Do you prioritise credibility in your life?
Credibility is indispensable in both professional and personal contexts. Countless individuals have made erroneous decisions or faced rejection of written reports due to credibility issues. How many reactions have been influenced by information from unreliable sources without confirming the individuals’ credibility? Truth will be lost because we do not make sure that the source of information is credible.
A source of information might be a book, a person, website, …etc, when we say a source is credible we mean it is trustworthy and with high quality. It is important to seek credibility in both personal and professional work to avoid wrong or unfair decisions, solve obstacles and problems, build trust with others, and support our arguments during our discussion or report.
Quick Tips to check the credibility of a written source:
- Date of publication
- The author’s credentials.
- Review the public records of the author and verify the educational and professional background
Quick tips to check the credibility of individuals:
These tips are based on my readings and personal experience as a customer service, where I dealt with people from different ideologies:
- Evaluate the person’s communication by observing the clarity, responsiveness and honesty. Do not hesitate to ask questions to have more crystal-clear information, you can use the 5 Ws strategy.
- When an individual habitually shifts blame onto others instead of taking ownership of their actions, it serves as a clear indicator of a lack of integrity. This behavior should be regarded as a red flag about credibility.
- When assessing an individual’s credibility, it is beneficial to observe how they articulate information when communicating with others.
- Credibility is contextual. Information received from an individual may be accurate when extracted from its original context. Therefore, it is imperative to accurately consider the contextual relevance of information.
- When you will take a decision relying on the received information by an individual, then try your best to see evidence for the received information either written documents, reports, articles, figures…etc, people can manipulate and say a lot of things, and can be biased as well so do not rely on personal views or just a spoken information.
- It is advisable to refrain from relying on a single source, especially in instances where the information is solely conveyed orally. It is essential to verify information by cross-referencing with multiple sources to ensure accuracy and reliability.
- Watch for bias: Personal biases or an individual’s own portrayal may distort reality, so it is imperative to maintain an objective approach.
It is important to note that honing the skill of evaluating credibility is a straightforward process. With accrued experience, individuals can adeptly discern credible information, thus strengthening their ability to make informed judgments.
