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How to Change Your Reputation at Work – Eight Steps

How to change your reputation If you took my advice last week and asked your boss who impacts the decisions made about you at work and what those people think of you, you probably got some feedback. The question is, what should you do with the feedback?

We know impressions are made quickly and are hard to change. But it’s not impossible to repair your reputation. If you want to change how people see you, I’d suggest being very overt about the changes you’ve made. Don’t simply alter your behavior and wait for people to notice. They likely won’t.

Once people have formed an opinion about you, that’s often their opinion for as long as they know you. For example, if you have a tendency to be late, even if you periodically show up on time, your friends and coworkers will think of you as the person who is always late. If you work with someone who tends to miss deadlines, even if she periodically turns work in on time, you’ll think of her as someone who misses deadlines.

Once people make a decision about us, that’s often how they’ll see us for the duration our relationship. So if you want to repair your reputation, you’re going to have to do it overtly. Making changes and hoping people notice, won’t produce the desired result.

Here Are Eight Steps to Repair Your Reputation:

  1. Ask people who can impact your reputation and whose judgment you trust for feedback.
  2. Work hard to manage yourself and not get defensive. Respond to all feedback, no matter how hard it is to hear or how invalid it may feel with, “Thank you for telling me that. I’m going to think about what you said. I may come back to talk more later.”
  3. Once you’ve absorbed the feedback, decide what, if any, changes you will make.
  4. Change your behavior for a period of weeks.
  5. Return to the people who gave you feedback, tell them about the behavior changes you’ve made, and ask them to observe your behavior.
  6. Tell the people who gave you feedback that you’ll ask them for feedback again in a few weeks, and you want to know what they see.
  7. Return to the people who gave you feedback and ask what changes they have or haven’t noticed.
  8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 at least quarterly. Everyone periodically does things that can damage their reputation.

Overtly pointing out the behavior changes you’ve made, asking people who are important to you to pay attention, and give you additional feedback, is key to altering your reputation. Most people working to change their reputation don’t do this. They make behavior changes and hope others notice. If you want to alter your reputation and how others see you, you need to do so overtly. Tell people the changes you’ve made; don’t make them guess. Ask people to observe your behavior, and then ask for more feedback. And no matter how hard the feedback is to hear, don’t get defensive. Becoming defensive will ensure you don’t get feedback the next time you ask.

How to change your reputation

About 

Shari Harley is the founder and President of Candid Culture, a Denver-based training firm that is bringing candor back to the workplace, making it easier to give feedback at work. Shari is the author of the business communication book How to Say Anything to Anyone: A Guide to Building Business Relationships that Really Work. She is a keynote speaker at conferences and does training throughout the U.S. Learn more about Shari Harley and Candid Culture’s training programs at www.candidculture.com.

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2 Responses to “How to Change Your Reputation at Work – Eight Steps”

  1. GK says:

    I suspect I have a reputation for being too easy and not confronting problem behaviors. How do I inform my staff that I want all of us to become more accountable? Specific problem behaviors include an employee who is late every day who I do not confront every day, and an employee who plays computer games when her attorneys are gone that I do not confront. I am very confrontation averse and need to change this about myself!

    • Shari Harley says:

      Hi there, thanks for reading the blog and for your questions. Telling one on yourself goes a long way to demonstrating that we’re all learning, growing and are humble. How about saying something like, “I’m realizing that I haven’t been addressing things that are likely reducing our productivity. I’m going to be talking with each of you individually about these things. And I’m going to do that to help you be more successful and productive, not to be the hammer. Please take my coaching and feedback in the spirit it’s intended, which is to help you be successful.” Something to that effect. Positive, but honest. What do you think? Shari

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