Introduction
Leadership is a great responsibility in which one person with the help and support of others moves towards the accomplishment of a common purpose. Leadership involves gathering a group of people for the fulfillment of a common objective. Credibility is the principle on which the basic foundation of leadership is laid. Credibility refers to the trust and confidence that a leader earns from his followers. If a leader is not able to institute credibility in the minds of his people for himself, he will be a failure as a leader. As Kouzes and Posner (2003) mentioned in their book "Constituents do not owe leaders allegiance. Leaders earn it. The gift of their trust and confidence is well worth the struggle” (p. 273). There are 6 fundamental disciples identified by Kouzes and Posner - discovering yourself, appreciating constituents, affirming shared values, developing capacity, serving a purpose and sustaining hope.
Discovering Yourself
In order to earn credibility as a leader in management, it is very crucial for a leader to recognize his own capability, strengths and weaknesses, how much commitment he would put in to complete a work and what success means to him. A good leader knows what his values are and tries to stick to his values in every aspect of his work. Three aspects of this discipline include clarifying personal credo, competencies and confidence. The credo is the conviction to stand for one's own belief without being swayed by every other opinion and make firm decision to resolve a complex situation. Competence refers to the skill, knowledge and abilities to perform a work up to the expectation of others and in order to earn credibility in the workplace one must acquire the necessary qualifications to excel in performance which would earn him credibility in the long run. Self-confidence or self-efficacy is another attribute of earning credibility in the workplace and there are four ways one can enhance his credibility. First of all, one needs to acquire the necessary skills and experience to hold mastery over his job. Secondly, he needs to find a model figure, someone who is exactly like him and who does the job well to give inspiration for strengthening his self-efficacy. Thirdly, support and words of encouragement from people you look up to also help in enhancing self-effectiveness and fourthly, one must reinterpret personal stress as signs of tiredness that is natural with hard work and not as signs of lack of ability. At the end, "Credo, competence, and confidence are the content of character. They are the substance of self, the subject matter that gives meaning to people." (Kouzes & Posner, 2003, p 80)
Appreciating Constituents
Constituents are the followers of a leader. In order to earn credibility in the workplace a leader needs to form relationship with his constituents and that is possible only when he will learn to view and understand things from the perspective of others. A leader should foster a relationship based on mutual trust with his employees. Trusting employees encourages them to trust the leader and if the leader distrusts the employees, chances are that the employees too would distrust the leader. Furthermore, a good leader should promote an organizational culture that respects diversity. An organization with genuine appreciation for diverse workforce is apt to develop adaptability and resiliency. Leadership should share a communicative dialogue with constituents to build trust. If the leader doesn't listen to the followers and delivers a monologue all the time, followers will lose trust in the leader. Therefore, a good leader should pay heed to the concerns of his employees. In the workplace a leader must talk to his employees, stakeholders, key suppliers, customers, business partners and clients in order to recognize their needs and concerns. In addition to listening, a good leader must solicit feedback from his employees to get the share of their point of views. In a diverse organizational culture, it is only but natural to have conflicts among employees and a good leader must encourage employees to share their opinions and appreciate divergent point of views.
Affirming Shared Values
Kouzes and Posner (2003) points out that determining "the key shared values is not just a technical problem-solving exercise; it is a process in which the parties must participate, and, together, design an agreement” (p. 125). Another aspect of leadership credibility is to create a feeling of shared beliefs among employees. Since the work culture today is diverse in nature with employees coming from different backgrounds, religion, race and countries, it is the duty of the leaders to bind the employees together into a common goal so that employee share the same values and form comradeship. Shared values are the guiding principles to form a community that help employees make decision, resolve conflicts, negotiate with clients and conform to certain standard of actions that keep the work environment healthy. A good leader sets the standard of values to live by and this helps the followers get an idea how to align their own values with the organizational principles. Once employees know their shared values and the expectation kept of them, they perform better to meet the standard.
Developing Capacity
It is crucial for the leaders to find potential leaders among the followers and provide them with the required knowledge and resources to help them build credentials. An essential duty of a leader is to help develop leadership qualities in his followers and this could be achieved by involving the followers in decision making process and allowing them the freedom to work in a creative fashion by implementing ideas that were earlier rejected or not considered. This empowerment gives the employees discretion to experiment innovation without any fear of punishment in case of failure. In order to develop this capacity, the leaders need to have trust in the ability of the followers and be willing to support them in the process of development. It is important for the leaders to earn admiration from their employees because studies show that the employees who look up to their leaders and respect them are more likely to find interest in their job and feel attached to the organization. The credibility of top management is directly proportional to the commitment level of the employees. Employees who consider their managers as credible nurture a strong sense of belonging to the organization and give their utmost effort in the organizational growth.
Serving A Purpose
Leadership involves serving a purpose for the people led. Leaders should demonstrate their credibility by taking some visible actions to show their commitment to the organization and the followers. Credible leaders exemplify themselves by setting a standard that everyone follows. It is not easy always to stand for your own values but credible leaders always take a firm standing on their own values and people tend to respect a leader who has the gumption to stand for what he believes in. A credible leader should be open to ideas and information from others. He should keep in touch with the employees and tell stories about his personal experiences of taking risks or overcoming a challenging situation. Storytelling is a strategy to put forward viewpoint effectively and followers remember the stories told by the leaders better than the written policies or statistics. Stories give the followers a better picture about the policies and principles of an organization. Furthermore, a good leader should remain collected and stoic in the face of a challenge so that he can calmly take decision in favor of organizational interests. A leader would lose his credibility if he blames others for his action. Rather a good leader should be accountable for his leadership and every outcome he faces (Kouzes and Posner, 2003).
Sustaining Hope
Leaders sustain hope among the employees. A good leader inspires energy, spirit and enthusiasm in his constituents. “When leaders act in ways that uplift our spirits and restore our belief in the future, they strengthen their own personal credibility.”(Kouzes & Posner, 2003, p 218). People follow leaders who are optimistic and ideal and who reinforce people's belief and give hope for a bright future. In times of difficulty, good leaders keep the hope alive in followed with a renewed faith that the struggles of today would bear fruit tomorrow. Hope is a key ingredient to success and studies show that people with high hope set difficult goals and challenges compared to people with less hope.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we see that leadership is founded on the basic principle of credibility which could be earned following the six disciplines including discovering yourself, appreciating constituents, developing capacity, affirming shared values, serving a purpose and sustaining hope. Even after following the six disciplines to perfection, a leader might lose his credibility if his actions and decisions are met with an unexpected outcome. In such situations a leader should not give up hope and work towards rebuilding the trust with renewed enthusiasm right from the scratch.
References
Kouzes, James M. and Posner, Barry Z (2003). Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It, Jossey-Bass. Revised Edition.
Bass, Bernard M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations, The Free Press. New York.
Gabris, Gerald T. Golembiewski, Robert T. and Ihrke, Douglas M. (2001). Leadership Credibility, Board Relations, and Administrative Innovation at the Local Government Level, Oxford University Press.
Hughes, Roger (2009). Time for leadership development interventions in the public health nutrition workforce, Retrieved on 25th June 2013 from <http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FPHN%2FPHN12_08%2FS1368980009990395a.pdf&code=dd0df1c2266d22fd559d97c60a9e146d>
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