♬Hey Everybody, Take a Look at Me...♬
♬...I've Got Street Credibility ♬
Wham Rap! Wham!
Your promotion comes with congratulations, a new title, and
suddenly everyone's looking to you for answers.
But leadership credibility is not automatically granted with
the job title. You can't just announce you're a leader and expect people to
follow. Real credibility has to be earned, one conversation at a time.
The credibility gap
I’ve seen it many times - brilliant technical experts who
get promoted to leadership roles and suddenly feel like they're drowning. The
skills that made them excellent at their previous job, deep expertise,
attention to detail, and solving complex problems independently, don't
necessarily translate to leading people.
They find themselves thinking: "I was great at my job.
Why is this so hard?"
The answer is simple but not easy. Leadership credibility
comes from entirely different skills. It's not having all the answers; it's
asking the right questions. It's not being the smartest person in the room;
it's creating an environment where everyone can contribute their intelligence.
What real street cred looks like
When Wham! sang about street credibility,
they were talking about a convincing display of
style or knowledge and having the acceptance and respect of people. In
leadership terms, that means demonstrating day after day that you’re authentic
and can be trusted with people's careers, their wellbeing, and their
professional growth.
Leadership credibility shows up in how you:
- Handle
a team member's mistakes without throwing them under the bus
- Give
feedback that helps people improve rather than just pointing out what's
wrong
- Navigate
conflict in a way that strengthens rather than damages relationships
- Communicate
changes honestly, even when you don't have all the details yourself
- Support your team's ideas publicly, even when they weren't originally yours
Foundations that work
When leaders can create psychological Safety, build genuine
Trust, develop authentic Relationships, use Emotional intelligence, encourage
Expression, and maintain Truthfulness, they earn the right to be followed.
Then, in each specific conversation, they balance being
Candid yet Respectful, Engaging yet Directional, always Sensitive to the human
element.
This isn't theoretical, it's the practical STREETCREDS framework
that underpins effective leadership development.
The investment that pays forward
When organisations develop leaders effectively, several
things happen:
Teams perform better because people trust their leader's
judgement. Conflict gets resolved more quickly because people feel safe
bringing issues forward. Change initiatives succeed because people believe in
the leader driving them. The organisation attracts and retains talent because
people want to work for credible leaders.
Building your leadership legacy
The question isn't whether you have the title or the
authority. The question is whether you have the credibility.
Can people look at your leaders and say, "There's
someone I trust, respect, and want to follow"? Do you have the street cred
that comes from consistently demonstrating you care about people, make good
decisions, and can be counted on when things get tough?
That's what Savvy Leadership development creates: leaders
who don't just manage tasks but truly inspire people through the conversations
they have every day.
If you're ready to develop leaders with real street
credibility, let's start the conversation.
Hi, I’m Sarah Harvey. I transform technical experts into
confident people leaders through Savvy Leadership programmes built on practical
communication skills and the STREETCREDS framework.