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The Truth About Credibility

Public Management - June 2001

by Debra Stein

How can you tell if someone is lying to you? How can you make sure you aren’t inadvertently sending signals that you’re being less than honest? Here are some tips on how to enhance your own credibility and double-check to see if you’re really getting the straight story from other people.

Ask the Experts

To have your statements accepted as correct, it isn’t enough just to tell the truth. You have to show that you’re qualified to talk about what you’re talking about. More than 50 percent of your credibility derives from your perceived expertise in the field.

When speaking about objective facts or technical issues, stress the specialized training, expertise, or ability that makes you an authority on the topic. When it comes to subjective preferences, values, or opinions about community character, however, the qualified speaker isn’t necessarily the scientist, triple-Ph.D. or other highly trained individual we conventionally associate with the word “expert.”

Citizens generally believe that their own peers are the best judges of whether a design is attractive, whether a decision-making process has been fair, or whether a project conforms to community character, so stress how much you have in common with residents when it comes to talking about civic vision or lifestyle issues.

Be careful about sabotaging your own image of expertise. Don’t belittle your own qualifications (”Now, I’m no expert on this, but …”) or disclaim the validity of your statements (”This may sound crazy, but …”). Tag questions like “Okay?” or “All right?” suggest you need reassurance, as does the continuous injection of “y’know.” Such verbal hedges as “maybe,” “I guess,” or “It seems to me” make you sound uncertain, while words like “must,” “obviously,” and “never” convey confidence and competence. Women, in particular, use disclaimers, tag questions, qualifiers, and obvious words of hesitation to avoid sounding too pushy (”Well, I’m not really sure about this, but, uhmmm, I think it’s kinda expensive, you know what I mean?”).

Honesty is the Best Policy

Almost 30 percent of your credibility results from the impression that you are telling the truth. While some people will scrutinize the content of your statements to determine if you’re being honest, most folks will concentrate less on what you’re saying and more on how you’re saying it. That’s why it’s important to avoid non-verbal signals that could suggest you’re being less than truthful.

Honest speakers make a lot of eye contact. In fact, speaker rated by test subjects as “sincere” engage in 3 times more eye contact than “insincere” speakers. In an excessive effort to avoid looking shifty, however, liars will often maintain an unnatural, reptilian stare that simply lasts too long. Continue to blink or look away from your counterpart in a natural manner or you might send unintentional signals of dishonesty.

On the other hand, don’t go overboard in your desire to avoid a glassy stare. While truth-telling adults blink approximately 10 to 20 times per minute, Richard Nixon blinked up to 40 times per minute during the first Watergate press conference.

People who are lying often conceal the palms of their hands. A speaker who keeps his hands relaxed and palms exposed, by comparison, will probably be perceived as honest, even if he’s lying. Because covering your mouth while talking suggests that you’re lying, and covering your mouth while listening means you dislike what you’re hearing, it’s always a good idea to keep your hands away from your face in stressful situations.

There really is something called “the Pinnochio Syndrome.” Stress can cause delicate nerves in the face to tingle, so you can send inadvertent signals of dishonesty by rubbing your eyes, scratching your nose, or stroking your chin while speaking.

The same nervous system response that makes your nose itch can also change the consistency of saliva. A dishonest or highly aroused speaker often has a dry mouth and may frequency lick her lips, swallow, or clear her throat while speaking, so keep a glass of water on hand when you’re making a stressful presentation.

Impartial Opinion

It is clearly easier for citizens to believe an impartial analyst than someone who is making a sales pitch or having an obviously self-interested agenda. So when you want to be believed, you need to come across as an even-handed, open-minded professional, not as a slick huckster.

When trying to convince others of the merits of our position, we naturally tend to stack the deck in our own favor by providing only one-sided arguments: we present only those arguments that support our own position and ignore criticism or contrary evidence. In dealing with an audience that is well informed or not inclined to trust you automatically, offering only one-sided arguments will usually backfire.

You can significantly enhance your believability and image of impartiality by presenting arguments on both sides of an issue. These “two-sided” arguments not only outline your own strong messages but offer a sneak preview of your critics’ likely attacks. Acknowledging that your proposal isn’t perfect, that a program may be difficult to implement, or that your suggestion could involve some risk shows that you’re presenting a balanced and therefore believable view of the facts.

After disclosing an argument against your position, however, be sure to refute it immediately. Merely mentioning a critic’s argument will make you more believable, but you can only neutralize the likely attack if you provide your listeners with an immediate refutation.

When you have a clear bias, you’re usually better off admitting to it than pretending it doesn’t exist. The later discovery of a hidden agenda is likely to be more damaging than the sincere admission and refutation of a bias (”I used to work for the City of New York so I’m inclined to admire its housing solutions anyway, but there’s no doubt that its affordable housing program has significantly reduced homelessness in the past few years”).

When the stakes are high and tensions are higher, you need to make extra effort to ensure that your professional conduct reflects your personal integrity.

Debra Stein is the president of the San Francisco-based public affairs firm, GCA Strategies. She is the author of several books on NIMBYism and her firm specializes in controversial land use projects across the nation. For more information, e-mail Stein, call her at 415-391-4100 or visit the GCA Strategies Web site at www.gcastrategies.com.