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VIDEO CONTENT:
Do you have credibility with the people you want to influence most?
Credibility is the quality of being believable or worthy of trust.
Edward R. Murrow said "To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible;
to be credible, we must be truthful."
Credibility is often the outcome of several factors and different things will make you credible to different people.
So here are some steps on credibility that I take my clients through when helping them become better influencers.
STEP 1: Make a list of your key stakeholders.
Focus on individuals versus groups
of individuals, or committees or teams. You can do this exercise for professional stakeholders like your boss, your boss' boss, your peers, your direct reports, etc. You can also do it for your personal stakeholders like family members, in-laws and friends.
Once you have your list of stakeholders, STEP 2 is to think of what gives you credibility with each stakeholder.
Identify which of the following factors make you credible with each stakeholder and which take away from your credibility. Here are the different factors to consider:
A. Credentials - this is essentially your "resume", including your education, qualifications, and relevant experiences. Credentials also include your skills and competencies.
Does your stakeholder perceive you as having the right skills to do what you're doing? You can strategically build your credentials to prepare you for opportunities. For example, when I wanted to start coaching, I knew that I was pretty young and inexperienced to have any credibility so one of the first things I did was get certified as a professional coach.
B.
Track Record -- this includes your past successes, results and accomplishments.
Remember that not everyone will be familiar with your track record, especially if you've recently met them or haven't worked with them before.
Leverage opportunities to make your wins more visible to your key stakeholders.
Whether it's a new boss or a prospective client, make sure you share your success stories.
C.
Authenticity/
Integrity -- this is about being genuine, honest, and transparency. It includes being congruent between what you say and what you do, taking accountability for mistakes, being responsible, and behaving ethically.
People will respond with more openness because they know what they can expect from you and know they can trust you.
D.
Listening/
Understanding -- this has to do with respecting others and hearing their perspectives, really listening to fully understand their needs, challenges and goals.
It's advantageous to adapt your behaviours and actions based on what you hear. A great way to do this is by asking questions.
E. Commonalities - this has to do with shared attributes or anything that connects you with the stakeholder in terms of values, goals, beliefs, interests, backgrounds, etc. For example, I make friends easily whenever
I go to alumni events because everyone there attended the same school and we have that in common.
F. Likeability -- this is about how much your stakeholder likes you. People are always more receptive to those they like and people always want to do business with those they like.
Now once you've considered which of these factors give you credibility or take away credibility for each of your stakeholders, STEP 3 is to rate the quality of your relationship with each stakeholder based on the following 10-point scale: 1 = low quality, low trust, low credibility, low influence and 10 = high quality, high trust, high credibility, high influence. Once you've done the ratings, it'll become obvious which relationships need a credibility boost.
Remember: The more quality relationships you can build, the more likely it is that you will have people who are willing (or at least open) to help you achieve your goals and the more likely it is that you will know the people who are sitting across the table from you when it matters most.
Credibility is earned so do the work and build your ability to influence by building credibility first!
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Credits:
Video Production:
Pearl Media Studios
Artwork:
Nara Nadesan
- published: 10 Jul 2013
- views: 6756