The widening gap between low trust and high expectations becomes the rule when it comes to business and political leaders around the world – this is one of the conclusions of the communication study Ketchum Leadership Communication Monitor (KLCM) 2016, which was conducted for the fifth time by Ketchum, one of the world’s leading PR agencies.
The study was conducted on a sample of over three thousand respondents in 10 countries, who were asked to answer more effective leadership, communication and connection between the two concepts. According to KLCM study, only 23% of respondents believe that the leaders are effective, and even more devastating result is that only 13% of them believe that leaders take the necessary responsibility. Staggering 65% of respondents on the other hand say they would buy less, or would completely stop buying certain products, because of the misconduct of company leaders.
The situation with the politicians is even worse: 63% of respondents claimed that politicians do not meet their expectations, and only 7% believe that politicians take responsibility for failures. Things, it seems, will not get better in the future: only 12% of respondents anticipate progress regarding the adequacy and effectiveness of political activities, and more than half of respondents (51%) expect the situation to get even worse. As the root of this deep global crisis of confidence in political leaders the study notes the perception that the important things are dealt with through wrong actions. In the three areas that are of major importance for the respondents (fight against corruption, national economy and education) there is a large gap between the importance of the problem and the effectiveness of political leaders in solving these problems.
KLCM study this year, like the last, concludes that women stand out in comparison to men when it comes to the three key characteristics of leaders – giving a personal example, open and transparent communication and recognition of errors, but the majority of respondents (61%) still believe that men are the ones who will lead us more successfully in the next five years.
“Ketchum research brings us another interesting set of data related to the communication channels that have the greatest impact on creating the perception about leaders. The first place (with 56%) is shared by public appearances, live interviews, official statements and press releases, followed by TV interviews (53%), corporate websites (51%) and official reports (43%). the last two places share advertising on television (25%) and advertising in the press (14%), while the appearance of leaders on social networks according to this study has no effect on their reputation. I believe that it’s only a matter of time when this segment will also have a significant role in creating the perception of a leader,” said Marina Čulić Fischer, director of Ketchum’s exclusive representative in Croatia, agency DIALOG Komunikacije.
