What do the recent John Terry and Toyota stories have in common? Both are about a breach of trust.
The association between John Terry and Toyota is not an obvious one. But given the difficulties the Chelsea footballer and the giant carmaker have had to face recently, I feel there is an issue that links them: trust.
John Terry’s sacking as England captain has stirred a debate about whether his conduct outside of work has any relevance to his performance in the role. Meanwhile, Toyota’s reluctance to act when defects were found in their cars left its reputation badly dented.
At the heart of both these stories are issues of trust. Trust is an important factor in any relationship. Feelings of trust in another person (or organisation) make life more predictable; we feel confident that we know how they will behave in the future. We all have expectations of our friends, colleagues, leaders and organisations. And we become most aware of them when they have not been met or where they have been breached.
Footballers having affairs may not be that uncommon. But this affair was different - it was with the partner of Wayne Bridge, his best friend. Bridge is both an ex- and current team mate – his club may have changed but he remains an England player. While most of each player’s team mates have expressed support for their man, fellow England players have remained silent - a sure sign that their loyalties are divided.
Toyota had built a reputation based on reliability, excellence, customer service and value. The slowness of leaders in Toyota to admit failings in its products has rapidly undermined the motor manufacturer’s carefully crafted reputation. There will be a number of reasons why this happened, but a refusal to accept responsibility will be one of them. The perceived unwillingness on the part of Toyota’s leadership to acknowledge, apologise for, and then rectify the errors made a bad situation worse.
Leaders’ behaviour is often used as an indicator as to the general trustworthiness of an organisation. Having a captain whose values appear to be questionable and whose responsibilities to his teammates, when not on the pitch, were put to one side, meant that the bonds of trust in the team were loosened. Equally, having leaders who try to avoid owning up to mistakes will severely damage a brand’s reputation and consumer confidence.
Capello did the right thing by his team by replacing Terry as captain. He restores our faith in the organisation, but in so doing also puts greater pressure on himself: any indiscretion on his part will have greater consequences because he has implicitly asked us to believe not only that he will maintain team cohesiveness, but that he is also trustworthy himself. Assuming that responsibility and then living up to it is a sure sign of good, if not great, leadership. It is an example that Toyota would do well to follow.
