Perceptions and, of, or Reality

One of the most significant challenges to maintaining positive and productive relationships is what your counterpart (and you) perceive and what is actual reality.

There once was a manager who operated exclusively on a premise that “perception is reality”.  Unfortunately this made her too malleable and indecisive.  Rather than building cohesion in her organization she was perceived by her subordinates, peers and executives as a wishy washy climber.  This was not her intent nor her personality.  She was a hard working professional who cared about people.  Her insistence on behaving to adhere to her GUESS as to how others perceived things caused her own philosophy to be disproven.

A recent political candidate was driven out of a race because public perception was manipulated by media and others.  Another, with demonstrated character challenges in his past is going strong.  Another example of giving credibility to a perception and not to a proven reality is a harmful approach.

We must acknowledge the perceptions of others by inquiring.   We must measure reality in business so that mis-perceptions can be shown in a non-threatening and productive fashion.  Learn to monitor what others are saying about you and learn to communicate and demonstrate your positive realities.  This is an integral part of Business Relationship Engineering.

Social Gillie can help you do that.