Old article but definitely worth posting! Hopes this helps you if you are in need of improving your performance at work.
One of the most important qualities to achieving success in your career is credibility. This is a quality that can take years worth of thoughtful actions to establish and yet can be seriously undermined by a single bad move.
To gain a reputation for personal creditability, integrity is unquestionably a key requirement. To achieve credibility in the business world, you must also deliver. What you deliver and the quality of what you deliver is very important to building your personal credibility.
It is your ability to perform that establishes professional credibility. Being responsible, being a person who can be counted on to get the job done, doing the job well, doing quality work, and doing it on a timely basis will build your credibility.
Keeping your promises is critical to building your credibility. One of the quickest ways to destroy your credibility is to say one thing and do another. Making commitments and not following through them or making promises and not delivering on them are the quickest ways to lose credibility and this can have devastating effects on a business.
For example, an owner or a manager who has lost his or her reputation for credibility among his or her staff will devastate the morale and productivity of the office. An owner or a manager is only as good as his or her credibility or the perception people have of him or her. If you don't have any credibility in your organization, you won't get a whole lot done.
Building your credibility is an evolving process. It's not something you can do overnight. Credibility is something you build gradually over time by having integrity, high ethical standards and doing the right things for your organization and it's customers.
Here are ten ways you can build your credibility:
1. Be yourself. To be credible, you don't have to appear perfect. You should concentrate on and play to your strengths. You want to show what you have to offer, how or why you can be valuable to the organization. It's true that you want to put your best foot forward and present things in a positive light, but you need to be honest, human and not present a plastic image.
2. Act the part. You have to look the part and act the part of a person who has the organization's interests uppermost in his or her mind and is competent in the way you handle yourself and represent the organization. When you do this it automatically builds your credibility.
3. Listen carefully and follow instructions. One of the surest ways to lose credibility is to botch a job due to carelessness. When you are given an assignment, make sure you understand exactly what is expected of you and when it is due. Paraphrase what you are being told, to verify accuracy, and write down the information you are being given, to avoid confusion.
4. Be knowledgeable. At the heart of credibility is being a professional and knowing what you're doing. You must be able to do the job. You can't fake it. When you don't know something, you have to figure out a tactful way of saying, "I don't know that particular computer program. Someone will have to show me the software."
5. Network. There is an old saying along the lines that it doesn't matter if you don't have all the answers, as long as you know the person who does. Having an extensive network of contacts, both in your field and in unrelated fields, is important no matter what profession you're in.
6. Be a problem solver. You will gain credibility by having the reputation of someone who doesn't throw up his or her hands at the sight of difficulty. If you cultivate the attitude that you can conquer any problem, you will cultivate the image of a doer, of a credible and reliable individual.
7. Keep an open mind. Narrow-mindedness will quickly cause you to lose the respect of other people. You need to keep an open mind toward all people. You must also keep an open mind to new opportunities, skills and ways of doing things. That will make you a more flexible and adaptable employee and, in turn, more respected and valued. The more things you are able to do well and the more people you are on friendly terms with, the more esteemed you will be among your colleagues and superiors.
8. Cultivate self-awareness and set goals. Having goals gives your every action a sense of purpose. It conveys to people a feeling that you are someone who is going somewhere, someone not to be ignored, someone with credibility. However, to set clear and specific goals, you must first have self-awareness. You must first determine what is important to you.
9. Speak like a professional. Nothing will cause you to lose credibility faster than speech patterns that are unprofessional, or even worse, unintelligible. Ask your coworkers and colleagues if you use slang? Do you enunciate clearly? Do you speak organized thoughts and full sentences or do your thoughts jump around and your sentences trail off?
10. Look life a professional. Personal grooming plays an important role in shaping your office image. If your appearance is not professional, others will believe that you are sloppy and inept in your work as well. You will be perceived as being credible if you dress in a manner that is standard in your profession and that commands respect.
Every action or inaction contributes to your professional image, whether it's returning telephone calls promptly or implementing a program that will save your company thousands of dollars. Because of this, no detail is too small. The little things are important because they build your credibility. If you don't pay attention to the little things, your credibility is lost.
Copyright©2007 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and success coaching programs [http://www.jlmandassociates.com/coaching.html]. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in career coach training [http://www.jlmandassociates.com/coaching.html]. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many businesses around the world, on the subjects of leadership, achievement, goals, strategic business planning, and marketing. Joe is the author of three books, Starting Your Own Business, Finding Your Purpose In Life, and The Guerrilla Marketing Workbook.
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