How to Build Trust and Credibility

Credibility and trust make everything easier. It is easier to drive your ideas, when you have the credibility and trust. It is easy to ask and get help when you have trust

According to Wikipedia credibility has two key components. Trustworthiness and expertise, both have subjective and objective components.

Some people are highly trusted and highly credible. You won’t born with credibility and trust. You need to build the trust and it can take years.

How to build trust?

1. Promise less.

Some people always promise a lot, but do so little. Every time you break your promise. You lose small part of your credibility and trust. It is a lot easier to promise less than to try to catch all your promises.

If you don’t promise, it does not mean you wont do it. There is nothing better than to do something that the other part did not expect to happen. In other words, you can always over exceed your promises.

2. Do what you promise

When you promise something, keep your promise always. There are no exceptions.

There is nothing more annoying than to see people to break their promises.

3. Talk less

Less you talk, more you are listened.

People who talk a lot are not thought to be as credible than the people who talk less. It protects you, since more you talk, more accidental promises you might do.

4. Be honest.

Be always honest. Brutal honesty is better than hiding things.

Sometimes truth hurts, but people will know where you stand. It will only increase your credibility.

Then again, remember to separate truth and your opinions. And if you tell your opinions as truth, remember to back them with facts.

5. Be very clear what you are after and repeat it

Be very clear what you are after. What are your goals and what you want. It does not do any harm to repeat your message either. If people know your goals, they are more likely to help you.

If people know what you want, it builds your credibility.

6. Don’t explain

Less you explain, more credible you are. (See points three and four.)

Talk less, be honest and don’t explain.

There are people that fall in to trap of explaining a lot in case of failure.

Even if they are explaining right things, explaining looks always that you are only trying to protect your own mistakes.

7. Don’t blame others

Don’t blame others. You can tell what others did, but don’t tell what you think they should have done.

In case of mistake, tell that the it guy buy accident deleted wrong folder. Don’t tell that how they should check this and that. You are crossing the line and blaming someone.

Let others do the blaming.

8. Admit if you don’t know

You can’t know everything. You can always find out and learn.

Admit that you don’t know. People respect that.

9. Admit if you were wrong

If you are wrong. Say it.

10. Don’t make excuses

If you don’t know or you have failed. Don’t explain or make excuses.

Not knowing is the easiest excuse ever.

11. Don’t give deadlines

Don’t give deadlines. You could say don’t give deadlines that you can’t keep, but the problem with deadlines are that they don’t usually work.

If you are asked for an estimate when you are finished, double or even triple the estimate you think it will be.

There is nothing more annoying than to notice that something is not finished on a given deadline, but how great it feels if something is done before the deadline.

If your car is in repair shop and they promise it is ready tomorrow, but when the time comes, they will say, well you need to wait still two days. Would you be disappointed?

If they say the car is ready tomorrow, but instead you will receive it already today, you are happily surprised and you will think they were fast. Even though, they would have done it with same speed than always, but they just gave you overrated estimate.

12. Deliver simple messages

Talk less, be honest and be clear what you are after. Deliver simple messages, that people can follow and know who you are, what you stand for and what you want.

13. Listen

Listen what others have to say. Don’t always overrun with your own ideas.

14. Execute

Do things. Execute. People see what you do. The ones who finish things and do concrete stuff, are usually highly appreciated and trusted. It is evidence that you can do something, not just talk.

15. Build your expertise

Expertise is the most difficult part. It requires a lot of work, right attitude and a lot of learning.

If all other fourteen items you can implement with your behaviour and behaviour change, the expertise does not happen overnight or without any work.

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