Understandability - A Story Of Credibility...
A Story About Credibility...?
I once had an interaction with a Backroom Supervisor, whose name I did not care to know at the time, and I said, “there are boxes blocking my door and you’re using the wrong utility blade - both of those things are inexcusable.” And I was surprised when I received an earful from them. I was confused. But more than having no established relationship with this associate, I had zero credibility. A common, recurring theme for me has always been about this idea of credibility. But what is credibility? In Emotional Intelligence 2.0 it teaches of strategies that essentially develop credibility. It sounds simple enough and I think we all have a semblance of what the simple definition of “credibility” is;
“the quality of being trusted and believed in.”
But despite its prominence, credibility is not defined clearly, often mistaken with trust, and operates in various, often vague, terms. (1)
Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher - a man who has literally devoted his life to the study of communication between people - wrote in his Theory of Communicative Action published in 1981 four claims of validity that result in credibility.
They are; Truth, sincerity, appropriateness and understandability. (2)
Understandability. Remember that one, it’s very important. Because flash forward to 2016. Two professors, Locke and Steele, from The University of Amsterdam, wanted to develop a method to scientifically prove levels of credibility from the public to companies. But what they found was that after countless experiments - first of all - understandability needed to be reached. Only then are the other three able to follow. (3)
Understandability; so, what does that mean? Well, the second definition in the Dictionary is -
“Expected or accepted under the circumstances”.
The Dictionary’s example?
“their anger is understandable, given what happened”.
And I say all of that to say this; What I didn’t know then, was that this associate was retired. And the only reason she is working here instead of enjoying her older years is to make sure her granddaughter can go to college. Because she knows that her son, heavily affected by the opioid epidemic, will never be capable of saving for her. And now in 15 years, even if she is not around, her granddaughter will be able to go to college. And when I went into that backroom that day I can only assume, from what I understand now, what her perception was of what I said, how I said it and the timing in which I chose to say it. I’m sure it sounded like;
“I’m better than you, I think you are lazy, and you suck at your job.”
And When I made these realizations I became extremely upset and angry at myself. But this was good, because I knew it meant growth. I knew that I would change and not make the same mistake as I had done before. The mistake of not prioritizing what’s most important in a company, the people. And how do you do right by your people and lead them? By knowing their motivations. Just as I work as hard as I do for my family - she was doing the same. And I can’t imagine how I’d feel if someone looked at me and said I was not, for one second working hard here to make them proud. And going forward I just want every associate that I come across to feel the same way I do working at my company; heard, respected and fulfilled.
(1) Irina Lock1 and Peter Seele2
1University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands2Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
Irina Lock, Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018WV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Email: ln.avu@kcol
(2) Habermas, Jürgen (1984) [1981]. Theory of Communicative Action, Volume One: Reason and the Rationalization of Society (Book). Translated by Thomas A. McCarthy. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-1507-0.
(3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5732593/ Measuring Credibility Perceptions in CSR Communication: A Scale Development to Test Readers’ Perceived Credibility of CSR Reports