Summary

During a rollout or rapid growth, the reflex is to tighten control. The real problem is unclear claims and weak proof. Move to enablement-led governance: define the claims, the evidence, and the exceptions. Then teams move quickly and stay credible. Conversion improves. Trust returns.

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Our Perspective

What this means for leaders navigating growth, change or transformation in their organisation.

The Trust Tension

Leaders often clamp down on messaging as risk rises, yet the bigger threat is drift: small, unchecked embellishments that erode confidence with customers, partners, and regulators. The credibility gap is already wide—Havas Media Group notes that 71% of people doubt brands will deliver on the promises they make, so the bar for evidence is higher than ever. The obvious lever looks like control versus speed. It isn’t. The real lever is clarity—clear truth, clear rules, and clear paths for exceptions—so teams can act decisively without overreaching.

Clarity, Not Control

Governance works when it behaves like an enablement system. Treat claims as reusable assets, not one-off lines in a slide. Each claim needs a source, metric, timeframe, and explicit usage notes. Sales, product, and legal then work from the same playbook and the burden on reviewers goes down, not up.

We often see that when claim ownership, proof, and usage notes are explicit, teams move faster and sound more consistent. This is how you get pace and integrity at the same time: make truthful claims easy to find, easy to use, and easy to escalate when something does not quite fit.

Build The Rails

What does “enablement” look like in practice? Think light, visible, and in the workflow. The aim is fewer surprises, richer proof, and shorter review cycles—so the truth becomes the path of least resistance.

• Shared claims library: searchable, with source, metric, timeframe, and “do/don’t/conditional” variants.
• Guardrails with an exception lane: who can say what, where, with a 24-hour path for edge cases and a public change log.
• In-flow prompts: require “outcome + source” before emails, decks, or proposals are sent.
• Simple coaching checklist: why → value → proof → next step; managers coach, not rewrite.

Risk Appetite Matters

Bold claims can energise a market; they can also overreach if proof lags. Calibrate the ambition of each claim to your risk appetite and verification depth, then tier them (green, amber, red) with different review cycles. This reduces friction for low-risk statements and concentrates attention where it matters. BCG observes that close to 30% of large listed companies suffered a sharp trust drop, and only about 2% recovered fully the following quarter—once trust wobbles, rebound is slow.

Leadership Signals

Leaders set the conditions for speed with integrity by what they privilege and what they measure. Make your choices visible.

• Prioritise three signature claims you’ll defend with superior proof.
• Pair legal and revenue early; agree evidence thresholds, not line edits.
• Track operational signals: time to approve a new claim and retraction rate.

As markets compress timelines and scrutiny intensifies, the organisations that productise claims governance will earn the benefit of the doubt at pace.

Sources:

• Study: 71% of consumers don't believe brands will deliver on promises — Havas Media Group
• The Long Road to Rebuilding Corporate Trust — BCG

Further Resources

1. Delivering a Unified Brand Promise Across Teams
2. Brand Voice Flexibility: Navigating Change Without Losing Clarity
3. Brand Consistency Beyond Content Guidelines

No two brand journeys are the same — connect with us if you’d like to test where your next step might lead. Let’s talk.

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