Say It. Do It. Repeat.

James Kouzes and Barry Posner have conducted extensive surveys looking for the characteristics employees consider important in their leaders and coworkers. For leaders the top four attributes, in order of importance, are:

• Honest
• Forward Looking
• Inspiring
• Competent

Kouzes and Posner combine these characteristics into one; credibility:

"We want to believe in our leaders. We want to have faith and confidence in them as people. We want to believe they can be trusted, that they have the knowledge and skill to lead, and that they are personally excited and enthusiastic about the direction in which we are headed. Credibility is the foundation of leadership.”

While I agree this is what we want in leaders, I think putting excitement and enthusiasm under the credibility umbrella is stretching the meaning of the word. Some of the most credible people I know are dry as dust, and in my experience the level of enthusiasm with which a statement is made is inversely proportionate to its truth. So, in my formulation honesty and competence are the foundation of credibility.

Back to Kouzes and Posner. The four top characteristics employees look for in their coworkers are, in order of importance:

• Honest
• Cooperative
• Dependable
• Competent

There are two that overlap – our friends honesty and competence. So, in the work world (actually I think the entire world, but we’re focusing on work) if you can nail these two characteristics you are more than halfway there regardless of your role (especially since you’re unlikely to be viewed as inspiring or dependable if you’re a dishonest incompetent).

How does one come to be viewed as honest? You say things, and they turn out to be true.

How does one come to be viewed as competent? To the extent your job is to report on current conditions or project the future, it’s the same process as establishing honesty; you say things, and they turn out to be true. If your job is to produce something (for example, a report or a widget), you produce it as and when it’s expected.

This seems very simple, but every day, almost everyone screws it up:

• You say you will get back to someone, and you don’t
• The meeting starts at 9:00 AM, and you show up at 9:10 (even worse if it’s your meeting)
• You promise numbers to someone today, and give it to them tomorrow

To you, these are minor things, and the other people involved might think so too. How others react depends in large part on your history with them. If over time you’ve demonstrated you’re dependable and competent, an occasional lapse is not a big deal. But, if you don’t interact with the person often the event looms much larger. Fundamental attribution error is the tendency by people to attribute explanations for behaviors to personality explanations rather than situational explanations. You say you were late for the meeting because traffic was bad, and they think you were late because you’re disorganized, don’t respect the time of the other attendees, etc. If you haven’t already established a credible track record, it’s much harder to overcome this effect.

There are a couple of very simple things you can do to increase your success rate in “say it, do it.”

Don’t Say It. Before you open your mouth to say you’ll do something, take a breath and think hard about whether or not you’re going to perform. Offering to do something and then not doing it is much worse than not offering at all.

Say You Won’t Do It. Ironically, often the fastest path to building credibility is to tell someone you won’t or can’t do something. Note such a statement fulfills all the requirements for credibility building; you’ve said something (“I can’t do it”) and it comes true (you don’t do it). It’s obviously preferable to do things for other people if you can, but if it’s not going to happen you might as well build your credibility by saying so rather than undermining it by promising what you can’t deliver.

A final thought; if you just do it without saying it, no credibility is built. Too many highly capable people just handle problems as they arise without anyone being aware of their effectiveness. If no one knows what you are doing, you’re not establishing credibility. Of course, you can take this too far by grandstanding or manufacturing problems to solve. But, letting people know you’re handling things is good for you (it’s an essential step in building your credibility) and good for them (when something difficult comes up, they will be better able to assess your ability to take on the task).