Authenticity at Work: Can ‘I Am What I Am’ Thrive in a Professional Environment?
At the workplace, can one say “I am what I am and I don’t care about what you think of me”? However one wishes to think so, one cannot escape how others perceive. It is a hard truth that perceptions of others towards you in the workplace can matter significantly.
Below are some of the ways how perceptions at workplace touch every individual.
- How others trust and relate to you
- How others consider to collaborate with you on assignments or in daily transactions
- How you are valued or respected at workplace
- How you can influence your way through the complex situations
- How you can lead teams
- How your overall experience at the workplace makes you feel
To put it succinctly, perceptions in the workplace do matter because they can significantly affect your career trajectory, relationships, and overall work experience. Therefore, managing how you’re perceived, while maintaining authenticity, can help you navigate the workplace more effectively.
How to engage in perception management?
You cannot control how others think of you; however, you can choose how you wish to behave so that others see you in the right perspective. Here are some of the ideas to consider:
- Take initiative to meet and greet
- Be proactive and excel in your communication
- Ensure authenticity in your daily behaviour
- Make it easy for others to know you
- Keep yourself visible in right forums with meaningful purpose
- Learn to showcase achievements without appearing to be bragging about
- Remain reliable and resourceful
- Share information that helps others
- Listen and respect others’ views
- Appreciate others achievements genuinely
- Stay observant to understand what others expect from you
It is important to note that consistency is the key to build and manage perceptions. Many of these above behaviours have to demonstrated have to be demonstrated consistently so that others take note of. A mere random act will not create any impact. Also, it is important that you demonstrate as many of these behaviours in a virtual environment as well, which is often the case.
What if others do not acknowledge my behaviours?
It can be frustrating when people don’t notice your behaviours or the changes you’ve made, especially when you’ve put effort into improving yourself. Here are a few reasons why this might happen:
- The attempts you made or the changes you brought in are too small for others to notice
- The change you are attempting may be very gradual and they need to evolve
- Perception of others towards is too deep to change quickly
- Others may need more consistent behaviour for them to believe the change in you
In summary, if you think perceptions at workplace are important, you need to keep working on your behaviors with conviction even if others are taking time to acknowledge. Over time, consistent change will become more apparent.
Author,
Dr raj – CEO HR Footprints
