Want to build credibility? Try volunteering to help someone else...

Are you constantly waiting to be trained? Or to gain experience in some career area of expertise? If so, quit waiting for someone else to get you off your duff and go volunteer.

Very frequently, our own bosses cannot simply hand us the opportunity to learn a new skill or process. Learning on the job can be both expensive and detrimental to your future employment (should you make a serious mistake). Instead of littering the work place with your pleas to grow, go help someone--or some enterprise--less fortunate.

I've been working to increase my knowledge of grants and the arenas surrounding fund raising. Neither is a strength for me and, like most small businesses, mine can't afford to hire highly experienced experts.

Solution: I volunteer my time serving on the fund raising committee of a local non-profit organization. Using this resource, I can build my skills, experience, and background while doing something good for someone beside me. Check it out. You might actually meet new people, make new connections, and accomplish something you could never approach in your narrow day-to-day job.

Don't limit yourself to what you can see in your immediate surroundings--there is an entire world of possibilities out there that you've probably never considered tapping into.

OK - So you're credible... Can you prove it?

A lot of us believe we are credible. Some highly so. Unfortunately, others, including those for which we have worked, might not be in complete agreement. When this disconnect occurs, all the work you have done--the value you delivered--simply disappears and the mistakes--or apparent mistakes--are blasted right to the top.

It's been my experience that a majority of my employers have simply had no clue what I can bring to the table. I'll bet you are in the same boat. Most frequently--and this has been proven time and again by credible research--the "c-suite" has never even tried to tap into your potential. For the most part, these folks are busy being busy and simply have no time or interest in recognizing the potential value in the minds of their personnel.

Result? No matter how good you may be, the "enterprise" doesn't have a clue. Could this be one of the reasons why so many companies feel the need to bring in outside experts--simply to tell management precisely the same things existing personnel have been trying to say? Yep...

Real World - In nearly every project management, negotiations, or technology asset management course I teach, at least 2/3 of the attendees report that their company (their immediate superior?) rarely, if ever, taps into their capabilities. These same folks inform us that their company will pay incredible fees to consultants who proceed to convey the same messages the employees have been trying (unsuccessfully) to convey.

So...and a great deal of my ranting will come back to this critical point: If you want to be credible, you have to take responsibility for documenting what you know, enhancing your own professional development, and ensuring that your name equates with value--both within your own enterprise, AND in your professional industry.

Nobody else is going to perform these tasks for you. YOU have to take control. The days are long gone when we could even partially rely on a single employer (even a dozen or more) to provide us with a stable income. We have all become disposable commodities--to be sucked dry, then tossed on the trash heap along with the other diapers. For the most part, the enterprise has moved on from being an ethical local resource to being a pure profit center. Loyalties are significantly more frequently tied to how much money you made for the company--today--than how much value you bring over the long term. Who was it that said: "If you want loyalty, buy a dog"?

Again: If we, as professionals, expect to remain of value to the enterprise then WE must take control of our own capacity to carry that value wherever we go. The tool kit we used to carry in our hands is now in our respective brains--it's our talents and abilities to link thought with actions. As such, that mental/professional toolkit goes with us wherever we go. Either we (YOU) are in control of our (YOUR) future or we (YOU) are not.

(Sorry... My purpose in this blog is to speak up. If this offends you...read the books Nickel & Dimed, or Bait & Switch--Or any of a thousand other resources that clarify the current relationship between employer and employee.)

Are You Credible?

Do you know what makes you credible? With your friends? In your job? At your school? Are you a good friend? A good worker? Good student? Good family member?

Is credibility important? If so, why?

This blog is all about personal and professional credibility. It's about the things that encourage other people to trust you and consider you in their lives.

We'll start with honesty and integrity.

Do the people around you trust you? Do they know that they can have complete faith in your words and actions? I know what I think and what I have learned from countless books, articles and conversations on this subject, but I need to know what you think.

Let me ask you: How do you feel about the importance of honesty and integrity in those around you?