The Six Disciplines of Creditability

There are six disciplines of creditability defined by Kouzers, and Posner. They are:

1. Discovering Yourself
2. Appreciating Constituents
3. Affirming Shared Values
4. Developing Capacity
5. Serving a Purpose
6. Sustaining Hope

In this week’s blog I will discuss two of the six disciplines of creditability that I find are the most important. These two disciplines are affirming shared values, and developing capacity.

Affirming shared value is when a leader understands the diverse values among those in a project, and uses this understanding to find a unifying purpose everyone involved in a project will support. This unifying purpose then becomes the voice of the project (Kouzes & Posner, p. 68). The voice represents a common understanding of all those involved in a project but is not a formal declaration.

Shared value is best created when open "dialogue and debate "(Kouzes & Posner, p.68) among all those involved in a project are brought together, and their voices heard. A shared value properly created through open "dialogue and debate" promotes unity within a project. My experiences have shown me that people who are united work harder, and smarter to accomplish their goals. I believe a less talented team can outperform a more talented team 60% of the time by having more unity. When a talented team has unshakeable unity great things occur.

Developing capacity is when a leader makes available to those involved in a project the needed "resources, time, and opportunities" (Mahon, L, 2010) to grow, learn, and refining their individual skills. A good leader will incorporate the skills and knowledge of the project team into a project knowledge base then blend the skills and knowledge into the project.

Capacity also means ability and a leader must promote those involved in the project to use their knowledge, and skills to accomplish the goals of the project. When people feel they can use their abilities to serve their project the project will become stronger. This will make team memebers feel empowered and empowerment leads to learning (Bartle, http://www.scn.org/cmp/modules/cap-int.htm).

I believe when a leader instills empowerment through developing capacity, and marries empowerment to a shared value; a project will overcome many obstacles. When a leader practices these two of the six disciplines of creditability they reinforce three of the other disciplines of sustaining hope, serving a purpose, and appreciating constituents.