The Credibility Stack

The Credibility Stack is a model of the credibility an internal practitioner holds with one stakeholder, in four layers and one divisor. Talentient and Kailash Jalan built it on the trust equation of Maister, Green and Galford. Credibility equals Standing plus Substance plus Nerve plus Delivery, divided by Self-Orientation.

In symbols, Credibility = (Standing + Substance + Nerve + Delivery) / Self-Orientation.

The model draws on Maister, Green and Galford on the trust equation, and on Fiske and Cuddy on how competence and warmth are read.

Each layer is defined by the question that sits in the stakeholder's head.

The stakeholder holds these questions whether or not they are spoken aloud.

The Parts Of The Credibility Stack

Four layers add together above the line, and one divisor sits below it.

• Standing. The earned right to speak on this topic, with this person. The stakeholder asks 'Why you?'

• Substance. Business fluency, covering economics, strategy, the market and operating reality. The stakeholder asks 'Do you understand my world?'

• Nerve. Willingness to say the thing that others will not. The stakeholder asks 'Will you tell me the truth?'

• Delivery. Commitments made and kept, visibly. The stakeholder asks 'If you say it, does it happen?'

• Self-Orientation. Whose agenda the practitioner appears to be serving. The stakeholder asks 'Is this about the business, or you?'

The Rule Of The Stack

The four layers are additive, and Self-Orientation is a divisor.

High self-orientation quietly cancels everything above it.

The common response to a credibility problem is to add more substance.

The real gap often sits in standing or nerve, and extra substance can raise the perceived self-orientation.

Practitioners commonly read a credibility problem as a substance problem and respond with more evidence.

The audit usually shows that substance is already the highest score.

Standing and substance are the foundation that the other layers assume.

How The Credibility Stack Is Used

A practitioner uses the stack before a significant conversation with a named stakeholder.

The Credibility Stack Audit scores credibility with that one stakeholder across the four layers and the divisor.

The practitioner scores the layers first, and where the relationship allows asks the stakeholder to score them too.

The gap between the two sets of scores is the finding, and the practitioner chooses one visible act that raises the lowest layer.

The audit is most useful in three situations.

• A stakeholder is polite and engaged and never acts on the advice

• The practitioner is new, or newly senior, and the old sources of standing no longer apply

• The practitioner is brought in after the decision and not before it

The practitioner listens for two kinds of request.

'Can you put something together on this' is a supplier read, and 'What do you make of this' is an advisor read.

In the SURFACE Framework, the Credibility phase runs continuously underneath the other phases.