April 2008 Archives

It's a familiar setting; you, the intelligent employee, are yet again biting your tongue when your manager says something contradictory to his or her own policy or statements, or is once again making a promise that you know, that you KNOW, will never materialize, ultimately wasting your time and their own.

Perceived incompetence.

While I talk a LOT about Perception Management in the interview setting, it is important to remember that an interview is a microcosm, an attempt to concentrate as much of your personality and work ethic into as small a time frame as possible for the examination of those determining your hireability. As we all know, though, managing perception is something that some do very, very well (Rudy Giuliani) and some the very, very poorly (George W. Bush), often at their own peril. Now, if you're in a position of leadership imagine for a moment the possibility that you have been perceived in the way that your employer was portrayed above. Now take that possibility and move it firmly and finally into reality; you have and will again be perceived as an incompetent boob by those that you are in direct command of. It's a sure thing, because entirety of perception is something that NO ONE has control over. This idea extends into all facets of mentality, including a person's feelings toward race, gender, nationality, even hair style, speech style and physical body presence.

The key here, though, and the reason I bring this up is not to make you feel like you're going to be looked at like a moron constantly and in every exchange with those that you believe respect you. That simply isn't the case. I say this in the hopes of preparing you a bit better for when you ARE looked at in that way and so that it comes as less of a shock. Much like when you get a flat tire, it's something that will happen to all of us in life, and knowing how to deal with it is the key, rather than avoiding every single nail or replacing your tires every 500 miles.

The key is flexibility of self-perception. Know that you can and will be wrong at times and that it's not a bad thing. It's true; much like any deviation from average, everyone has a degree of deviation from "correct" judgment, and it's something that's built into business. This delightful margin for human error is reflected in cushions in operational productivity, in slush funds for overages in budgets, and in a million other small places that allow for wiggle room. Now, I'm not advocating that you go about your professional life all nimbly-pimbly, jumping from uneducated decision to bad business speculation like some sort of jungle cat. No, there are plenty of people who deviate so much that they ruin the margin. Do, however, acknowledge when you've made a mistake and own up to it by fixing it and learning from it. This lets those below you AND above you see that you are, in fact, human and will, in fact, make mistakes but will always fix them and not repeat them.

This DEFINITELY applies to those leading YOU, as well. Be understanding and be the ADVOCATE for the person struggling, even if they don't know they are. I believe that those that support me from below have saved me more than I know and many more times even than I have saved them. I am definitely OK with this and am very proud of this fact because as a leader of a team you are also a member of that team.

Long story short, remember that people are human, and that no one is just a title, regardless of whether all you see from them is their email address or phone number.