Why Perception is reality when it comes to your career progress?
Have you ever encountered people perceiving you differently than who you are? How did that impact you? How did you react to it?
Albert Einstein said, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” That was my idea about reality too. If reality itself is an illusion, then what about the perception? So all my life, I was in an impression that what others perceive about me is none of my business because they live in their illusion. I also firmly believed that I couldn’t change what they think about me unless they change their opinion. Everyone has different expectations, needs, and they are all grown up with individual conditioning because of their environment, language, culture, race, country. An appetizing marinated piece of beef can be a mouth-watering for one and disgusting and heart throbbing experience for another. How in the world, it is possible to satisfy everyone’s expectations and needs. How do I even know how they perceive me? Why should I care?
But how wrong I was! I realized this blunder when it hit me hard financially. I lost a big part of my year-end bonus a few years back because one of my sr managers in the organization perceived me differently. I couldn’t sleep for days, thinking about why he misunderstood my actions. I indeed recognized the consequence of not taking action for the inappropriate perception of someone about me. At the same time, I also apprehended the significance of creating a positive perception.
I understood that if I don’t know what others think about me, then how can I ever change it. Whatever we feel about ourselves is immaterial as people often see us differently. Everything people see or hear or experience in any way at all is specific to them. We create a universe by perceiving it, so everything in the universe we perceive is specific to us. As Anais Nin rightly puts it, “We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are” Just like how our voice & image looks so different in the recorded video when we see it for the first few times, people see us completely different based on their conditioning.
I recognized perception is indeed a reality when it comes to the corporate world, and managing it well will give substantial rewards in terms of pay hikes, promotions, and a good reputation. I have started taking ownership to influence my colleagues and sr stakeholders. It allowed me to see the people in my workplace in a very different glass. I started observing how corporates position themselves in the name of branding. When a corporation that sells high sugar drinks can able to place themself as health promoters, why can’t we take control of what people think about us? We can’t change the people around us like how we can’t force a petal to open. Accepting them “as they are” is the first step to our journey.
Creating positive perception in every transaction irrespective of its outcome is achievable if we are open, honest, and transparent about it. People call this a personal brand or reputational brand, but to me, this is much more than that. I have five simple and unique tips that can change the way people look at you.
1) 360 View Touchpoints
We need to evaluate every touchpoint in the 360-degree view. How our direct reports, subordinates, sr stakeholders, and most importantly, our customers will see our actions. Knowing their viewpoint is crucial to deliver the right results. I always pleasantly surprised by other’s views even in simple matters, so never assume. Attentively listening and understanding their emotion is essential. People’s body language and micro-expressions reveal so much more than their words can communicate. Always remember words are a mere 7% of communication. People with high EQ shines here naturally. Honing our EQ is a must to succeed in creating a positive perception of ourselves.
2) End State Mindset
A lot of times, we fail to see the bigger picture before we start a task. Visualizing things at 30000 feet level will not only simplify tasks, but at the same time, it will allow us to see our end state more clearly. Making sure the end state is acceptable to all stakeholders is compelling to create a positive perception. Keeping this mindset in every task will completely change the way we deliver things.
3) Meta Physical
I am a firm believer in meta physical power. Our intention has enormous influence over our outcomes. It is fundamental to start every task with a positive intention and mindset. Visualizing and attracting the right result will alter the way in our subtle mind and allow us to perform better. Our being is like an iceberg; what is invisible plays a significant part in shaping our lives. Afterall our science still has more unsettled questions than answers.
4) Blow Your Own Trumpet
It is something that we are all shy away. Showcasing our positive results to our stakeholders and our colleagues is one of the easiest ways to build a positive impression about ourselves. Highlighting just outcome is not sufficient; we need to articulate the challenges we faced throughout the tenure of the tasks. Unless people see the challenges we face, they never value the effort involved in the completion. Customizing the results for the audience is essential. For instance, reporting cost saves to management and risk avoidance to the operation team will create a tangible impact. It is where 360 View Touchpoints come handy.
5) Feedback
As Warren Buffet said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will do things differently.” Creating our positive perception with people is like doing physical exercise, we need to keep doing it right every time in every touchpoint to keep ourself at the optimum level. We need to make this as our habit at a subconscious level. Feedback plays a crucial role in our constant improvement. Getting feedback from every stakeholder will rubber-stamp our credibility. Read more about feedback in my Linkedin post
To conclude
Arthur Schopenhauer says, “Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.” People tend to be very stubborn in defending their created reality. It’s our responsibility to help them to see our positive image. To win others, we should not be giving them something that we like rather what they want. We won’t be able to provide what they need in all cases, but reiterating their need and explaining our situation will help them see our position in a better light. Having a heart to heart talk can change everything and break that barrier of misperception.
Creating a positive perception about us in our workplace is our responsibility. What is your story? What do you do to create a positive image of yourself? I love to hear your comments.
#personaldevelopment #leadership #branding #personalbranding #reputational branding #feedback #transformation #careerdevelopment #perception #careergrowth #promotion
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Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
