Perception and Fit
You hear this one all the time, “Perception is reality.” Especially if you’re in sales where it’s almost a hymn.
You can apply it to your people too. How they perceive you as a leader and how they perceive their work is their reality.
I can see your head nodding slightly and the thought bubble saying, “. . .and??”
Bear with me. If that’s true (work perception=work reality), then isn’t one of your jobs as leader to manage your team’s perceptions?
I bring this up because in my recent boardroom visits, I heard two comments that stuck with me.
“. . .we’ve done everything we can about X, if they don’t get it now. . .”
and
“. . .once we get past this, we may be interested in looking at that market again. . .”
Both of these statements come from companies that are working hard to grow their business. Both have well defined goals, both have extremely talented people on board, and both have strong financial support. And though they are so similar, the outcomes of those meetings couldn’t be more different.
I am here to tell you that it’s all about perception. Our brains are miraculous things yet they have a hard time separating perception and reality.
With that in mind, what do those two statements do to your brain when you read them? Look at that first one again. It just shuts the brain off, doesn’t it? It’s telling our brain, “there is no more to be done here.”
Contrast that with the second statement. It has action, it suggests a future. It tells our brain, “the work here isn’t quite done, so don’t discard the work we’ve done.”
In other words, one statements encourages the perception that there is no more thought to be put into the subject, and the other gives the perception that there is plenty to still be done, and not only that, but you may need to revisit this subject, so take note!
As a leader, which perception/reality would you rather have your people working in? Which one do you think is going to encourage your team’s individual FIT to emerge?
Keep their minds open.
Good stuff.