Just about all of us have had that experience where we’ve heard our voice on an audio recording or viewed ourselves on a video recording. “Aack, who is that?” or, “Do I really look/sound like that?” are frequent reactions.

Yes, you do.

The stranger on the recording or the weirdo who clearly needs to drop a few pounds, update the wardrobe and get a new hairstylist might be foreign to you, but it’s who and what everyone else hears and sees every day.

And by the way, the perception of you by others, as a professional, as a leader or manager and as a team member are likely different from the cape and tight wearing Superhero image you carry around of yourself.

It’s either a brilliant defense mechanism or a cruel twist of fate that almost guarantees that we walk around with one (idealized) view of ourselves locked in our craniums, while everyone else in the world perceives something different.

Mind the Gap:

Understanding how big your “perception gap” is and working to close this gap is an important part of your professional development program, regardless of your role.  And like everything else in life worth pursuing, measuring and managing your “perception gap” takes time, effort and the willingness to do something about the problem-areas.  Oh, and don’t forget the need for a helping of humility.

11 Actions to Help You Measure and Manage Your Perception Gap in the Workplace:

1. Ask. Subordinates aren’t likely to give you a straight answer but peers and managers might get you a few degrees closer to the truth. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of noise in feedback, and all sources aren’t created equal.

2. Dig. Written performance evaluations and 360 feedback programs are minefields of frequently vague and often non-behavioral feedback lacking supporting examples, but you are duty bound to comb these documents like you’re an archeologist hot on the trail of King Tut’s brother’s tomb.  There’s something valuable there somewhere, and you are going to be the one to unearth it.

3. Measure.  Create an anonymous survey asking very specific questions and looking for specific examples in the answers, and request those you come in contact with regularly to complete and return the survey with their frank input.

4. Form: I’m a tremendous fan of recruiting a small group of trusted advisors (a peer group) to work together on measuring and managing perception gaps. Draft a charter and rules of engagement that define the purpose of the group/initiative and that clearly defines expectations for participation and privacy. Much like a project team, these peer groups are temporary in nature, and the focus is on helping each other strengthen good behaviors and reduce the behaviors that detract from your performance.   Ideally, your peer group members are individuals who see you in a number of different settings.

5. Watch and Listen. Find as many opportunities as possible to record yourself. With the permission of your firm’s various powers and involved members, consider recording yourself in a number of different situations, including presentations and meetings.  Work with your peer group to assess your involvement. Turn of the audio and watch your non-verbal behaviors. Ignore yourself and watch how people react to you.  Take notes…and swallow another humility pill.

6. Write. Keep a journal. Seriously. Use your ipad or your pda or plunk down a couple of bucks for a moleskin notebook, but start documenting the feedback you receive, the efforts you are making to change, the reactions you are eliciting from others….and the areas where you struggle and stumble.

7-11: Plan, Do, Measure, Reflect and Refine. Learning and continuous improvement are essential to measuring and managing your “perception gap.” Understanding the size of the gap in different areas is important…taking action to improve (and monitoring your progress) is priceless.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

It’s unlikely that your self-image exactly matches the perception that others have of you, especially in circumstances where you are leading, coaching, selling, motivating or debating. It’s essential to your effectiveness as a professional and for your development throughout your career that you work hard to understand and manage these gaps. If you don’t, you might just fall in.  The key question is, will anyone be there to pull you out?

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About Art Petty:

Art Petty is a Leadership & Career Coach helping motivated professionals of all levels achieve their potential. In addition to working with highly motivated professionals, Art frequently works with project teams in pursuit of high performance. Art’s second book, Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development, will be published in September of 2011.

Contact Art via e-mail to discuss a coaching, workshop or speaking engagement. Check out Art’s on-line “Professional Development Sprints,” designed for the busy professional.