| As you pursue
your career goals, you can be more effective if you have credibility in
the eyes of your peers and managers. It would be lovely if you could achieve
credibility just by telling everyone you were capable. Unfortunately credibility
comes from performing at an above average level over a period of time.
This is one of the traps of switching jobs. The credibility you earned
at the old job is lost, and must be earned all over again in the new environment.
The matter gets more difficult if you are required to first overcome
negative credibility. I earned my living for a period of time by advising
Data Processing executives on how to improve their management process.
Once they had decided to adopt the improved methods we recommended,
they were often shocked when their request was turned down. It turned
out their management didn't trust them. Over many years their projects
were almost always late and over budget and their credibility was pretty
low. Just because they said the new methods would put a stop to all
that, didn't make it so in the eyes of their superiors. They in effect
had earned negative credibility and my voice as an outsid expert was
essential It frequently took an extended period of better performance
before credibility was given to them. |
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