Trust makes a difference - Leverage trust for better practice outcomes

Self-reflection activity

This is an opportunity to take a closer look at the attributes of trust and compare how your views of trust align with those of your CA peers.

• Answer a short series of questions to reflect on what’s important to you when it comes to trust.
• With no right or wrong answers this is a chance to explore your relationship with trust as a CA professional, and spark curiosity to find out more about trust issues impacting CAs today and how they manage it.

Scenarios

Trust levels you have with others are continually influenced by decisions you make and actions you take (or don’t take). These scenarios are based on situations CAs are likely to face at one point or another in their careers in practice. Work through them to see the impact your decisions have on trust. They’re designed to be re-taken multiple times, so you can see the impact that good (and bad) decisions can have on trust.

• Build trust with a new client - Meet a new client and see how trust can be built from the very beginning.
• Maintain trust in the grey areas - See what happens after the trust has been established and you want to keep it… but it’s not always easy or straightforward.
• Restore trust after it’s been breached - Rebuild trust with clients when there’s been a breach. Can trust come back when things go wrong?
  
  

Podcasts

Listen to interviews with CAs talking about what they to do to earn and keep trust, how trust influences the way they work, external factors affecting trust today and how these will impact trust in the future. These podcasts are primarily focused on CAs in practice.

1. Earning and keeping trust of clients and colleagues - Trust is a critical component of successful relationships with clients and colleagues. Your actions show others if you’re worthy of their trust. Once earned it needs to be nurtured and maintained because trust is continually evolving.


2. Using technology effectively to build and keep trust (not erode it) - Digital communication is a large part of how we work. When used in conjunction with face to face conversations, trust levels can be maintained. But CAs also need to navigate new technologies (eg ‘the cloud’) and reassure clients that their personal information is secure.


3. How you rebuild trust when it’s lost - Losing trust isn’t a good feeling. But being honest about what happened is key to restoring that lost trust. Two CAs share their experiences where a client’s trust was lost, and the steps they took to remedy the situation.


4. Fees vs value – how to add value to your business while maintaining trust - CAs can offer more than transactional services. So, how do you get clients to trust you with more strategic decisions – and pay you for it? They need to trust that you’re in it for the right reasons.


5. Preparing for the unknown – how can CAs maintain trust in a constantly changing landscape? - The profession will continue to be impacted by external factors such as new technologies, incidents in related professional services and growing levels of skepticism. CAs offer their take on how to maintain trust in the future despite these factors, and where CAs can go for support.