Four Steps to Conveying Your Credibility

Leslie DicksonPosted by Leslie Dickson on April 20th, 2010 | 0 Comments

What gives some people credibility while other people have trouble being taken seriously? Is it because one person has more credible ideas or is telling the truth while the other is somehow less expert or honest? Not at all.

Your credibility is decided upon by other peoples’ perceptions of you and what they observe about you. So, being heard and believed requires you to be sensitive to your communication habits that convey — or undermine — your credibility. Some of us don’t harness our credibility, or we may even “sabotage” it in ways we don’t know.

To convey to others the qualities that will build your credibility in their eyes, consider the following tips that have provided highly effective results for our clients.

  • Demonstrate openness. Perhaps the most important quality for integrity is the ability to appreciate the feelings and ideas of other people, while maintaining the integrity of your own. Listen with genuine interest to the people around you. Look at them. Keeping an open posture, relaxed manner and direct gaze will communicate your honesty and integrity. An open posture will also indicate to people that you have nothing to hide; you are comfortable with them and confident in yourself.
  • Breathe deeply and learn to speak and project your voice by using your diaphragm. You will not only project a stronger voice and clarity, you will project a more powerful persona. By simply breathing properly, you are better able to connect with the inner source of your personal power.
  • Silence the “internal critic.” We all have an “internal critic” that whispers to us about our shortcomings. Don’t listen. Believe in yourself and the value you bring to others. Be yourself, be natural, and bring that genuine quality into your presentations and your interpersonal communications. You will find people will connect with you on a much deeper level.
  • Express yourself and your enthusiasm. Becoming more physically expressive will engage others and create a stronger connection with them. When you lighten up and move freely, your professionalism is enhanced, not diminished. Even if you’re not talking, you’re communicating credibility with non-verbal expression.

When you learn to relax under pressure, breathe from the diaphragm, stay open as you look at and listen to people, and be genuine with verbal and non-verbal expression, everything changes. You convey integrity, expertise, dynamism and open-mindedness. People will see you as credible. They’ll see your inner intensity and passion that is not pushy or brash. You’ll display a quiet authority that others perceive and appreciate under any circumstances.

Image by R Bubnis


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