Establishing A Track Record For Truth
Posted by NovaAngel at December 25th, 2006
Tip 1: Find Commonalities.
People like people who are like them. And people believe and trust people they like. Try to discover attitudes, likes, dislikes, family backgrounds, experiences, personality virtues or quirks, careers, goals, or values that you have in common with others; then emphasize those commonalities. People reason that if you’re like them in some ways, you’re probably like them in other ways. Therefore, they begin to transfer trust as friend to friend.
Tip 2: Show Concern and Compassion.
People tend to trust people who show concern for them. When they bleed, they want to know others bleed with them. Even companies have to show concern over self-interest in times of crisis. During the Pepsi needle syringe-tampering reports, you may recall the criticism some expressed in the company’s handling of that crisis. When the public asked about the possibility of recalls, Pepsi officials embraced logic: the cans were bottled at different plants in different parts of the country; there was no logical patterns for the alleged tampering incidents. No recalls: logical decisions. But Pepsi received criticism not for what they said, but for what they didn’t say. The absence of what some believed to be concern about public safety. The same is true on an individual level. People have to feel your concern before they hear your words.
Tip 3: Demonstrate Cooperation with Good Intentions.
To be credible, you must demonstrate that you are acting in good faith to the best of your knowledge and ability. People must believe that you want to cooperate to help them achieve their personal and career goals. People will forgive you for poor judgment, but rarely for poor intentions.
Tip 4: Be Consistent.
We communicate by actions as well as words. We communicate by what we say and what we don’t say; by which policies we enforce and which policies we don’t enforce; by what we allow work time for and what we don’t allow work time for; by what we fund and what we don’t fund; by behavior we reward and behavior we punish; by what we do and what we criticize others for doing; by what we ask for and what we’re willing to give in return. To be credible, our words have to match our policies, performance, and plans.
Tip 5: Demonstrate Competence.
People flock to experts, star performers, wise decision makers, and winners. People don’t intentionally invest their money in poorly performing stock; neither do they want to invest trust in people they doubt can achieve what they claim. To be led, either by words or actions, followers need to have faith in your competence to perform. They want to know you can win the game. They want to know you can finish the project successfully. They want to know you can turn the company around.
So how do leaders inspire confidence in their abilities while seeming modest and likable as people? They as leaders have to acknowledge accomplishments but avoid arrogance. Difficult, but not impossible. How? The attitude behind the talk turns the tables.
Tip 6: Be Correct.
Few people set out to be incorrect; it’s just that when they have missing information, they make assumptions or reason wrongly. Instead of informing, they misinform unintentionally. Whether or not people routinely ask for the source of your information or conclusions, be ready to provide it. If they ask for sources, rather than be offended, welcome such testing questions as credibility checkers.
Why would people want sources for relatively insignificant information? Because we test validity on all important matters by considering the source. How do we test the source of important information? By checking the credibility of all information coming from that same source. Credibility is circular. Credibility in the insignificant breeds credibility for the significant. Once you’re caught in an error, credibility creeps back ever so slowly.
Tip 7: Be Complete.
Are you telling all you know? Recognize the difference between lies, half-truths, omissions, and cover-ups. True, but incomplete, statements can lead to false conclusions; literal truths, when offered without complete explanations, can lead to literal lies. Knowing smiles accompanied by long silences can elicit wrong conclusions. Lying happens in numerous ways. Intentions stand center stage here. Ultimately, questionable intentions cast doubt about character.
Tip 8: Be Current.
Give up outdated data, opinions, and stereotypes. With information overload, data more than two or three years old can’t support your decisions. Correct, but outdated, statistics soon become incorrect. Recollect.
Tip 9: Be Clear.
Sometimes the better we understand something the worse job we do of explaining it; our familiarity makes us careless in describing it. It’s difficult to remember when we didn’t know something that has become second nature. Ambiguity creeps in when we least expect it. Meaning depends on context, tone, timing, personal experience, and reference points.
Back in the days when copier equipment was said to “burn copies,” an Army colonel hand-carried an important document to his new assistant and asked her to burn a copy. When the paper did not resurface on his desk in a few days, he discovered that the assistant had recently transferred from a high-security division. She had had the document incinerated. Are you clear? Are you sure? The best test of clarity is the result you see.
Tip 10: Avoid Exaggeration.
Was the score 50 to zip or 30 to 10? Did you have to wait half an hour or half a minute? Did the caller slam down the phone or hesitate to talk? Did the supplier raise the prices on your raw materials 10 percent or 2 percent? Exaggeration makes great humor but destroys credibility.
Tip 11: Evaluate Criticism and Objections.
If you reject or refute criticisms and objections out of hand, without hearing them out and giving yourself time to consider them fully, you lose credibility. People identify you as a reactor rather than a reflective, credible thinker. The more thorough your consideration of contradictory information the more credible your final opinion or decision.
Tip 12: Keep Confidences.
When people know you share personal, confidential matters about others with them, they’ll fear you’ll do the same thing where they’re concerned. Keeping confidences when “nobody would know you told” speaks volumes about character. Those who observe your discretion in deciding to keep quiet about hurtful or personal information involving others bridge to other favorable conclusions about your credibility in times of stress.
Tip 13: Avoid Lying “Offstage.”
When you lie to a third person in front of a second person and that second person knows you’re lying—for whatever reason—you lose credibility with the second person. Once observers have recognized your willingness to lie to others, they will doubt your truth-telling to them in a tight spot.
Tip 14: Be Sincere and Genuine.
Sincerity is easy to fake and hard to make. That is, people who pretend to be sincere can pitch an earnest plea, look at you with pleading eyes and straight face, and promise plums that dance in your head. But genuineness comes from character and is therefore harder to make. You either are or you aren’t. What you experience is what you share. What you value is what you give. What you say is what you believe.
Tip 15: Make Your Appearance Work for You.
Picture yourself lying on the operating table in a hospital emergency room. A guy in sweats and Nikes jogs toward your bedside and says, “I’m Kelly, the brain surgeon. I’ll be ready to operate in a moment. Just let me give you this shot first.” Would you have a few second thoughts? Appearance counts. Physical appearance, dress, grooming, posture, presence, and poise either underscore credibility or damage it. Look at the part you want to play so others will believe and applaud your lines.
