Creating a Positive Professional
Image
In today’s diverse workplace, your
actions and motives are constantly under scrutiny. Time to manage your own
professional image before others do it for you.
An interview with professor
Laura Morgan Roberts.
As HBS professor Laura Morgan
Roberts sees it, if you aren't managing your own professional image, others
are.
"People are constantly
observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character,
and commitment, which are rapidly disseminated throughout your workplace,"
she says. "It is only wise to add your voice in framing others' theories
about who you are and what you can accomplish."
There are plenty of books telling
you how to "dress for success" and control your body language. But
keeping on top of your personal traits is only part of the story of managing
your professional image, says Roberts. You also belong to a social identity
group—African American male, working mother—that brings its own stereotyping
from the people you work with, especially in today's diverse workplaces. You
can put on a suit and cut your hair to improve your appearance, but how do you
manage something like skin color?
Roberts will present her research,
called "Changing Faces: Professional Image Construction in Diverse
Organizational Settings," in the October issue of the Academy of
Management Review.
She discusses her research in this
interview.
Mallory Stark: What is a professional image?
Laura Morgan Roberts: Your professional image is the set of qualities and
characteristics that represent perceptions of your competence and character as
judged by your key constituents (i.e., clients, superiors, subordinates,
colleagues).
Q:
What is the difference between "desired professional image" and
"perceived professional image?"
A:
It is important to distinguish between the image you want others to have of you
and the image that you think people currently have of you.
Most people want to be described as
technically competent, socially skilled, of strong character and integrity, and
committed to your work, your team, and your company. Research shows that the
most favorably regarded traits are trustworthiness, caring, humility, and
capability.
Ask yourself the question: What do I
want my key constituents to say about me when I'm not in the room? This
description is your desired professional image. Likewise, you might ask
yourself the question: What am I concerned that my key constituents might say
about me when I'm not in the room? The answer to this question represents your undesired
professional image.
You can never know exactly what all
of your key constituents think about you, or how they would describe you when
you aren't in the room. You can, however, draw inferences about your current
professional image based on your interactions with key constituents. People
often give you direct feedback about your persona that tells you what they
think about your level of competence, character, and commitment. Other times,
you may receive indirect signals about your image, through job assignments or
referrals and recommendations. Taken together, these direct and indirect
signals shape your perceived professional image, your best guess of how
you think your key constituents perceive you.
Q:
How do stereotypes affect perceived professional image?
A:
In the increasingly diverse, twenty-first century workplace, people face a
number of complex challenges to creating a positive professional image. They
often experience a significant incongruence between their desired professional
image and their perceived professional image. In short, they are not perceived
in the manner they desire; instead, their undesired professional image may be
more closely aligned with how their key constituents actually perceive them.
What lies at the source of this
incongruence? Three types of identity threats—predicaments, devaluation, and
illegitimacy—compromise key constituents' perceptions of technical competence,
social competence, character, and commitment. All professionals will experience
a "predicament" or event that reflects poorly on their competence,
character, or commitment at some point in time, due to mistakes they have made
in the past that have become public knowledge, or competency gaps (e.g.,
shortcomings or limitations in skill set or style).
Members of negatively stereotyped
identity groups may experience an additional form of identity threat known as
"devaluation." Identity devaluation occurs when negative attributions
about your social identity group(s) undermine key constituents' perceptions of
your competence, character, or commitment. For example, African American men
are stereotyped as being less intelligent and more likely to engage in criminal
behavior than Caucasian men. Asian Americans are stereotyped as technically
competent, but lacking in the social skills required to lead effectively.
Working mothers are stereotyped as being less committed to their profession and
less loyal to their employing organizations. All of these stereotypes pose
obstacles for creating a positive professional image.
Members of negatively stereotyped identity groups may
experience an additional form of identity threat known as “devaluation.”
Even positive stereotypes can pose a
challenge for creating a positive professional image if someone is perceived as
being unable to live up to favorable expectations of their social identity
group(s). For example, clients may question the qualifications of a freshly
minted MBA who is representing a prominent strategic consulting firm.
Similarly, female medical students and residents are often mistaken for nurses
or orderlies and challenged by patients who do not believe they are legitimate
physicians.
Q:
What is impression management and what are its potential benefits?
A:
Despite the added complexity of managing stereotypes while also demonstrating
competence, character, and commitment, there is promising news for creating
your professional image! Impression management strategies enable you to explain
predicaments, counter devaluation, and demonstrate legitimacy. People manage
impressions through their non-verbal behavior (appearance, demeanor), verbal
cues (vocal pitch, tone, and rate of speech, grammar and diction, disclosures),
and demonstrative acts (citizenship, job performance).
My research suggests that, in addition
to using these traditional impression management strategies, people also use
social identity-based impression management (SIM) to create a positive
professional image. SIM refers to the process of strategically presenting
yourself in a manner that communicates the meaning and significance you
associate with your social identities. There are two overarching SIM
strategies: positive distinctiveness and social recategorization.
Positive distinctiveness means using
verbal and non-verbal cues to claim aspects of your identity that are
personally and/or socially valued, in an attempt to create a new, more positive
meaning for that identity. Positive distinctiveness usually involves attempts
to educate others about the positive qualities of your identity group, advocate
on behalf of members of your identity group, and incorporate your background
and identity-related experiences into your workplace interactions and
innovation.
Social recategorization means using
verbal and non-verbal cues to suppress other aspects of your identity that are
personally and/or socially devalued, in an attempt to distance yourself from
negative stereotypes associated with that group. Social recategorization
involves minimization and avoidance strategies, such as physically and mentally
conforming to the dominant workplace culture while being careful not to draw
attention to identity group differences and one's unique cultural background.
Rather than adopting one strategy
wholesale, most people use a variety of strategies for managing impressions of
their social identities. In some situations, they choose to draw attention to a
social identity, if they think it will benefit them personally or
professionally. Even members of devalued social identity groups, such as
African American professionals, will draw attention to their race if it creates
mutual understanding with colleagues, generates high-quality connections with
clients, or enhances their experience of authenticity and fulfillment in their
work. In other situations, these same individuals may choose to minimize their
race in order to draw attention to an alternate identity, such as gender,
profession, or religion, if they feel their race inhibits their ability to
connect with colleagues or clients.
Successful impression management can
generate a number of important personal and organizational benefits, including
career advancement, client satisfaction, better work relationships (trust,
intimacy, avoiding offense), group cohesiveness, a more pleasant organizational
climate, and a more fulfilling work experience. However, when unsuccessfully
employed, impression management attempts can lead to feelings of deception,
delusion, preoccupation, distraction, futility, and manipulation.
Q:
How do authenticity and credibility influence the positive outcomes of
impression management attempts?
A:
In order to create a positive professional image, impression management must
effectively accomplish two tasks: build credibility and maintain authenticity.
When you present yourself in a manner that is both true to self and valued and
believed by others, impression management can yield a host of favorable
outcomes for you, your team, and your organization. On the other hand, when you
present yourself in an inauthentic and non-credible manner, you are likely to
undermine your health, relationships, and performance.
Most people use a variety of strategies for managing
impressions of their social identities.
Most often, people attempt to build
credibility and maintain authenticity simultaneously, but they must negotiate
the tension that can arise between the two. Your "true self," or
authentic self-portrayal, will not always be consistent with your key
constituents' expectations for professional competence and character. Building
credibility can involve being who others want you to be, gaining social
approval and professional benefits, and leveraging your strengths. If you
suppress or contradict your personal values or identity characteristics for the
sake of meeting societal expectations for professionalism, you might receive
certain professional benefits, but you might compromise other psychological,
relational, and organizational outcomes.
Q:
What are the steps individuals should take to manage their professional image?
A:
First, you must realize that if you aren't managing your own professional
image, someone else is. People are constantly observing your behavior and
forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment, which are
rapidly disseminated throughout your workplace. It is only wise to add your
voice in framing others' theories about who you are and what you can
accomplish.
Be the author of your own identity.
Take a strategic, proactive approach to managing your image:
Identify your ideal state.
- What are the core competencies and character traits you want people to associate with you?
- Which of your social identities do you want to emphasize and incorporate into your workplace interactions, and which would you rather minimize?
Assess your current image, culture,
and audience.
- What are the expectations for professionalism?
- How do others currently perceive you?
Conduct a cost-benefit analysis for
image change.
- Do you care about others' perceptions of you?
- Are you capable of changing your image?
- Are the benefits worth the costs? (Cognitive, psychological, emotional, physical effort)
Use strategic self-presentation to
manage impressions and change your image.
- Employ appropriate traditional and social identity-based impression management strategies.
- Pay attention to the balancing act—build credibility while maintaining authenticity.
Manage the effort you invest in the
process.
- Monitoring others' perceptions of you
- Monitoring your own behavior
- Strategic self-disclosure
- Preoccupation with proving worth and legitimacy
Mallory Stark, a career information librarian at Baker Library.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4860.html
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