The Problem of Perception

The Problem of Perception

It can be difficult to gauge how others perceive us.

We believe we are acting in one way and others see us acting in another. This is the basis of most workplace communication issues. It is the problem of perception.

Perception is driven from a reference point. The easiest reference point for us to use is our own.  After all, we have immediate access to the knowledge we need to justify our position, behaviours and motivations.

The problem is that our perception is not always accurate. We have our own internal biases, beliefs and confidence that inform how we think we are perceived. These are our internal realities. Those around us have their beliefs and biases about us. These form our external realities. The closer these two realities are to each other the better our perception. This makes it easier for us to communicate with others.

If there is incongruence between our internal and external realities we will have a perception issue and this creates a communication issue. (Just think of the drunken uncle at Christmas who thinks he is funny but no one else does.)

It is the same in the work environment. Many sales people or leaders have the internal reality that they cannot perform at level while the organisation believes they can. The outcome is a sales person/leader who just doesn’t perform well enough despite having all the skills to do so. At the other extreme, many people believe they are much better than reality says they are.

The easiest way to reframe internal realities is through external observation. When I record and play back business leaders, sales people and speakers they gain instant access into their external realities.

  • Where leaders erroneously believe that they are not good enough they can see their strengths.
  • Where faltering sales people believe they are engaging they see why customers are turning away.
  • Where speakers believe they are offering insight they can see the external reality of their message.

This is a powerful way to drive lasting change.

The two programs that use video coaching to drive this change are one-on-one Executive Coaching and the Right Now Intensive training programs. In each of these programs, participants see how they are perceived in a real world business situations. This makes change easy to understand and act upon. Coupled with techniques and strategies that build self-awareness and gain insight into others, these are powerful programs for lifting the performance of team members and leaders.

If you have team members or leaders who need to alter their internal reality to match external realities let me know. I can create a program for you that will bring these two realities closer together.

Posted in Executive Speaking Skills, Executive Speaking Video, leadership

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