Would you follow someone who you didn’t find credible? I highly doubt it. We recognize someone as credible when they have impressive credentials, plenty of experience, and/or integrity (they don’t have to have all 3). For example, some people could care less about the initials after one’s name as long as they believe they can help them get results.

We want to feel safe in their care and that they are knowledgeable enough to handle our situation’s complexity.

Credibility is so important that most of us wouldn’t do business with someone lacking in it. It’s a metric to help us filter out certain people or companies. As they say, we do business with people we know, like and trust. Credibility falls in the trust department, “Will this person be able to help me get results in a way that is above board?”

This blog outlines challenges that intuitive female leaders face when using their intuition and 5 strategies to build credibility and have a positive impact.

The Challenges of Being an Intuitive Female Leader

There is also gender bias. You’ve probably heard it said that women are less logical and more emotional than men.  More accurately, I believe women are more in tune with their emotional side and express it more openly.  We all have an equal amount of emotions, but some are better at repressing them.

Further, I want to make it clear that emotionality and intuition are not the same. Emotions and feelings come and go, and some may get you really off track.  Intuition though is highly trustworthy and non-dramatic. It sneaks right up on you as a welcome surprise.

I’ve spoken with women leaders who knew something was the right decision, but because it was intuitive and they didn’t have the numbers to support it, they kept quiet about it. Yet others did research to support their intuition and THEN presented it to their team. This works well.

Understanding Mindful Leadership

A. Communicate Clearly: Though sometimes you might feel “out there” and that you don’t belong at your company, that’s OK. They don’t have to know your innermost, sensitive thoughts and feelings. But if you want them to take action on something, you’ll want to explain your reasoning and thought processes to help others understand your decisions.  Sometimes you just gotta play the game.

B. Build Relationships:   Everyone doesn’t have to like you or even get you.  I do recommend that you build strong connections with 1-3 colleagues and stakeholders who you trust and have rapport with.  It’s important to feel supported to help you manage stress.

Since support is the antidote to stress and the pressure you are bound to put on yourself, be intentional about having a small inner circle whom you know have your back.

C. Provide Evidence: Use data and other evidence to support your decisions and demonstrate the value of your approach.  For many intuitive women leaders, they don’t like having to mess with data collection since they already know things. Again, if the objective is important enough to you, you’ll take an extra ½ hour or so to gather supporting material to your position.

D. Learn from Failure: I have perfectionistic tendencies, as you may have.  I don’t like to get things wrong, especially when I have to pay for it financially.  When it comes to getting marketing “right,” I’ve felt pretty inadequate, and my ineffectiveness in this department has cost me a LOT of time and money over the years.

But if we are going to get good at gaining the respect of others so that they’ll do business with us, then we have to learn to be okay with making mistakes and learning from them.

E. Seek Feedback: To gain credibility as a woman leader, one of the scariest things you can do is ask others what they really think of you. What if you don’t like their answer? You run the risk of feeling hurt, rejected, and insulted.

Yet, I’m confident you can handle the feedback. It can be invaluable when it comes to helping you be a credible leader. Others will definitely respect you more for having the courage to ask.

Addressing Concerns About Intuition in Leadership

For example, let’s say a corporation is damaging the environment due to their method of waste disposal of toxic substances after producing their goods. Just because we can’t figure out all of the variables that will be impacted and their worth (what’s the value of human, animal and plant life, after all), doesn’t mean that there isn’t a legitimate problem that needs to be solved.

It’s important to be able to respond to criticism and skepticism in a constructive and respectful way.  I want you to hear this very clearly if you are using your intuition to solve a problem that others are ignoring because you don’t have relevant statistics: you are probably right about the problem and the solution.

You want to keep your emotions and EGO in check if you’re not being taken seriously.  This isn’t to discount what you have to say, but to build your credibility so that others WILL listen to you. You don’t want to give them ammunition that you are overly emotional and thus not worthy of being heard.

Keep getting creative, and staying grounded in your truth, and if you persist, you will be heard and seen as credible and have the positive impact you desire to have…at least with the people who need to hear you.

Conclusion

As a female leader, you have to be clever and build your credibility to utilize intuitive information, until you’ve built a reputation for yourself anyway.

To build your credibility, you want to communicate clearly, foster key relationships, provide evidence of your position, learn from failure and seek feedback from others.

Perhaps most important, check your EGO. Who cares if they don’t get you.  You gotta be smart and play the game to be seen as credible. You ARE already credible and you know this. Now you need to be clever so others will listen to you and have the impact you desire. You’ve got this.

Call to Action: To build your mental muscle and your subsequent credibility, check out Mental Fitness for Intuitive Women Leaders.