{"id":4827,"date":"2015-08-31T21:30:27","date_gmt":"2015-09-01T02:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=4827"},"modified":"2015-09-01T06:47:16","modified_gmt":"2015-09-01T11:47:16","slug":"avoiding-10-leadership-credibility-killers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2015\/08\/31\/avoiding-10-leadership-credibility-killers\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding 10 Leadership Credibility Killers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated from February 5, 2015 post<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Leadership is built on a foundation of credibility.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take away a leader’s credibility and you’ve lost the platform from which leadership is built.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve been focusing a great deal of late on the critical importance of credibility in leadership. And, as I noted in this post from earlier this year, in my opinion few leaders have captured the essence of this better than Bill Hybels.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While coaching a group of leaders in Hong Kong, Bill sounded a loud warning against, what I am calling, “credibility killers”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A leader had asked Bill, \u00a0\u201cWhat would you say about a problem I have that I believe is hurting my leadership. At work I tend to have a very bad temper and I think it is hurting my effectiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill let the comment hang in the air a moment or two, then responded with wisdom, clarity and kindness.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all,\u201d Bill began, \u201cThank you for the vulnerability you have shown in asking such a question. That shows courage. Now, to your question about losing your temper, I have two words you need to hear; \u2018Understandable\u2019, and \u2018inexcusable\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill went on to explain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat lack of control will undermine your leadership at its core. It\u2019s understandable, in that anger is a very human emotion. But it\u2019s inexcusable in that when your teammates see you lose control your credibility takes an enormous hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immediately, I scrawled this line across my notebook, \u201cConsistently losing your temper is a credibility killer.\u201d<\/p>\n

But I would later fill in my page with what I reflected were other \u201ccredibility killers\u201d. Credibility killers happen when leaders consistently<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Fail to follow through on commitments<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Tell half-truths<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Avoid the hard conversations<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Don\u2019t put in a full day\u2019s work<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Blame others when goals are not met<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. Display lack of competence in key functions<\/strong><\/li>\n
  7. Belittle others<\/strong><\/li>\n
  8. Claim credit for others\u2019 work or ideas<\/strong><\/li>\n
  9. \u201cSpin\u201d bad news<\/strong><\/li>\n
  10. \u00a0<\/strong>Display arrogance<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This list is merely the tip of the credibility iceberg.<\/p>\n

    The reality is, credibility is the currency of leadership. Without it effective leadership becomes almost impossible.<\/p>\n

    This is why, I believe, Bill took time to patiently explain the vital importance of this principle.<\/p>\n

    And it\u2019s why every leader needs to take a close look at any credibility-killers that might be eroding their leadership effectiveness.<\/p>\n

    Because when credibility is gone, it\u2019s tough to get it back.<\/p>\n

    What would you add to this list?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Updated from February 5, 2015 post Leadership is built on a foundation of credibility. Take away a leader’s credibility and you’ve lost the platform from which leadership is built. I’ve been focusing a great deal of late on the critical importance of credibility in leadership. And, as I noted in this post from earlier this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[769,738,478,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-2","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4827"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4830,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions\/4830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}