This week, we talk about what happens when we learn that the professional reputation we have isn’t totally aligned with what we want it to be.  We might learn this through a 360 review, from a feedback-oriented manager, or from a passing comment from a colleague, and we think it’s an opportunity to take a look at what’s really going on, and decide what to do about it.

The first thing we always advocate is to gather a broad set of helpful (specific) data…what are people really experiencing of you?  There are lots of tools to help with this, and one of our favorites is an open-minded, humble conversation where we seek to understand how people truly perceive us and what the organizational context we’re operating in calls for.  

Once we have this information, we can make some conscious choices about what we want to do by asking ourselves a series of questions.  How is what I’ve learned about myself helping or hurting me in the pursuit of my goals?  What about my behavior am I compelled to do differently?  How do I respond to feedback in a way that feels honest to me and sustainable? 

Then, we talk about expressing your goals, enlisting help and getting ongoing support/feedback from others, to run small, safe, measurable experiments to see if and how you can get your reputation closer to where you want it to be. 

This conversation is full of compassion, stories and humor, because this stuff is both difficult and essential if we want to show up to work in a way that allows us to maximize our impact and our purpose in whatever we’re doing. 

As always, we’d love to hear about your experiences!

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