Credibility Is Granted, Not Claimed.

Photo Credit: Jamar Cromwell, Unsplash

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Credibility is in the eye of the beholder.

Over the past few months, I’ve invested a lot of time and energy into building new client relationships in Perth, as I’m planning to spend a lot more time there.

My guiding mantra for how I show up in these conversations is “Credibility is in the eye of the beholder”. 

I've spent almost 20 years earning trust with leaders in New Zealand. None of that history exists yet with someone I've just met in Perth. I have to think they don’t know my background at all. Instead, I assume that they’ll make their own call based on their experience with me in the room.

Credibility is granted, not claimed. In my experience, most leaders think credibility is something they build through competence and then simply have. But if it’s the other person who decides, the question becomes: what am I actually doing to earn it with this person, or this audience, right now?

Building credibility was the topic of a workshop I ran with 25 senior leaders in a government department last week. I asked them what they thought the qualities of ‘incredibly credible’ people were. Here’s some of what they came up with:

You can see that ‘competence’ was one of many. The others speak to two other themes: care and character.

Care: this is about human-to-human connection. It’s showing that you care about what they care about. When we meet someone new, a primal part of our brains is asking, “Is this person friend or foe?” Amy Cuddy and Susan Fiske's warmth-and-competence research found that people judge warmth before competence. Warmth often outweighs competence when it comes to how their judgement of a person lands.

Character: this is about showing who you are. Doing what you say you’ll do. Owning what you know and what you don’t. Making the courageous call. All of these are character traits that make you stand out.

Together, competence, care, and character are the fundamental ingredients of credibility. Show you know, show you care, and show who you are.

You need all three. Without demonstrating competence, you might be seen as authentic but useless. Without showing care, you might be amazing, but aloof. And without revealing your character, you’ll probably be deemed impressive but untrustworthy.

Back to my client meetings. My approach is to lead with care, followed by competence and character. I find that when I do that, it’s more likely to lead to another conversation, and then another. Which, of course, is what relationships are built on.

How do you show what you know, show that you care, and show who you are?