Changing Yourself and Your Reputation

Cartwright

• Verlag: Center for Creative Leadership Press
• Jahr: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781604916713
• Thema: Business
• Thema: Leadership

This book offers help in making changes - and in getting people to notice them. It's hard work deciding to change and then making the change happen. But what if you're doing all that work and making significant changes - and no one notices? It can be very discouraging! But take heart! This book shows you how to move on with the follow-through: getting people to notice that you are changing.

How to Get Noticed

Changing ineffective habits takes work. Before you can even tackle the problem of making a change, you have to decide to change. After you make a change, you have to have patience and a strategy for getting people to notice that you are changing. You can shape that strategy with tactics that involve feedback, coaching, and other developmental relationships. Approach change honestly, reach out to others, persevere through the transition from old behavior to new, and partner with others who will give you constructive feedback on your actions.

Receiving and Responding to Feedback

When you receive feedback, treat it as an important gift. You can measure its importance partly by how much it helps you increase your awareness about your actions and how they affect others. If you learn from feedback something about yourself that you didn’t know before, or you learn something about the impact you have on others that you didn’t realize before, then you have received a very important gift—one that isn’t easy to come by.

If you think of feedback as a gift, you will want to recognize it and thank the person who has given it to you. You can construct your appreciation as an opportunity to further publicize and market the changes you are making so that you can continue to receive constructive feedback and assessments.

For example, you could gather the people who have responded to a written assessment of you, such as a 360-degree developmental evaluation, and tell them something like this:

I appreciate the feedback you have given me. You told me I am doing well getting and disseminating information, and I am glad to know that. I realize that being an effective conduit for information is an essential part of my role as a manager in this organization. You also told me I could do some work on being more emotionally accessible, and I am committed to doing that.

I need your suggestions on how to achieve this. I am going to leave the room so that you can talk freely, and I ask that one of you write the group’s suggestions on this flipchart. I want you to know that I am really going to give it my best effort because it is important to me. I’ll come back to the room in thirty minutes and read your suggestions. You can just leave them on the chart for me, or if you want to, you’re welcome to stick around and talk about it or come to me later.

Behavior Change Worksheet: Sample

What feedback have you received?

People view me as indecisive.

Which of your personality traits or preferences does the feedback relate to?

Preference for intuitive perceiving on MBTI, preference for originator on CSI, preference for innovator/visionary on CPI.

What related strength do you want to maintain?

flexibility, creativity

What change in your behavior would be useful?

I always wait until the last minute to announce a decision in case a “better deal” comes along or in case I get new information. I could use my strength of flexibility and not do this every time. Sometimes I could announce a decision early, since I know this is something people need from me.

How could you “market” this change?

I could let people know my preference to announce a decision late, and why I prefer that, when I announce something early, so they will know I am changing my behavior.

Who are possible feedback partners?

my peers and my family ...