The End of Expertise and How Associations Must Adapt

“Trust in companies from global companies is in decline, worry over societal threats and establishment leaders misleading us is growing, while peers are as trusted as scientists for information on new innovations.”  – 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer

A couple of weeks ago, I facilitated a discussion through UST Education about trust and associations with Melanie Gottlieb, CEO of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) and Tara Puckey, Executive Director of the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA). Higher education and the media have been hard hit with trust issues. Americans today question the value of a college degree and mistrust the so-called “ivory tower” experts. They also distrust the media, calling bias and questioning facts. Here are a few statistics that we shared:

• 27% of Americans say they have not too much or no confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interest (Pew Research)
• 39% of Americans, a record-high, say they don’t trust the media at all. (Gallup)
• 50% of Americans under age 30 have some or a lot of trust in the information they get from social media, just under the 56% who say the same about news outlets. (Pew Research)

Here are some of the discussion points from the webinar, which was really more of a discussion. These insights came from Melanie and Tara, along with the nearly 100 people who attended and lit up the chat:

From Melanie: How declining trust is affecting higher education

• 2023 Gallup data shows that public trust in higher education has dropped 20 points over the last 8 years to a historic low of only 36% having confidence in higher education. This translates into the negative national narrative that college isn’t worth it. At a time when higher education is facing public funding cuts, changing demographics and a challenging student debt environment, institutions are facing an uphill battle to sustain enrollments and stay relevant. 

From Tara: How declining trust is affecting the media

• Declining trust is something that isn’t new within the journalism landscape; we’ve been dealing with it for decades. Unfortunately, it continues to rise, spreading from national news down to the local level at an alarming rate. The addition of AI and other technologies to rapidly deploy misinformation and disinformation creates a new layer of complexity that newsrooms around the country are grappling with. The good news is that smart people are working to identify ways that newsrooms and individual journalists can stem the decline and build trust within their communities. 

How is declining trust affecting your industry or profession?

• Many attendees expressed surprise over the trust statistics that we shared.
• Many association execs expressed the belief that declining trust is affecting their industry, including execs from higher education, medicine, public health, foreign affairs, media, real estate, government, technology, science, veterinary medicine, and libraries.
• A few execs said their industries are not affected, including tourism and agriculture.
• Members report having to work doubly and triply hard to shore up their credibility.

How is declining trust affecting your association?

• Declining trust is leading members to leave the profession.
• Members are increasingly distrustful of government and jaded about advocacy, leading to less engagement in advocacy and government affairs.
• Members are turning to their associations to help them shore up their credibility and address increasing public distrust of their industry or profession.
• Members are asking for resources they can use to bring people together and enhance trust within their communities.
• One association said their communications strategy has evolved to include: government relations, public relations, and consumer relations.
• Meetings and events are becoming increasingly politicized, with arguments over location of conferences, and the politics of keynote speakers.
• Declining trust and polarization is affecting national organizations’ ability to partner with their chapters.
• When a keynote speaker at an event leans one way politically, associations are more mindful of having another speaker who leans in the other direction.
• Social media and sound byte journalism is making it harder for associations to share balanced research, facts, and perspectives

What are associations doing/should be doing to shore up trust in their industries?

• Execs agreed on the importance of educating members about trust issues in their field.
• Some associations are partnering with peer organizations to push out messages and expand their reach. 
• Some execs recommended more explicit communications about their professional code of conduct guidelines or code of ethics to increase public trust of their members.
• Organizations are having to remind members that discourse should always be civil and open-minded. 
• Many execs say you always need to circle back to your mission.
• The American College Health Association (ACHA) has developed a trust toolkit for its members.
• The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) holds a three-day conference + ongoing training for members about advocacy and communicating the value of the profession, members and association to different audiences, called the STR Program.
• Some medical associations are developing patient resources that have been double- and triple-vetted and that members can share with patients, building up the members’ credibility and authority.
• Some associations are doing more public education and public outreach, eliminating the jargon and focusing on the WHY.
• One exec expressed interest in resources to share with our members to teach them how to have conversations about controversial topics.
• Many execs reinforced the idea that communications should be clear and transparent.
• Some associations are providing more training for Board members and other leaders to be effective spokespersons for their industries.

Are you having conversations within your association about declining trust, credibility and authority?

• Most associations said not yet, but after the webinar, they are planning to start discussions with their Boards and staff.
• One association conducts an annual brand tracker; trust in the association is one of the metrics.

The key takeaways from this discussion are:

1. Start conversations at the staff, leadership, and Board levels.
2. Consider: can you/should you offer tools and resources to help your members address trust issues with their stakeholders?
3. Educate your members to be discerning consumers of information: webinars, blog posts, podcasts.
4. Track trends in your industry.
5. Collaborate with other associations in your field.

More Resources

I had been thinking about trust and associations for some time now and I am so grateful to Melanie and Tara for jump-starting the conversation with me, and thrilled at the insightful comments from all of the attendees. Here are more resources as your organization embarks on your trust journey:

• 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer
• The Trust Project
• The Trust Project’s 8 Indicators
• Matrix Group’s guide to starting the conversation about trust with your Board and staff

If you’re interested in diving deeper into this topic and continuing the conversation with association peers, we have good news! UST Education has invited us to have another discussion on The End of Expertise and How Associations Must Adapt in 2024. The date is still TBD, but we’re aiming for early summer. Sign up for our newsletter to get all the details about the next event once we have it scheduled.