboration and trust.
“If we are to increase trust in business, we need more people like Helen in business.”