Building Credibility: Establishing Yourself in a New Job or in a New Market

I was honored today to present to a large group of Microsoft’s recent college hires in the worldwide marketing organization on the topic of “establishing credibility.” As many of these new hires work in emerging market countries, it occurred to me that the humble advice I shared was not limited to them as individuals establishing themselves in a new job – it is perhaps equally relevant for companies working to establish themselves in a new country.

Why Credibility Matters
Trust and respect are essential elements in any relationship, and both qualities are earned – not given. When a new individual joins a team, the faster she earns the trust or respect of her colleagues, the faster that team will reach is potential; the same for a business entering or starting in a new country, the more effective that business – and its brand – are at building authentic relationships with customers and industry professionals, the more successful they will be at doing business locally.

1 – Build the Base with Facts
Build the base with facts, then you can earn the credibility to offer opinions. Recent college graduates, and indeed anyone starting a new job, both have a desire to impact and contribute from the start, but the challenge is often that they haven’t yet earned a sense of credibility from their peers or management.

While it is always important to have an opinion or a point of view, you don’t always need to lead with the opinion. There is often an opportunity to first share facts, for example: the product can do X, the market data says Y, a customer told me Z – all of those are undeniable certainties which can be offered in a meeting or discussion to hopefully enrich the topic at hand. Over time – whether it be during the course of the current meeting, or in future ones – by establishing yourself as a person who speaks facts, you essentially help others to assume any opinions or analysis you offer is equally grounded in facts, and thus is credible.

The same approach is true for businesses entering a new market – grounding product development or service offering assumptions in market facts and customer voices helps to attract investment and early employees; leading with facts helps to establish credibility that your business thesis is grounded in the realities and needs of the local market.

2 – Build a Plan; Execute Consistently
Taking the time to step back and build a plan before starting to execute can help elevate the outcome from good to great – and it can be a valuable step to ensure your effort joins the outcome in establishing credibility. Building a plan before you start working on a specific project helps to organize your own thoughts and ensure the strategy aligns with the tactics; sharing that plan enables you to set expectations with key stakeholders and solicit their feedback; communicating progress at regular internals demonstrate consistency; and ultimately delivering strong results all come together as the formula necessary to turn project management into credibility-building execution.

Having a plan is equally important for an individual in a professional (or personal) environment as it is for a business when planning entry or expansion into a new market.

3 – Build Relationships
Building relationships with other individuals and with the company or country where you work can help accelerate your commitment to build foundations necessary to establish credibility, and will help establish you for long-term success.

With individuals, these relationships at work are not only an essential part of enjoying the time you spend at work, they are an important element in being effective at work and in soliciting support and feedback from others around you.

It includes listening to what other have to say, responding to their thoughts or ideas in public or on email in an open, respectful and timely way, and truly seeking to connect in an authentic and genuine manner. This approach can also lead to positive endorsements from those individuals, perhaps even public opportunities to co-present or illustrate you are not alone in your initiative.

Building a relationship with a company or country is an important step in demonstrating your commitment to the broader good, and earning the credibility which follows. Having a relationship with a company means learning all you can about its culture, history and broader business context – and then putting it first when making decisions (ahead of yourself) in order to do what it what right for the broader organization.

I’ve found this situation is especially sensitive between inter-generational employees, whereby the stereotype would suggest a Gen Y employee might make a statement to a manger like “I want to take on this project, it is good for me” vs “I want to take on this project, even though I am busy, because it is the right thing for the company.” The subtle difference in both thought and positioning can go a long way in building credibility.

The same logic applies to a business: building relationships with your customers or industry professionals and with the local market where you seek to do business helps make your business a truly local one – and it helps build the local relevance and credibility ultimately necessary for long-term success.

Image: Aaron M. Painter

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 21st, 2011 at 11:05 pm. It is filed under Management, New Market Entry and tagged with Brands, Credibility, Gen Y, Local Relevence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.