Building Trust Through Storytelling: Lessons for Public Sector Communication

There’s an old Dutch saying: trust comes on foot but leaves on horseback. Right now, that horse is bolting.

Recent data shows why. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer reports failing trust in institutions around the world, with governments among the hardest hit. In 2024, the UK ranked near the bottom of 28 countries surveyed. While trust has nudged up slightly, from 39% to 43%, it remains in the “distrust zone.”

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data paints a similar picture, with just 27% trusting national government and 34% trusting local government.

It’s hardly surprising. Over the past 15 years, crises have piled up, from the 2008 financial crash, the Partygate scandal, the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of fake news and now AI. Public confidence in government organisations has taken a hit.

With services under rising pressure and ongoing political change driven by reform, central and local governments face a big challenge: how do we rebuild trust?

As Dutch politician Johan Rudolph Thorbecke observed when he coined that saying, trust takes time to build but can be lost quickly. Organisations that embed trust into their strategy, through clear communication and ethical practices, are the ones best placed to weather the next storm.

What is trust and why does it matter?

But before we rebuild trust, we need to understand it. Academics define trust as a decision to rely on someone despite risk, accepting vulnerability because we expect competence, good intent, and fairness. Research shows it rests on three pillars:

• Ability: having the skills to deliver
• Benevolence: showing genuine concern for the people you serve
• Integrity: acting honestly and fairly

How storytelling builds trust

Storytelling is more than entertainment. Psychologist Dan Willingham calls stories “psychologically privileged” because they make information more memorable, relatable, and easier to understand, particularly useful when applied in the often complex public sector. Neuroscientist Paul J. Zak adds that listening to compelling stories releases oxytocin, a hormone linked to trust, influencing attitudes and behaviours.

Public sector communications expert Ian Adams MBE points out that declining public trust isn’t about institutions necessarily being inherently untrustworthy, but about their failure to show trustworthiness consistently, especially in a crisis. Leaders rebuild trust by demonstrating they can be trusted, and, as communications professionals, we can help by using storytelling to make that trust visible.

As traditional media declines, we must make the most of our social and digital platforms, where we now all spend most of our time. Sharing authentic stories and encouraging two-way dialogue makes complex policies more relatable and memorable, building trust far more effectively than traditional communications alone.

Storytelling in the corporate world

Once dismissed as “trashy”, storytelling is now firmly in vogue in the corporate world. Nike calls senior executives ‘corporate storytellers’, and John Lewis uses emotionally driven Christmas ads. Launched in 2007, under the-then managing director Andy Street, the brief was simple: “tell the story of trust”. By reinforcing the store’s values, the ads have built long-term trust, encouraging customers to choose John Lewis, and often paying for themselves many times over.

Last year’s Edelman report shows that trust in brands soared so could storytelling be their secret weapon?

If you’re still unsure of the power of storytelling, take the Theranos scandal. How did Elizabeth Holmes convince the world’s leading investors to pour billions into her blood-testing startup with no proven technology? With a compelling story. Every detail, from the young Stanford dropout promising to revolutionise healthcare, to her Steve Jobs’-style black turtleneck was crafted to inspire trust.

The technology may have been worth nothing, but storytelling expert Will Storr argues that her story was worth $9 billion, convincing investors to put their faith – and money – into her without any due proper diligence.

Research cited in the book, Lead With A Story shows only 30% of strangers are viewed as trustworthy, rising to 70% for people we’re familiar with, showing how familiarity breeds trust.

With Local Government Reorganisation replacing many familiar councils with single unitary authorities by April 2028, public services will change significantly. Storytelling can convey the reform’s aims, including reducing duplication, improving service delivery, and ensuring long-term financial sustainability, while humanising new authorities. Authentic staff narratives, such as “a little about me” stories, show continuity and commitment, helping maintain public trust.

Torbay Council’s Torbay Story illustrates this. Developed with journalist Jim Parker, it showcased Torbay as a great place to live, work, visit, and invest, bringing stakeholders together and securing multi-million-pound regeneration funding. The council’s role in shaping the story demonstrated the three pillars of trust in action.

From story seeds to powerful narratives

The Local Government Association notes how an effective corporate narrative clarifies values, impact and future vision. Stories need not be complex. Organisational storytelling expert Paul Smith advocates a simple structure: context, action and result. He stresses the importance of obstacles, as setbacks help stories to reflect real life. Antenarratives are what storytelling scholar Dr David Boje calls early, informal tales or “story seeds,” which emerge in conversations with staff, residents, and partners. Listening at this stage allows organisations to craft narratives that reflect real concerns and show competence, care, and transparency.

PR theorist Michael Kent identifies 20 ‘master plots’ that organisations can use to explain change. Two stand out for public sector reform. Quest, showing it as a journey to sustain services under pressure, and Transformation, illustrating how organisations evolve to work more resiliently.

Stories and persuasion

Much of our work in the public sector involves driving behaviour change, and research shows that narrative messages persuade better than plain facts.

The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle’s three pillars of persuasion — ethos, logos and pathos — still underpin effective communication. Strong storytelling can combine all three.

Take childhood vaccination. As rates fall and outbreaks increase pressure on services, messages are more persuasive when delivered by trusted health professionals (ethos), supported by evidence on safety (logos), and grounded in real-world consequences (pathos), rather than relying on facts alone.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model shows that persuasion works either through careful, logical consideration (the central route) or through emotional cues and quick mental shortcuts (the peripheral route). Effective storytelling can operate across both. In today’s fast-paced world, audiences are more likely to rely on shortcuts. Academic Richard Perloff argues the peripheral route is a “persuader’s paradise”, as the speaker – in our case – the storyteller, can play a central role in shaping a message’s persuasive impact, showing that who tells the story can matter as much as the story itself.

It’s little wonder that UK Cabinet Office’s New Media Unit has been recruiting top digital influencers to reach audiences, especially those who don’t traditionally engage with government.

Listen before leading with a story

Storytelling alone won’t win trust though. People believe stories only when actions back them up. The Institute of Business Ethics’ four-step model: respond quickly, diagnose the cause, implement reforms and track progress, applies not just after a crisis, but also to sustaining trust long-term.

After the Windrush scandal, government outreach through community leaders showed how proactive engagement can begin rebuilding trust, even in deeply damaged relationships.

Robust external listening is essential. James E. Grunig’s Excellence Theory shows that effective communication goes beyond persuasion: organisations should listen, respond to audience needs, and make decisions that work for everyone. Torbay Council applied this by first consulting residents and local businesses to understand local priorities.

Wigan Council took a similar approach with The Deal. Facing austerity, the council redesigned services around an innovative social contract, giving residents more control over health, wellbeing, and local services, building trust and creating a genuine two-way relationship.

Staff and service-user stories highlighted the Deal’s impact, while the council also drew on Robert Cialdini’s Seven Principles of Persuasion, including reciprocity, commitment and consistency, and unity, to encourage participation and shared responsibility.

Narrative framing is also a powerful PR tool in “re-defining the situation” and shaping perception. During the 2012 Olympics, Transport for London (TfL) staff were unable to take leave, a situation that risked lowering morale. In a PR Academy podcast, communications consultant Simon Monger explained how he reframed it as a “Making History Happen” story, showing employees that they were helping athletes reach venues.  By highlighting their role in a bigger purpose, staff felt valued, united, and part of something greater.

The same approach can help the public understand change, such as Local Government Reorganisation, by showing the bigger purpose, as demonstrated by the Wigan Deal.

Storytelling and trust in action

To conclude, effective storytelling builds trust, but only when paired with listening and actions that match words.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report argues that trust should be embedded into every organisation’s DNA. It also highlights the importance of the “tone from the top”: leaders set the standard, and the organisation follows. The CIPD report Where Has All the Trust Gone? urges public sector leaders to be more personal, relational, and accessible, particularly when redesigning services under budget pressures.

Communications teams play a key role in rebuilding trust. By coaching leaders in authentic storytelling techniques and creating ‘story banks’ that showcase values, vision, and the three drivers of trust — ability, benevolence, and integrity — teams can turn words into action. Sharing these stories with communities demonstrates competence and care, strengthens relationships, and can help sustain public trust even amid budget pressures, widening inequality, and organisational change.

By applying what science shows and what business is already putting into practice, we can regain control of the runaway horse.

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Emma Pietras’ perspective on studying for the CIPR Professional PR Diploma 

Emma prepared this article for a CIPR Professional Diploma assignment while studying with PR Academy.

What do you see as the key benefits of studying the CIPR Professional PR Diploma?

Studying for the Professional PR Diploma has had a significant impact on the direction of my career. One of the biggest benefits for me was that it supported my move from journalism into communications.

Although I had extensive experience as a journalist, I hadn’t undertaken any formal PR training or practical PR experience. The diploma helped me “talk the talk”, as Ann put it, and better understand how my existing skills could transfer into a PR and strategic communications setting. In fact, before I had even started my first assignment, I was offered a role in strategic communications.

The course has strengthened my understanding of PR strategy, planning and evaluation, and introduced me to key models and theories I wouldn’t otherwise have known about.

Most importantly, it has given me greater confidence in my current role – both in speaking up and advising senior leaders, and in successfully pursuing more senior opportunities.

What has been your favourite part of the course so far?

By far my favourite part of the course so far has been my Unit 2 assignment. Although I had never written a thought leadership article before, it gave me the opportunity to return to long-form writing, something I really enjoy and that was central to my previous roles as a Features Writer for national newspapers.

I chose to focus on storytelling because it’s something I’m passionate about, and I wanted to encourage other practitioners to consider embedding it as a tactical method within their wider communications strategy.

Studying for this course has highlighted how much I enjoy the research phase of assignments and the value of slowing down to critically assess my instincts. Coming from a journalistic background, I’m used to making rapid decisions, but the course has helped me become more reflective and strategic in my thinking.

Have you been able to apply any of the learning, and if so, how?

Yes, I’ve been able to apply much of what I’ve learned in my day-to-day role. I now regularly use planning models such as OASIS, as well as SWOT, PESTLE, and other frameworks for strategic analysis to support my work.

While I already recognised the value of storytelling, applying academic theory, analysing examples, and reviewing scientific evidence as part of the Unit 2 assignment has strengthened my confidence in advocating for storytelling within a strategic communications approach and helped me make a stronger case for its use.

I’ve also made use of the tutorials on offer and applied this learning to an ongoing communications campaign I am leading as part of a large change project.

Going forward, I’m particularly looking forward to deepening my understanding of measurement and evaluation frameworks in my Unit 3 assignment. Working in local government, it’s vital that we take a strategic, evidence-based approach to ensure public money is spent wisely and resources are directed to where they are most needed.

About the CIPR Professional PR Diploma 

The PR Diploma is a Master’s level qualification for more experienced practitioners who are looking to underpin what they do with theory and contemporary models.  Topics include PR strategy and planning, content management, media and engagement, measurement and evaluation, and PR leadership and process improvement. 

You have two years to complete it but with PR Academy you set your own study pace and many students finish in about ten months. 

Read our Complete Guide to CIPR Qualifications