Bridging the credibility gap.

• Author: Miller, Julie
• Position: Business & Finance

HAS IT BEEN a bad year for your credibility rating? If you are honest, you might have to admit to a slipup or two--maybe not on par with the most notorious celebrities and politicians, but bad enough. Perhaps you have been late more times than you would like to admit; you may have missed several deadlines; you might have told a few white lies to clients; and somehow you have turned into one of the office's top gossips. There even may have been larger transgressions: like promising to increase your sales by 50% and then coming in way under the mark during the first two quarters (tanking your department in the eyes of the higher-ups).

Now, you are dealing with the fallout. You have a sneaking suspicion that your fellow employees would rather not have you on the team. Water-cooler whispers tend to stop when you arrive--and start again as you walk away, and when the time comes to suggest names for a project, yours no longer is on the short list. Is it too late to redeem yourself? Probably not; chances are you have not hit the credibility point of no return just yet--but salvaging your image requires making a Herculean effort to be more accountable from this point on.

Credibility is a bit like Humpty Dumpty: easy to crack and substantially more difficult to put back together after the fact. That said, restoring your credibility is not impossible, either. When your credibility has taken a hit, you have to understand that it is not just your pride and reputation that are suffering--you also have disappointed or hurt other people in a tangible way. So, while a sincere apology for your behavior is the first step, it certainly is not the last one. Moving forward, you will need to show others through your behavior that they really can depend on you, and that you will not drop that particular ball again.

Here are 10 rules to help you repair your damaged credibility:

Cop to it when you mess up. It is human nature to make excuses when things go wrong. How often have you said, "It wasn't my fault," or worse, "It was his/her/their fault, not mine," when you knew perfectly well that the blame should be placed at your feet? It always is best to 'Tess up" as soon as possible and take the heat, because the truth almost always comes out, and the impact is worse than it would have been if the person had owned up to it in the first place. Plus, the way you handle your mess-ups defines the kind of person you really are. Are you credible, or are you a lying weasel?

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