LEAREDSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Eight Steps for Managing Perception and Developing a Great Reputation

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The following Eight fundamental practices provide a key strategy in managing perception and developing a great reputation. While they are listed in sequential order, as an individual you will find yourself constantly moving back and forth among the elements as you work to build the perception others have of you and enhance your reputation with family, friends and business colleagues.

1. Build relationships:
• The relationships of “all” individuals within any human endeavor, is absolutely essential for success to happen, be they husband – wife, parent – child, teacher – student, leader – follower, or coach – player.
• Evidence of a “healthy relationship” is that the relationship is challenging, honest, trusting and supportive.
• A healthy relationship is also one in which people learn to work through their differences.
2. Model the Way:
• You cast a long shadow of influence.
• Others will listen to your talk, but watch your walk.
• Many people you come in contact with will emulate at least some of your behaviors.
• You must be “unconditionally constructive.”
• You must constantly be building in a positive manner your “perception capital” or your “reputation capital.”
3. Listen to Your Friends:
• You were born with two ears and one mouth – use them accordingly.
• You must listen with your whole being.
• Demonstrate that you are listening by making eye contact, through your body language and by keeping your mind in a listening mode.
• Like two people who have just fallen in love, be fully focused and engaged in the process of listening.
• To listen effectively you must ignore your own needs and concentrate your attention on the person speaking.
4. Challenge Your Friends:
• Challenge your friends to go to places they have never been before.
• Let your friends know that technology will continually make the world a new place.
• Technology has an ever-growing impact on our lives.
• The human activity of choice is a strong force, which complicates or has an impact on how technology (and I would add, a relationship) is allowed to change or not change our world.
• Choice stifles or enhances our ability to cope with the ever-quickening pace of change brought on by today’s economic and political environment.
• Challenge your friends to deal effectively with change.
5. Inspire Your Friends:
• Inspiring your friends most always begins with a vision.
• A vision is about possibilities, it’s about the future.
• Visions are statements about destinations in time, our images of the future, and our window of the world of tomorrow.
• Successful people I have interviewed or known personally have at one time or another imagined a significant future.
• A vision acts like true north on a compass. It points the way to a specific destination.
• Aristotle stated, “A vivid imagination compels the whole body to obey it.”
6. Enable your Friends:
• You can only enable others to act if they (your friends) have a desire to act.
• Help him or her describe in their own words and their own descriptive thoughts, what it will take for them to enable their own future.
• Each thoughtful person has hopes and desires for their future: it is just that we become so accustomed to responding to others’ expectations of what our path should be that our true thoughts often remain at an unconscious level.
• You need to challenge others to truly think…so they can discover and take responsibility for their own vision of their possible future.
7. Dialogue with Your Friends:
• To be meaningful and transformational, the discussions held between you and your friends must go beyond a simple conversation and enter the world of dialogue.
• In order to be fully effective, dialogue must involve insightful thinking about the world of work and include the non-business, social, family and personal world of your friends.
• People do not live in one world or another, their life is affected by the whole.
• Develop the capacity to help others explore and develop their strengths and competencies, which will bring them success to all facets of their life.
8. Value the Journey:
• I once saw an advertisement that stated, “Having fun is serious business.” Being a person who is perceived to have a good reputation is serious business; however, it can and should be both enjoyable and fun.
• To truly enjoy and have fun in virtually anything you do, you must be first and foremost passionate about it.
• Some motivational speakers speak to the potential of living one’s dreams. When it comes to enjoying and having fun in your work and play I would speak to living one’s passion.

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About Ingbretsen Consulting LLC:
Coach and author Roger Ingbretsen is a certified executive coach and organizational developer, providing organizational and career guidance to professionals, managers, supervisors and all individuals looking for "real world" career development and business information. His entrepreneurial approach will help you learn how to plan, lead and succeed in your career. Roger is the creator of the “Leadership Development Coaching Experience©” and author of the personal development reference eBooks, “Plan Your Career Now: The Survival Guide for the American Workplace” and “Master Your Career: Proven Strategies for Career Success©.” To know more and claim dozens of Rogers free articles go to www.ingbretsen.com or call 509 999 7008.

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