Published November 2000

Build credibility to ensure professional success

Q. I recently was promoted to line supervisor at the plant, and I’m surprised at how much I enjoy my first management position. I am eager to learn all I can and be considered for promotion.

Given that I come “from the plant,” I may be stereotyped and left in a lower management position longer than I desire. How may I enhance my visibility and stature to get the consideration I want?

A. What you want and what you must instill in yourself is credibility. Increase your personal credibility, and the chances of achieving that sought-after promotion, and more after that, will rise proportionately.

Credibility goes far beyond the common perception of being true to your word — doing what you say you will do when you say you’ll do it.

While that’s an important part to building personal credibility, there are other basic steps you can take to ensure you will be noticed favorably the next time a promotional opportunity arises.

You already have accomplished the initial task by assessing how you may be judged by the perceived stereotype of your position. If you were an information-systems specialist, would you be regarded as a nerd or as a problem solver? A bookkeeper may be pleasant, but could be considered boring.

Making sure you are not “pigeonholed” by your current status is a basic step to take when building personal credibility. Another is to ensure you have sufficient education to qualify for a higher position.

A line supervisor may not be required to possess a college degree, but many higher management positions do.

Other steps focus on improving how you interact with people as suggested by Louisa Rogers, a Palo Alto, Calif., training and business consultant. Such steps include:

• Use silence effectively. When introducing yourself, avoid rushing. Instead, use pauses as in, “Hi. ... I’m Jack Smith. ... I’m a plant supervisor at Bakerfield Manufacturing.”
• Increase eye contact. In American culture, maintaining eye contact is a valued talent; it signals that communicating with the other individual is important to you. If the other person looks away, gazing instead at a nearby computer or wall, stop talking. Silence commands attention.
• Anchor your body. When speaking with another person, swaying like a tree in a hurricane makes you look unstable. The optimum conversing posture is for feet to be about shoulder-width apart with knees bent slightly.
• Watch your hands. Avoid touching yourself as you speak. Women often play with their hair; men fiddle with keys or coins in their pocket, robbing them of credibility. Yet don’t be afraid of touching others. Lightly touching the hand, arm or rear shoulder can be a highly effective way to convey your point to peers or subordinates.
• Stand up. Anytime others approach you, rise. This tells them you regard what they are about to say as important. And, it also allows you to steer the person from your space if time does not permit a lengthy conversation.
• Dress up. Choose clothing appropriate to your surroundings. If you find yourself frequently both at a corporate level as well as your industrial or blue-collar environment, select clothing that can be adapted as appropriate. Always dress a little better than your peers but without overtly calling attention to yourself.
• Listen to yourself. Remember, your voice conveys an enormous amount of information about you — your mood, your energy level, even your competence. Pay attention to pitch and diction.

Eric Zoeckler operates a marketing communications firm, The Scribe, and writes “Taming the Workplace,” which appears Mondays in The Herald. Contact him at 206-284-9566 or by e-mail at mrscribe@aol.com.

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