5 Levers of Influence (1/5): Credibility

You’re leading the work, but no one reports to you. Your messages go unanswered, and progress stalls. Before authority comes trust, and that starts with credibility.

This series of articles about influence started with the introduction to The 5 Levers of Influence, check it now:

No Title, No Problem: The 5 Levers of Influence to Lead Without Power

So we have “The 5 Levers of Influence”:

1. Credibility: No one listens to noise. They follow competence and consistency.

2. Relationships: Influence spreads at the speed of trust.

3. Communication: You can't lead if your ideas don’t land.

4. Shared Goals: Influence is easier when people care about the same outcome.

5. Example: You can’t fake integrity. People watch what you do.

And today, we will dive deep into item number one on the list: Credibility

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So, let’s kick off today’s article.

She was frustrated. You could see it…

“I don’t get it. I explained it clearly.”

She had led the planning meeting. Shared her roadmap. Laid out the risks. Built the dependencies slide by slide.

You know, the kind of prep that takes real time, not just copying a template.

But when she finished, the room stayed quiet.

Not the good kind of quiet. The kind where no one knows what to say because they weren’t really following in the first place.

One person nodded…
Someone else glanced at their phone...
A third said, “Looks good to me,” but didn’t mean it…

You could feel it. No real engagement. Just polite stillness.

After the call, she turned to me and said, “I don’t get it. I explained everything clearly. The plan made sense.”

And she was right…

The plan made sense. The problem wasn’t the content.
It was the connection. Or better said, the lack of it.

When people don’t trust the messenger, they don’t hear the message.

And that’s where things get uncomfortable.

You do the work. You show the data. You prepare. But people still hesitate. They wait for someone else to speak up. Or worse, they smile and say nothing… and then go a completely different direction.

That’s not incompetence. It’s the absence of credibility.

And if you’re new in a leadership role, especially without formal authority, this happens more often than you expect.

You might be right. Technically, logically, even strategically. But people don’t follow logic. They follow trust.

And trust doesn’t come from being smart. It comes from being dependable.

Let’s break that myth a bit more…

The Myth vs The Truth

Being right is not the same as being trusted.

There’s this common belief, especially among technical professionals, that if your argument is sound, people will follow. That logic and preparation should be enough. That if you lay out the plan clearly, others will see the sense in it and move.

But they don’t.

And then frustration kicks in. You start explaining again. You bring more data. You quote best practices. You rephrase your points, hoping this time something will click.

But nothing changes. People keep stalling. They keep smiling without acting. Or they just skip you and go talk to someone else they do trust.

So what’s actually going on?

Let’s make this simple.

People don’t follow because your idea is right.
They follow because they believe you are reliable.

There’s a name for this mistake in behavioral science: the “effort-response gap.” It’s when people put a lot of energy into what makes sense to them, and then expect that same clarity to automatically appear in someone else’s mind.

But humans don’t process information like computers. We filter everything through memory, emotion, timing, even body language. And that means the first question people ask (usually without saying it) is not, “Is this smart?” but “Can I count on this person?”

This is why someone less experienced but more consistent gets picked to lead. Or why the soft-spoken team lead who always delivers quietly gains more influence than the loud, brilliant strategist who never follows through.

It’s not fair. But it’s real.

There’s real research behind this, too. In their trust model, Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman break trust down into three parts: ability, integrity, and benevolence. “Ability” is what you know.

But that alone doesn’t build trust. “Integrity” and “benevolence” are about how predictable and supportive you are. Those are the pieces that turn information into influence.

So no, being right isn’t enough. Not even close.

If you’re trying to lead, and people still aren’t listening, don’t just double down on explanations.

Ask yourself something harder.

“Have I actually built the kind of credibility that makes people feel safe to follow me?”

That’s where influence starts. Quietly. But powerfully.

What Credibility Actually Looks Like

It’s not your skills. It’s your signals. We will talk a lot about signals today. And you will understand why very clearly! :)

Credibility is not about how smart you are.
Or how many certifications you’ve got.
Or how well you speak in meetings.

It’s about what people expect from you when things go sideways.

Do they think you’ll show up? Or disappear?

That’s the real test.

Because credibility is built in the small, boring moments no one talks about. Like when you say, “I’ll send that doc tomorrow,” and then actually send it. Not two days late. Not half-done. Not full of excuses. Just done.

That’s what people remember. They store those little signals in the back of their mind and use them to answer one question:

“Can I depend on this person when it matters?”

This is where many talented professionals mess up.

They think being technically strong is enough. But strength without stability doesn’t build trust. It just creates confusion.

Think about someone you trust deeply at work. Now ask yourself: why?

It’s probably not because they talk the most. It’s probably not because they know everything. It’s because they do what they say. Consistently. Even when no one’s watching.

And honestly, you don’t need to be a genius to build this. You just need to make your behavior match your words.

And the wild thing is, once people start seeing you as credible, your influence increases quietly.

You won’t have to repeat yourself three times. People will lean in because they already trust that you mean what you say.

So if you’ve been asking yourself, “Why aren’t people following?” Maybe flip the question:

“What am I showing them to follow?”

Because credibility is always visible. Just not in the way most people think.

Why People Don’t Trust You (Yet)

When credibility is missing, it’s rarely because you messed up something big.

It’s because you’ve been sending the wrong signals in the background, without even realizing.

Let’s name those signals:

1. You say things people don’t see you doing

This is the most basic one.

You say, “I’ll update the plan by Friday.” It comes on Monday.

You say, “I’ll follow up with that stakeholder.” No one hears about it again.

You say, “We’ll keep quality high,” but easily sacrifice that under pressure.

You’re not lying. You probably mean what you say. But the inconsistency teaches people not to take your words too seriously.

2. You treat everything like it’s urgent

When every task is on fire, people stop listening to the alarm.

Credibility requires calm. Not because calm is nice, but because it signals control.

Researchers studying team dynamics consistently find that predictability in behavior builds more trust than even accuracy.

If your energy spikes every time something shifts, people won’t feel safe around your leadership.

And when they don’t feel safe, they keep their distance.

3. You disappear when things go wrong

This one’s subtle.

You’re engaged when things are smooth. But when the work gets messy, you vanish.

People don’t always call this out. But they remember.

And next time, they won’t rely on you. They’ll go around you.

4. You explain, but don’t connect

You might think you’re being clear. You might explain your idea with all the logic in the world. But if people don’t feel that you get them, they’ll hold back.

This isn’t emotional fluff. It’s what psychology calls interpersonal attunement, our ability to sense whether someone is tuned into our concerns, not just their own plan.

If they feel like you’re talking at them, not with them, the trust won’t land.

5. You overpromise to sound useful

This one feels innocent.

You want to show initiative. You say yes to everything. You say it will be ready next week. You want people to think you’re dependable.

But if you’re always almost delivering, you’re not building credibility. You’re quietly eroding it.

Small overpromises repeated over time teach people that your estimates are soft.

Your optimism can’t be trusted. And eventually, even your real deadlines are treated like wishful thinking.

Let’s be honest?

Credibility is about what people learn to expect from you.

That’s why it disappears so quietly. People don’t confront you. They just stop counting on you. And you only notice it later, when you start getting left out of the conversations that matter.

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So, How Do We Build Credibility?

Credibility isn’t magic. It’s not charisma. It’s not how many people liked your post or how well you presented during that all-hands.

It’s behavioral.
It’s observable.
It’s repetitive.

People trust you because of what you do consistently, not what you say once in a while.

So if you want to build credibility, don’t aim for dramatic gestures.

Focus again on the signals.

Signals that your team, peers, and stakeholders notice, often without realizing they’re noticing.

Let’s make this practical.

1. Make smaller promises. Then beat them.

If you say you’ll send the report on Thursday, send it on Wednesday.

Not because you want to impress. But because you want to be predictable.

It’s not the content that builds the trust. It’s the timing.

You said it. Then you did it. That’s the whole game.

2. Show up when it’s uncomfortable

When something breaks, be the first to talk about it. When a risk becomes real, don’t wait to be asked. When your idea doesn’t work, say it.

Owning the uncomfortable makes people believe you’ll handle pressure.

And most people follow those who stay steady under stress.

3. Don’t confuse being busy with being reliable

Plenty of people are always working. Always talking. Always updating. But their output is late, incomplete, or chaotic.

Being “active” isn’t the same as being credible.

The people others trust aren’t loud. They’re consistent.

Their words match their delivery. That’s it.

4. Stick to the process even when nobody’s watching

Anyone can follow a checklist in front of the team.

But trust builds when you still follow the checklist at 6 PM, when you’re tired, and it would be easier to skip it.

People are always watching, somehow.

That quiet discipline becomes your reputation.

5. Stay calm when others are getting crazy

This might be the most visible test.

When something goes wrong and you stay grounded in who you are, people associate you with stability.

And stability is magnetic.

You don’t have to know all the answers. You just have to not freak out.

So…Do you see it?

No shortcuts. Just the right signals.

Signals of dependability. Of ownership. Of calm. Signals that say: you can count on me, even when it’s not easy.

The funny part?

Most of this is invisible when you do it well.

Nobody claps when you send the doc on time. Nobody celebrates your quiet calm during chaos. But over time, those moments teach people what to expect.

And when they expect consistency, they follow. Not because they have to. Because they want to.

That’s credibility.

You don’t announce it. You show it.

What Quietly Breaks Credibility

Let’s be honest…

Most people don’t lose credibility by doing something terrible. They lose it in the background. One small behavior at a time. Until trust just...

People will not write a message saying, “Hey, just so you know, I stopped trusting you.”

They simply stop asking. Stop looping you in. Stop relying on yourself when it matters.

So if you want to protect your influence, pay attention to these traps.

They’re quiet. But they carry a cost.

• You rush to say yes just to sound helpful

• You vanish when things get hard

• You try to sound smart instead of being clear

• You downplay your own misses

• You act differently under pressure

So, ask yourself frequently: “Am I acting in a way that people can count on?”

Because if you don’t ask that question, the answer will come anyway. You just won’t like how it arrives.

One Small Action to Start Rebuilding Trust Now

You need one clean, small signal. So here’s something you can do right now, this week:

Write down everything you said you would do.
Then deliver one of them early.

But do it clearly, visibly, and on time, or a little before.

Then do it again next week. And again after that.

That’s how credibility starts to return. Quietly. Until one day, you notice something has changed.

And next time, when you share an idea or lead a plan, they’ll actually follow.

That’s what we build in this series. Influence that works without a title.

And next time, we’ll go deeper into the second lever: relationships.

The 5 Levers of Influence:

1. Credibility: No one listens to noise. They follow competence and consistency.

2. Relationships: Influence spreads at the speed of trust.

3. Communication: You can't lead if your ideas don’t land.

4. Shared Goals: Influence is easier when people care about the same outcome.

5. Example: You can’t fake integrity. People watch what you do.