What is a credible leader?

A credible leader can be anyone. They can be in an official leadership role, or they may lead through influence.

They might work in a corporate environment, work with their hands, they might be a political leader, a community leader, an artist, or a leader at home.

They are any gender or sexuality, from any culture, from anywhere in the world. They are young, old, and anywhere in between.

They are you – or rather you are (or can be) a credible leader.

What makes someone a credible leader?

Dictionary definition of ‘Credibile’:

This can be looked at from two angles:

1. They are a credible source of information. They have expertise in the topic in question that can be trusted, through experience, studying, training, or other means, that is strong enough to be believed true because it comes from them.
2. They are trustworthy and of high integrity, they stay true to their ethics.

A credible leader brings both of these definitions together. They are trustworthy and fair, they don’t play games or favourites. They treat their team members as they themselves would like to be treated. They make an effort to grow and develop their own leadership skills and knowledge. They make well-considered decisions and act professionally at all times.

A credible leader is powerful and admired by those they influence – whether they report into them or not. They usually achieve results not through the old-fashioned method of authoritarianism or control, but through trust, empowerment, and respect.

Why try to be a credible leader?

Firstly, why not? What’s wrong with being a reasonable person, yet someone who is still respected and can deliver results? Arguably stronger and faster results because their highly motivated team wants to win together…

Secondly, we are entering another industrial revolution on a global scale. Automation, in the form of bots, not physical bots, but virtual, is changing the face of work altogether. It is removing the need for people. This industrial revolution will affect over 2.6 billion people globally.

The old-fashioned dinosaur-esque leaders will either have to change, or they will be replaced by a more effective, dynamic, and flexible generation of leaders.

The new generation of credible leaders is here already.

Some of the dinosaurs are credible leaders…

This is true, just because some leaders use old-fashioned methods, doesn’t mean they don’t have credibility. What they have in common is the trust they build with their people and the integrity they show in the way they lead.

What if you don’t actually manage people? How can you be considered a leader?

Leading through influence is nothing new. Influencing others to get work done is something that happens everywhere, and the influencers do not have to have the leadership authority. In fact, sometimes people won’t even work for their actual leader, preferring instead to defer to another team member for instructions.

It’s true then that even when you have the position of authority you still need to be a credible leader in order to actually lead.

Greta Thunberg – an example of leading through influence for our time

Greta is an internationally recognized leader on the topic of climate change. She has spoken out with integrity and a powerful message. She has done this despite the fact that she was aged only 15 when she addressed the UN at the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

At the time of writing this article Greta is 16 years old. She has been nominated for a Nobel Prize, and has organized co-ordinated peaceful demonstrations of over a million students at a time. Greta has been named as one of the 100 most influential people of 2019 by Time magazine, and in 2019 she addressed the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.

Greta did all of this as a student, she had no political power, no corporate teams working for her, and no official authority. Yet she did it and continues to do so in order to effect change.

There are many examples from history of leading through influence, Greta is a current example of one of them.

10 ways to be a credible leader

1. Treat people with respect – this applies to everyone. It applies whether you are managing them or they manage you. If you are colleagues, friends, or family. People will be more likely to treat you respectfully if you lead the way. If they don’t you can raise this and discuss it with them knowing that you are setting a great example.
2. Use empathy – take the time to understand what things are like from the other person’s point of view. Ensure you give people a chance to explain their viewpoint or side of the story before making judgment. (Learn more about how to use empathy here)  
3. Keep difficult discussions behind closed doors – when working with people, or in family or even neighbourhood situations tense situations can arise. Always have difficult conversations in private so that no-one gets embarrassed or uncomfortable.
4. Champion your team members in public – be sure to talk about your team successes often, shout them from the rooftops, ensure they get the credit they deserve for their work.
5. Trust your people – give your trust by default. This is a quality that many leaders don’t possess, and a very significant measure of credibility in leadership terms. Don’t allow the few that abuse your trust to ruin things for those who are above board.  
6. Delegate effectively – give your people good projects to work on that will showcase their skills. Let them own tasks or projects as much as possible. Be there for them when they need assistance to move roadblocks.  
7. Don’t micromanage – when delegating projects stand back and let your people get on with them. Allow them to learn how to do things for themselves. Recognise that the best way to learn is through doing, and that there may be some bumps along the way.
8. Be honest with people about their development opportunities – ensure you regularly sit down with your team members to celebrate successes and talk about development opportunities. Ask them what they are finding difficult and work with them to improve in those areas. Give constructive feedback after significant pieces of work or where you have observed them – with the objective of helping them to get better.
9. Get to know your people – invest time in building relationships with the people who work, above, around, and for, you. Learn what you can about them.  Understand their working preferences; are they introverted or extroverted? What stretches them? How comfortable are they with change? Avoid being a creepy weirdo and prying into their personal life though!  
10. Be generous with recognition – fair and evenly spread recognition is important. Praising your team members, family, and in general people around you is a positive thing to do. Don’t assume that people know how well they have done without you referencing it. Sometimes people don’t like public recognition and a big fuss being made (you should know this about them from step 9), so do it accordingly. Be VERY careful to be fair with your recognition, one of the things that will instantly lose you credibility is favouritism.

Conclusion

You can lead with credibility in any circumstance. It’s harder for some of us to be treated as though we’re credible leaders. Certain factors play against us that we have little to no control over. Depending on the colour of your skin, your age, your size and weight, your gender, your sexual orientation or your social standing in the culture in which you live, and other factors too numerous to list, you will be treated differently.

The one thing we can control is the way we react to situations and to people. If you look at the list of 10 ways to be a credible leader, all of them are related to your behaviour. If you strive to be credible, if you stay true to your values, you will achieve that.

If you are in a position of privilege, take your credibility to the next level through being an ally for equality. It is time for humankind to move to the next level of civilization.

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