Authority and Credibility affect each other in a continuous fashion.  It is my belief that you cannot truly have authority without credibility, and likewise credibility can give you an authoritative role even if you are not seeking that position.  In a case where you are a manager and in an authoritative role as described by your title, your lack of credibility will greatly reduce peoples’ trust in you.  When trust is compromised, authority is compromised as well.  Losing authority and credibility greatly reduces your ability to communicate with employees on any topic related to the field in which you work.  In the article “Abuse of Authority and Hierarchical communication” Friebel and Raith argue “if managers and their subordinates have the same basic qualifications, then organizations can benefit from replacing unproductive superiors with more productive subordinates”. (Friebel and Raith 2001) An employee who has the qualification to be the manager will not listen to or respect the manager for any length of time.   This lack of respect directly affects authority. 

One key component to maintaining authority and credibility is your expertise.  Expertise in a given field will gain an individual credibility.  If enough people are willing to listen to an individual they have gained an authoritative role and will be able to clearly communicate with the people they are trying to reach.  On the other side of that coin are people who only have general knowledge of their field, “there are leaders who lack credibility because they only have a superficial knowledge base with no depth”. (Zust n.d.) A person can only get away with having superficial knowledge for so long before they are exposed and lose all credibility, in turn losing authority. 

As described by Zust, people who communicate with credibility align consistent verbal and non verbal communication, are good listeners, make realistic promises and keep them, speak from the heart, have expertise, are honest, and proactive. (Zust n.d.) During my time as a business owner and now as a coach I realize all of these to be true factors in achieving and maintaining credibility.  My background of playing college and professional baseball as well as winning a conference title as a coach at Central Michigan University gave me instant credibility when I arrived at Davenport University.  Now that I am here it is imperative to gain and maintain the trust of the players by proving I actually possess the knowledge my resume states.  Players come to me on a regular basis with very detailed questions, and if I do not have the answers they are looking for or can only give them a partial answer they will begin looking other places for the answers.  To make matters worse they will begin to question my credibility amongst each other.  Also, when a player has an issue outside of baseball and they come to me I must listen.  If they feel I am somebody they can come to with ideas or simply to talk to when things are going bad they show they trust me.  Trust goes a long way in effective communication as a leader.  People who trust in you are more likely to help you out and stick up for you when others are not so happy. 

It is my firm belief that authority is not gained through a title, authority is gained through trust, credibility, and caring.  If people can trust you and trust the information you are giving them, along with knowing you care for them they will be more apt to look up to you as an authority figure and work hard for you.  If you gain this trust from people they will do whatever you ask of them to the best of their ability because they truly believe you would never ask them to do anything that was not for their own good.  This is a responsibility you cannot take lightly because you have gained the trust of the people working or playing for you, and it is much easier to lose this trust than it is to gain it.  That is why as a leader you must constantly work on your credibility.  You must as Zust said “be proactive” (Zust n.d) in order to maintain your credibility.  You do this by making sure you are up to date on the newest ideas and making sure you communicate clearly with the people who are working or playing for you on a regular basis.  The biggest mistake people in authoritative roles make is assuming their title gives them credibility, instead of understanding credibility creates authority. 

References:

Zust, Christine W., (n.d.) Communicating with Credibility, Retrieved October 28, 2010 from www.emergingleader.com/article15.shtml

Friebel and Raith 2001, Abuse of Authority and Hierarchical communication, Retrieved October 28, 2010, From http://idei.fr/doc/by/friebel/friebelraith.pdf