Have You Ever Wondered How Powerful Perception Is?

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Abdulhussain Muhammed Tejani (Dubai, UAE) is a Change Architect in Leadership and HR and has been involved in many capacities in the community and through pro bono work with youths. Presently, he is the Chief People Officer in Leadership and HR at People Matter, and an accredited Trainer for the Human Capital Institute (US).HR DIRECTOR/ VP HR
Human Resources Vice President focused on designing and delivering effective people management, talent development and workforce planning strategies to create a high-performance culture. Built a 24-year career encompassing HR and Learning and development directorships within global healthcare, banking, education, petroleum, market research and information companies covering the MENA region.

Effectively led pre and post-merger initiatives to integrate and harmonise HR personnel, systems and functions. Developed trust and credibility of the HR function, embedding processes and systems within wider business strategy and monitoring their operational impact. A key influencer and change agent who skilfully liaises with board-level executives, senior management and business unit heads in securing commitment to change management initiatives, as well as policy and procedure implementation. An engaging and inspirational leader adept at coaching, mediating and resolving employee relations issues. Experienced in modernising compensation and benefits structures, as well as establishing strategic partnerships to aid people development and the accomplishment of overarching business objectives.

CORE COMPETENCIES
Organisation Design and Restructure People Management Talent Development HR Strategy Workforce Planning Recruitment & Selection Change Management Employee Relations Compensation & Benefits Industrial Relations Training & Development Mediation, Negotiation, Dispute Resolution Project Management Policies and Procedures Development Performance Management

Perception.

The expression, “I cannot believe my eyes,” comes out so easily. Have you ever asked yourself, Why? Obviously, whatever happened was unexpected and yet it just did happen.

The simple answer is that we are governed by what has transpired, and thus we can only imagine the possible. So how does that translate in a work environment?

Imagine you walk into an organisation where no one knows you apart from those who hired you. You ask for directions to your department, and the person points you in the right direction. As you walk away, you overhear the person say to another person, “There goes another bureaucrat”.

What goes through your mind as the new person?

At that point, whatever goes through your mind should ideally be irrelevant, but unfortunately, the human psyche being what it is, the person will play that comment in their mind over and over and overthink the situation before they even get to their department. By the time they reach there, they will already have a picture in their mind which they will probably ascertain as being the truth. Thus, everything henceforth that happens will be measured against that incident. The yardstick has potentially been built rather erroneously.

Almost every perception starts like that.

the human psyche being what it is, the person will play that comment in their mind over and over and overthink the situation before they even get to their department

In a lot of cases, one hears that perception is not important and one should ignore it. Interestingly, the advice that stems from that is to be who you are.

Picture this: if you are hilarious and seen as a fun person, almost inevitably, you are seen as a clown-like character and historically are overlooked in promotions because of the “perception” that your profile will not suit the needs of the position, even though you may be a good performer. Being yourself, thus, can be counter-productive as it does not “conform”.

This stigmatisation also permeates into the way people are hired based on a very strict criterion, which begins with someone’s perception of what the person should look like in demeanour, and then this is translated into a job description. The oft-repeated phrase, “what brought you here, will not take you where you wish to go”, comes to mind. Human nature is such that we seek comfort in the familiar. Organisations are always looking to hire better and yet prefer to approach it with a sense of familiarity. This logic mirrors conformity and can potentially be the root cause of organisations cantering along at a nice, easy pace as opposed to surging forward.

I have heard the expression, “Perception is reality”, so many times and yet I cringe every time I hear it, as I too have been guilty of falling into this trap.

So how then can this “perception” be standardised when everyone has a different perspective of reality?

I have tried very hard over the course of my career not to stigmatise despite the supposed incident(s). Sometimes I ended up in a place where I felt that the individual purposely conforms.

Perception is usually a process. One evaluates the information we get via communication, body language, tonality, and our perspective of the person’s abilities. We use our senses to regulate what is acceptable based on our demeanour at the time. Various things can affect our appraisal processes, like our inability to accept those who do not think like us or our state of mind at the time, be it anger, stress or happiness. Based on historical facts, one extrapolates accordingly. Thus, someone with empathy might be more tolerant and sympathetic to other people.

A lot gets lost in translation, and thus can lead to disagreements. Interpretation requires a sense of openness in the way we make assumptions. Questions play a key role in logical assertions in our mind with regard to how we perceive others in terms of the choices they make and their reasons behind them.

Thus, eventually, we conclude based on our summations. Eventually, these have a major impact on how we respond to the person or situation.

So, where is the point of synergy if our viewing perspective is different? The makings of an answer can only arrive when we become curious and ask questions. The more we understand each other, the easier it becomes not to pass unwarranted judgment. This ability to understand each other opens our minds to possibilities which we never thought of in the first place. Our inability to ask more and understand each other leads to a lack of empathy, which hinders our ability to be more emotionally intelligent.

Thus, for organisations to foster positivity and openness, they have to work hard at fostering critical behavioural skills in how perceptions are formed at work.

On an individual level, overcoming self-perception is one of life’s all-conquering mountain climbs. Self-concept and self-esteem are so skewed and personal, it would be hard to surmise that someone’s self-concept is “right” or “wrong.” However, we can identify negative and positive aspects of self-perceptions as well as assess common barriers to forming realistic self-perceptions. What we can do is discern common patterns that people experience, which interfere with their ability to monitor, understand, and change their self-perceptions.

A strategy worth considering is Perception checking. It will help monitor one’s reactions to and perceptions about people and how we communicate. Ask yourself, “What is influencing the perceptions I am making right now?” Being aware of influences that are acting on our perceptions makes us more aware of what is happening in the perception process. Alternatively, we can also ask others around us by verifying if our understanding of a situation makes sense or not.

The steps of perception checking that I recommend one follow are:

Step 1: Take out the judgment or evaluate an aspect of a situation when conceptualising it in your mind.

Step 2: Think of all the possible variations of reasons that might explain the action.

Step 3: Try asking the person what transpired and understand it from their eyes as opposed to just yours.

To illustrate the above, allow me to explain the beauty of perception by sharing the following: In English, we have an idiom that says, “I didn’t sleep a wink at night”. When translated, the same statement in Xhosa is said in the following manner: “when dawn broke, I was looking with yesterday’s eyes”.

 

 

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