Professional Development: How to Gain Credibility and Respect

The first step to gaining credibility and respect is to take yourself seriously and respect yourself. Be congruent in both your verbal and non-verbal communication. Value who you are and what you have to say so much that others won’t even question whether what you’re saying is worth listening to.

Verbal communication:
· make statements
· avoid trivial modifiers and disclaimers
· show a sense of humor
· share information appropriately.

Non verbal communication:
· take up more space
· hold your head straight and high
· use direct eye contact
· speak with sufficient volume