5 Ways to Get Noticed at the Office – By Increasing Your Communication Credibility

Credibility counts, especially at the office. This extends not solely to your job performance, but also the message you communicate, what you talk about, and how you talk.

Words have to match actions, says Dianna Booher, author of the newly revised bestselling classic COMMUNICATE WITH CONFIDENCE!  In addition to meeting your deadlines and hitting all your goals, it’s vital to establish trust in your communications – both verbal and written, including social – otherwise you’ll run the risk of lowering your hallway credibility.  Once you’ve lost it, it’s all but impossible to win back.

No matter what your skill level, follow these rules and you’ll establish hallway cred in no time:

·         Show Concern. People will care about you and more importantly trust you, when you care about them.  People want to know that they have a sympathetic ear in you. Even companies need to show concern over individuals before rectifying situations.

·         Admit What You Don’t Know.  When people smell blood, they start to dig. It’s human instinct to push when they feel they are being bluffed.  Admitting ignorance is a simple principle, easy to remember, easy to accomplish, but a difficult pill to swallow.  Nothing makes people believe what you do know like admitting what you don’t.

·         Keep Confidences.  When people know you share personal, confidential matters about others with them, they fear you’ll do the same to them.  Breaking confidences speaks volumes about your character. Those who observe your ability to keep your promises and your confidences will begin to trust you with their real feelings.

·         Avoid Exaggeration. Did you wait on the phone for five seconds, or five minutes? Did the supplier raise the rates by 2% or 10%?  Did the scores dip to 30 or down to 10?  Exaggeration makes for great humor, but it is a credibility killer.

·         Accept Responsibility.  If you were involved in the decisions, actions, and results, or had some control over a situation that didn’t end the way others wanted it to, own up to it. Shirkers suffer credibility gaps.

Dianna Booher is CEO of Booher Consultants, Booher Consultants is a global performance improvement firm that works with organizations to increase profitability and market share through more effective communication––oral, written, and interpersonal. She has among her client list 9 of the 10 largest corporations in America (140 of the Fortune 500 companies).  She is the bestselling author of several books, including Communicate with Confidence, Speak with Confidence, The Voice of Authority.

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4. Communication Tops the List of Ways to Retain Great Employees
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