Making the building or restoration of public trust in one's company a board-level precept is in keeping with corporate governance mandates. But how do you measure the level of trust? There is not yet a consistent methodology for doing that, but a report produced by a coalition of associations from the related fields of public relations and public affairs offers some useful guidelines. Concepts for the report, Restoring Trust in Business, were drafted at a "summit" meeting of coalition leaders at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. Several members of the Public Affairs Council participated, along with Council President Doug Pinkham. Doug wrote most of the chapter headed Disclosure and Transparency.

Here from the report are six guidelines for measuring trust:

1. Define and identify the publics with which you have or want to have relationships.

2. Set specific, measurable goals and objectives.What did you (and do you) want a program or activity to accomplish?

3. Establish the criteria or benchmarks to which you want to compare results.

4. Select a measurement instrument and/or tool. Usually, a combination of different measurement techniques will be needed. Some of the tools to measure trust include surveys, focus groups, before and after polls, and qualitative and quantitative research techniques.

5. Analyze results, make recommendations and measure again. Help management understand that certain decisions may have an adverse affect on your publics.

6. Determine the value of trust for your organization. When trust helps build relationships with key constituencies, there is almost always a measurable benefit to the organization.