I recently joined a new, fairly large organization and quickly realized I had my work cut out for me. This is a healthcare organization where everything is judged by clinical outcomes. I'm not a clinical person; my expertise is communications. How was I going to build a solid reputation with a skill set that is unfamiliar to the rest of the organization?

Promotional Consultant Today shares insight for how to build credibility in an organization from Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat and author of The Open Organization: Igniting Passion and Performance.

Respect must be earned, Whitehurst says; it doesn't magically happen just because you have a title behind your name. He says that when people respect you only for title, they will do minimal work. However, if you do the following three things, the respect will be genuine and long-lasting:

Show passion for the purpose of your organization and constantly drive interest in it. People are drawn to— and generally want to follow— passionate people.

Demonstrate confidence. Many people in positions of authority don't show confidence well, especially with their team. It's one thing to convey confidence to your own boss, but it's just as important to share that same confidence with those who report to you.

Engage your people. Trust has to be earned, and it's not enough to call a meeting and tell people what to do and then retreat behind your own closed door. You also need to be open about your weaknesses and ask the team to help you address them. Nobody expects perfection, so don't hold your cards too close; get your team to work with you.

There is an element of authenticity that's important as well. Even if you are a vice president, you aren't expected to know everything, so don't feign knowledge that you don't have. Instead, own up to it. It's a way to build trust. And when you do contribute your knowledge, others are more likely to listen.

Building credibility takes patience— lots of it. To make the process easier, Whitehurst shares these tips:

  1. Don't use phrases like "the boss wants it this way" or rely on hierarchical name-dropping. While that may get things done in the short term, it can curtail discussion that's core to building a meritocracy.

  2. Publicly recognize a great effort or contribution. It can be a simple thank-you e-mail in which you copy the entire team.

  3. Consider whether your influence comes from your position in the hierarchy (or access to privileged information), or whether it truly comes from respect that you have earned. If it is the former, start working on the latter.

  4. Proactively ask for feedback and ideas on a specific topic. You must respond to them all, but implement only the good ones. And don't just take the best ideas and move on; take every opportunity to reinforce the spirit of meritocracy by giving credit where it's due.

  5. Reward high-performing members of your team with interesting assignments, even if it is not in their usual area of expertise.

Source: James "Jim" Whitehurst is president and CEO of Red Hat, the world's leading provider of open source enterprise IT products and services. With a background in business development, finance and global operations, Whitehurst has proven expertise in helping companies flourish. Under his leadership, Red Hat was named to Forbes' list of The World's Most Innovative Companies in 2015, 2014 and 2012, and named one of the best places to work by Glassdoor in 2014. In June 2015, Whitehurst published The Open Organization: Igniting Passion and Performance with Harvard Business Review Press.