If your chances of being hired or promoted – or winning a new client – depended 20% on your qualifications and 80% on your reputation, would you need to change your behaviour?
I’m sure for most readers, the answer is ‘no’ because you are already aware of how important your reputation is to your success.
In this post we’re going to look at some of the things, beyond honesty, that contribute to a good reputation. If you’d like to know more about how to get more insights into a person’s reputation, read this post.
These are our top five factors contributing to a high personal approval rating:
1. Valuing others for the relationships you have with them, not just for what you think they can do for you.
2. Positive interactions and communication with peers, managers, suppliers, clients and competitors.
3. Congruence or acting in ways that are consistent with your values and the values of your organisation. This is ‘walking the talk’.
4. Delivery – doing what you said you’d do, even if it will cost you. Corollary: Don’t promise what you can’t deliver.
5. Consistency in how you act in the full range of situations you encouner in life and business. People like to extrapolate from how they’ve seen you behave in one instance to how you will approach other situations and if you’re not consistent you’ll cause confusion, which can be damaging for you.
As an employee, consultant or adviser, be aware of how all these factors contribute to your reputation and the reputation of your organisation.
As a manager, you could use these five factors as a checklist when assessing candidates for employment or promotion, as you go through your interviews, reference checking and staff development processes. Lack of clarity on any one of these factors is a signal that you may need to do some more research before making your decision.
Remember “You can’t build your reputation on what you’re going to do.” (Henry Ford)
