Being Credible

Be warm, friendly, and supportive:

Sender credibility is reflected in the recipient's belief that the sender is trustworthy. To increase your sender credibility, ensure that you:

• Know what you are talking about: recipients are more attentive when they perceive that senders have expertise.
• Establish mutual trust: owning up to your motives can eliminate the recipient's anxiety about your intentions.
• Share all relevant information: senders are seen as unethical when they intentionally provoke receivers into doing things they would not have done if they had had all of the information.
• Be honest: one of the key things people want in a leader and co-worker is honesty. As a sender, avoid any form of deception, which is the conscious alteration of information to influence another's perceptions.
• Be reliable: if you are dependable, predictable, and consistent, recipients will perceive you as being trustworthy.
• Be warm, friendly, and supportive: this will give you more personal credibility than a posture of hostility, arrogance, or abruptness.
• Be dynamic: being confident, dynamic, and positive in your delivery of information will make you seem more credible than someone who is passive, withdrawn, and unsure.
• Make appropriate self-disclosures: responsibly revealing your feelings, reactions, needs, and desires to others is essential when establishing supportive relationships. It facilitates congruency, builds trust and credibility, and helps recipients of your messages develop empathy and understanding with you.

ACTION POINT: Employ the tips above to build credibility when communicating.