By Sara Canaday
Career Strategist, Special to Online Career Tips
Corey had always been known for her determination and enthusiasm. She was charismatic and likable and a fearless defender of those who worked for and with her. So she was completely blindsided when in a performance review her boss suggested that she curb her enthusiasm during interdepartmental meetings. He let her know that other department managers and several executives were becoming annoyed with her constant role as supercharged advocate. How she perceived herself and how others perceived her could not have been more askew, and it was affecting her ability to perform at a high level.
Because we are human and because most of us don’t have enough honest counselors, such episodes can happen anywhere and anytime, and they can be devastating for both us and our organizations. Even our employees’ engagement can be harmed. A 2010 study found that “senior leader reputation can drive employee commitment by as much as 41%.”
As leaders, we all hope that our messages, both verbal and nonverbal, are received by others the way we intend, but many things can prevent that from happening. Our behavior or tone can unintentionally sabotage or dilute our communications and reduce our influence.
As an executive coach, I try to illuminate what I call “professional blind spots” that cause smart, well-meaning leaders to be perceived in negative ways by their co-workers. These otherwise talented people simply don’t recognize that an underlying attitude or subtle behavior is hurting them and holding them back. Simply put, they just don’t see the problem.
I’ve worked with clients who suffer from a wide range of blind spots, and some reputation snafus seem to show up time and time again. People are often:
- Intelligent and highly qualified but perceived by others to be condescending and elitist.
- Decisive and candid but perceived by others to be abrupt and insensitive.
- Extremely energetic and driven but perceived by others to be relentless and unrealistic.
- Composed and steady but perceived by others to be robotic and indifferent.
- Methodical and compliant but perceived by others to be inflexible and overly cautious.
- Assertive and enthusiastic but perceived by others to be self-serving and inappropriate.
- Spirited and passionate but perceived by others to be intense and overzealous.
- Reliable and high performing but perceived by others to be one-dimensional and over-functioning.
How can we identify our own blind spots and help our direct reports do the same? We must look at ourselves honestly, invite others we respect to give us feedback, and be willing to make changes.
Start by spending some time thinking about how you want to be perceived. What’s your ideal reputation? How do you want to make an impact on others? How do you want to communicate and interact with your colleagues? How do you hope to make others feel?
Next, reach out to people who have observed your performance and are willing to give you candid feedback on how you are perceived. You can collect that information on a formal basis using some type of 360° assessment or informally over lunch with a colleague. However you do it, think carefully about what you hear. What is your reputation among your co-workers? Do you detect any behaviors or thought processes that could be undermining your influence as a leader? Are some unconscious habits or tendencies limiting your ability to get things done with and through others?
On the bright side, you may uncover hidden strengths you’ve never recognized but your colleagues have noticed and appreciate. Whether comments you collect are positive or negative, push yourself to think of them as a tool for improving your influence. Looking at your feedback as a valuable asset rather than a judgment or criticism, you’ll be able to analyze it objectively and apply it much more productively.
Finally, be prepared to adjust your attitudes and behaviors so that your reputation more closely aligns with your ideal. Take more notice of your effect on others in the future, and keep that feedback loop open.
If you and your company’s other top leaders can learn to artfully manage the perceptions that affect your professional reputations, you’ll be able to dramatically increase your ability to influence others and lead team performance. We’ll never find an influence factor listed on the résumés of hopeful job candidates, but if we can learn how to identify those with the strongest grasp on reputation management, we will give our organizations a serious competitive advantage.
Sara Canaday, is a career strategist and corporate speaker and author of You—According to Them: Uncovering the Blind Spots That Impact Your Reputation and Your Career.
Comments are closed.