Do your colleagues perceive you the way you want them to?

Learn how you can effectively influence how others perceive you

Our daily decisions are often driven by how we perceive people and situations.

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Perceptions are considered as reality irrespective of whether perceptions reflect the truth or not.

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Therefore it is very essential for us to be aware how perceptions are built. ?We need to know how to manage how others perceive us.

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Perceptions and managing perceptions is important in every sphere of our lives.

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This also includes how you manage other people’s perception about yourself at your workplace.

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Promotions, new opportunities and career growth can depend significantly on how people perceive you.

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And you can take strategic steps to manage perceptions people have about you.

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Before we discuss how, let me share with you an example of how perceptions play a key role in our professional careers.

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My client, Jennifer (name changed) wanted acceleration in her career.

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We agreed that a 360 degrees Leadership Assessment Survey will be a good way to assess where she currently stands.

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As part of the Leadership Assessment Survey, she had to reach out to her colleagues - bosses/ upline managers, peers and team members who reported to her.

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They gave inputs about her strengths and improvement / growth areas.

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She also gave her own inputs (her self-assessment) about her strengths and areas of improvement.

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When the survey report came, we looked at the gaps. Gaps between her understanding about herself compared to her colleagues’ perceptions about her.

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Now, Jennifer thought she is a strategic leader. She thought strategic skills was her strength.

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When the assessment survey report came she was visibly upset.

Her immediate boss and her upline boss, both had made remarks stating she was strong in business operations but she lacked strategic insights.

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They also mentioned the need to develop strategic skills, for her to grow in her career.

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Jennifer was upset and refused to agree to these comments made by her managers.

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She said, “No, I don't agree ! I am a strategic leader. I am bringing in many changes in my organization. I am already taking a lot of proactive steps for this organization because I can see what is going to happen in the coming few months. I am already gearing up and taking those steps so that we are ready when things happen.”

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I had to calm Jennifer down. I told her, “Let us take a look at the complete picture.”

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I explained to her that there can be three possibilities:

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Possibility 1: You are a strategic leader. But both your first line and second line bosses see you as an operational leader. So there is a gap. They do not see your strategic skills which you bring to the table. ?We need to take steps to bridge the gap.

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Possibility 2: You actually are a leader who is strong in operational skills. And you need to build up your strategic insights. Maybe this is your blind spot. If that be the case, there is a gap. And we need to bridge the gap.

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Possibility 3: Both you and your bosses are partially correct. However, none of you have the complete picture – of who you really are, what your strengths and skills are. Maybe you are strong both in strategy and execution/operations. However, what the organization needs you to demonstrate at this moment is more of strategic skills and strategic actions. If this is true, then there is a gap. And we need to bridge that gap.

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So what is important is for you is to find out what perceptions the organization and your colleagues, especially your leaders have about you.

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Evaluate where you are and where you want to be - you are at point A and you want to reach point B.

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Find out the gap - what do you need to reach point B.

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And then, plan your steps - what will you do to bridge the gap.

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Perceptions might be considered as reality in the workplace.

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Perceptions can open up or close doors of opportunities – opportunities for growth, promotions and bigger roles.

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Therefore, managing perceptions at your workplace is very important for your career and your future.

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Here are seven things you can do to influence how people perceive you at your workplace:

1.?????Develop awareness of how people perceive you at your workplace - both the good and the not so good part about you.

2.?????Identify your group of trusted advisors. These are people whom you trust, who will give you honest feedback. Give them permission to give you honest feedback. Ask them to keep you accountable.

3.?????Find the gap. Find out what the organization expects from you. Find the gap of who you think you are and who they perceive you to be. Find out what you need to do for you to reach your desired goal.

4.?????Be strategic. Take steps to bridge the gap and demonstrate the same in your actions and in your words.

5.?????Be open and vulnerable. Have the courage to ask the other person directly to find out how he/she perceives you to be.

6.?????Leverage the power of ‘Feedforward’. Schedule time with your important stakeholders (bosses, clients, peers, team members) and ask them what change they would like to see in you. This is unlike feedback. Feedback is getting inputs once things have already happened. Feedforward is asking for inputs in advance on how to operate/execute/behave should certain situations or circumstances arise.

7.?????Be intentional. Unless you are intentional to become better, you will not give this priority. Find out ways of how you can be intentional and accountable.

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If you want to get better at Perception Management, write to me at [email protected] and we can schedule some time to discuss more.