Today we are talking about making change.  You can listen in, read the text or do both:

Here’s the scenario.  You had a bad run and built a not so good name for yourself at your current place of employment.  But here’s the thing, you’ve cleaned up your act and are performing much better.  Your boss and colleagues may still see you as the screw up you used to be.  

So what can you do about it?  

Is the answer:
A. Leave the company right now; don’t even give a two week notice, get out of there as fast a possible.

B. Work on changing the way they see you.

C. It depends 

As you guessed it the answer is “C”.

I’ve been in situations where people built such a name for themselves (not in a good way) that there was no way they could have gotten the opportunities they were looking for.  They were told straight out, “You will never be a manager here.” In that case, it’s best to leave the company. 

As a manager I’ve also been in a position to help someone who wanted to sincerely change the way they were seen by their teammates and management.  

Here is how we did it and what you can do to start winning the hearts and minds of those you want to.

3 Things You Can Do To Change People’s Mind at Work
1. Make the change first: Talk is cheap so instead of telling people what you are going to do; just do it and then start to talk.
2. Get support from someone who can speak on your behalf: you need someone who can go into management meetings and support the change you’ve made.  You need someone who can say, “You know I’ve seen some difference in how so-and-so is performing.  Maybe we should give them another chance.”
3. Acknowledge who you used to be: It’s gonna come up whether verbally or in body language.  Someone is treating you like the old you.  You have to be ready to say, “Look, I haven’t always been the best in the past but I’ve made some changes so let’s talk about the present.” An analogy I love to make is about the difference between a river and a lake.  A lake is pretty static but a river is forever changing.  People are more like rivers than lakes.

I know all this takes courage to pull off but think about it; if you leave things the way they are, people will always associate you with your old deeds and not acknowledge who you are today.

No acknowledgement increases the chance that you will backslide.  “Well they already think about me this way and I can’t change their mind so I might as well behave the way they expect.”  Don’t Do it.  

Put the 3 steps above into action and keep the conversation going on our Facebook page.

 

If you found the information helpful today I invite you to subscribe and get updates, recorded interviews with young professionals of color and all kinds of goodies designed to empower you to make power moves at work; all sent directly to your Inbox.  Simply visit No More Reasonable Doubt and there will be a subscribe button waiting for you.  You might as well go there now, there is no better time than the present and it will take you less than 60 seconds. 

Our goal is to take you from invisible to invincible.  I’m your host Mike Ambassador Bruny and the dope beat you are about to here to close the show was provided by Papa Doc. Peace.