| Summary | | | | poorly treated by, say, a human resources consultant. |
| "What you see is what you get", goes the old saying. | | | | You become suspicious of all human resources |
| It's wrong. What you get is your interpretation of what | | | | consultants. And it'll take much good treatment by |
| you see. There's a big difference. It's usually called | | | | other human resources consultants to change your |
| perception. It's defined as how you perceive people, | | | | mind. It doesn't matter that your opinion is ill considered |
| things, situations and circumstances. It pervades | | | | or even absolutely wrong. As a mentor of mine used |
| business life. | | | | to say years ago, "the opinions that people hold are |
| How We "See" Things | | | | facts to them". |
| We acknowledge the importance of perception in | | | | Employees' Perception Of Each Other |
| everyday sayings. "I see...", "I've seen the light", "it's as if | | | | Employees have perceptions of each other. And |
| a veil has been lifted", "I've changed my view": none of | | | | groups of employees have perceptions of other |
| these sayings are about sight. Each refers to | | | | groups. "Those finance people only care about cutting |
| perception. | | | | costs," say the sales staff. "Those salespeople always |
| Perception Depends On Interpretation | | | | rort their expenses," say the finance staff. On and on it |
| Perception depends on your interpretation of what you | | | | goes. You don't need me to provide examples. |
| see. It doesn't matter whether your interpretation is | | | | Employee's Perception Of Managers |
| accurate or not. It doesn't matter how biased you are. | | | | Make no mistake. Every employee has a perception |
| You will interpret what you see according to your | | | | of you as manager. Positive, negative, accurate, |
| experience and opinions. That can cause difficulties in | | | | inaccurate, emotional or rational: each employee "sees" |
| managing employee performance. | | | | you in his or her own way. Their perception may be |
| Perception And Employees | | | | based on one or a number of events: on a brief |
| Let's say you believe that a particular employee or | | | | exchange or long experience. But they exist. |
| group of employees is lazy, uncommitted and | | | | Perception Is Inevitable |
| incompetent. Your perception will have a major | | | | Whether it takes an hour to create or is a year in the |
| influence on your behaviour towards that employee or | | | | making, perception is inevitable. You - and everyone |
| group. The reverse is equally true. If your perceptions | | | | else - will perceive things in a certain way. This even |
| are based on fact, there's no problem. But if it's based | | | | applies to people and situations you know almost |
| on hearsay or others' opinions or simply insufficient | | | | nothing about and have little or no experience of. If you |
| information, you could easily make serious errors of | | | | don't believe me, just ask an economist. |
| judgement. | | | | The Only Reality |
| Perception And Customers | | | | The Dean of one of our leading management schools |
| Ever "tear you hair out" about a major prospect who | | | | used to say "perception is the only reality". That may |
| continues to trade with a competitor? You have | | | | be rather extreme. But it does remind us of the |
| demonstrated beyond question that your product and | | | | dangers of subjectivity. As managers we may see |
| service is superior to that of your competitor in every | | | | ourselves as objective and impartial. But our objectivity |
| conceivable way. It's even 25% cheaper. The | | | | and impartiality may be based on some erratic |
| prospect refuses to budge. That's perception in action. | | | | perceptions. |
| For whatever reason, that customer perceives that | | | | Conclusion |
| dealing with your competitor will satisfy his needs more | | | | Perception is real. It's normal. It's part of our response |
| than dealing with you. | | | | to normal events and human interactions of business. |
| Perception Is Opinion Based | | | | Have a long hard look at whether your perceptions |
| Frequently, our perception of a person or situation | | | | are interfering with your business judgement. |
| reflects our emotions. You may feel that you've been | | | | |