The month of October seem to be running faster than usual or is it just me? Usually, it feels like the year takes some snail enzyme in the fourth quarter but this one seems to be in a rush. Well, I guess it is the Nigerian spirit that is at work as we eagerly await the elections for 2023. Anyways, we are grateful to be alive and well and the gift of a brand-new quarter and a new month. Welcome to October!!!
Have you ever entered a place and you feel a need to be perceived right? Not trying to prove a point or seek attention or anything of sorts. I know that a lot of us always say, “I will live my truth and be myself and I don’t care what other people say about it.” As much as that it good and promotes great self-esteem, sometimes we promote bad behaviour and our unwillingness to change but hey, this is not a character development article. The truth is our perception plays a huge role in our career and life in general and just in case you are wondering what perception is, then you are welcome on this ride with me.
Perception is our ability of understanding or becoming aware of information received through your senses. In other words, it refers to our sensory experience of our surroundings. This sounds a lot like Psychology, and you would wonder why this subject has anything to do with our productivity in the workplace. Perception is a two-way street; it is the energy you give out and the feedback we get from our surroundings or people in our world. There are 5 stages of perceptions and they are; stimulation, organization, interpretation, memory and recall. These stages are way for one to experience and give meaning to their surroundings.
I know you might be wondering what this has to do with you in the workplace or your career journey, but as and African proverb says: “Beauty will take you to the palace but character will keep you there.” Expertise/ competence may get you the job or contract but your employers’ and/or employees’ perception about you will play a huge role on how far you will go. Here are some benefits of perception in the workplace;
- It improves our morale.
- Avoid misinterpretation and misunderstandings with other people.
- Increase our own self awareness .
- It also enhances our communications in the workplace.
This month, we will delve more into this topic and have more conversations on this subject. 21Search is a human resources management and development in form of training, recruiting and managing. Kindly send an email at e.mbahon@21search.ng to get a quote. Until I come your way again, stay safe, work smart and not just hard.
Love,
Liz.