Jotting Number 75, by Joe Podolsky:

From: joe_podolsky@hp.com

Date: August 15, 1997

Subject: Credibility

How often have you heard someone from information technology or from some other staff function like human resources or quality complain that their business clients don't talk to them, that they don't have a "seat at the table" where decisions are made, that they don't get the opportunities to give the business people the good ideas that would really improve things?

Having been a staff person for much of my career, I thought about this on-going whine as I read "A Credibility Equation for IT Specialists" by information systems professors Barbara J. Bashein and M. Lynne Markus, in the _Sloan Management Review_, Summer 1997. The subheading on the article summarizes the issue well: "Expertise alone does not inspire trust and credibility. Successful IT specialists work on their trustworthiness and build good relationships with clients at the same time."

The responsibility for credibility, good or bad, is ours, not the customers'. Credibility is a matter of perception. Credibility is in the eyes of the beholders, our customers and users. Bashein and Markus say that the two major elements of credibility are perceived expertise and perceived trustworthiness. Ideally, both should be present, but trustworthiness is absolutely necessary and sometimes is even sufficient. Yet building trust is a skill not taught in most MIS schools. (When we next hire someone, we probably should pay more attention to their grades in their psychology, sociology, and economics classes than those in their (rapidly aging) technical subjects.)

Bashein and Markus quote research that identifies four important characteristics of perceived trustworthiness: similarity and likability, prolonged interaction, appropriate behavior, and consistent, predictable behavior.

Let's look at the last element first. Given that the relationship factors are in place, predictability is important. Ideally, this would mean that we always meet the promises we make. But, Bashein and Markus point out that customers will cut us some slack if we miss a commitment, again, assuming all the other relationship factors are in place. If the relationship factors are missing, even consistent technical and schedule precision will not create overall trust.

In other words, to be trusted, we have to be physically and emotionally with our customers and be like them. But how do we do this? Here's a brainstormed list. Many of the points are from the article; some are from my experience.

• Initiate and hold regular one-on-one meetings with line managers, users and economic buyers.
• Take frequent tours or walk-throughs of customers' work areas.
• Show a sincere interest in what they do; ask them about it; listen to them.
• Talk *their* jargon, not IT-babble.
• Read the papers and magazines they read and talk about issues that they're interested in.
• Know about their customers and what their customers want from them.
• Dress like they do, even if it means something more formal than T-shirts and sneakers.
• Hang out where they hang out. Put our desks in their areas. Go to lunch with them.
• Take an interest in the non-profits they support.
• Don't rush to suggest technical or new solutions; explore familiar ground first.
• If we feel the customer is doing something wrong, listen even more carefully than ever. Try to surface the assumptions the customer is making. Even when we finally are sure we understand what's going on, raise concerns only gradually. Never be "An I told you so."
• Spend plenty of time with customers and users when new applications or technologies are implemented. Even when we're sure they don't need us any more, show up regularly so that they know we still care.
• When new applications are installed, minimize classroom training and maximize hands-on work with enough coaches around so that people can always get help. Users learn new applications better by doing rather than by listening, but, more important from the standpoint of credibility, strong relationships are built from one-to-one, real-world work, sharing both the frustrations of and the little victories over the technology.
• Ask for feedback often and in lots of different ways (e.g., interviews, surveys, metrics, etc.). When we get the feedback, demonstrate clearly that we appreciate it and are responding to it.
• Lead the customers to new technologies by involving them in the exploration processes. Take them with us to demonstrations and conferences.
• Offer to do pilot implementations of new applications. Experiment in the small. Let the users of the pilot be the lead advocates for the full system development and roll-out.
• Keep and report performance data. When relationships are good, customers will tend to depend mostly on their warm perceptions and take comfort in the fact that data exist even if they don't examine it carefully. Good data won't repair relationship problems, but if strains do occur, data at least may keep the discussions focused on business rather than on personal issues.

Joe

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