When it comes to jobs, businesses or relationships, rarely are decisions about you based on how good you are. Often, you’re selected based on what others think of you; your reputation. Therefore, keeping a gleaming reputation is important.
5 Ways to Boost Your Reputation
1. Find a Way to the Money:
Companies like those who make or save them money. Therefore, a great way to boost your reputation is to find a way to the money. Think of creative ways, solutions or ideas to generating revenue or decreasing costs. Also consider analyzing whether the work you currently do makes or saves money and quantify it. You will be surprised by the respect you get when leaders connect the work you do to money.
2. Be Honest and Trustworthy:
Nothing ruins a reputation faster than dishonesty. Trust is the foundation to every relationship. When others cannot trust you, your reputation will take a dive. Therefore, adopt the “honesty is the best policy” motto and live by it.
3. Stay Away from The Gossip:
I once heard that “A secret is best kept between two people and one of them is dead.” I know that sounds harsh, but there is some truth to it. No matter how trusting the relationship, refrain from bad mouthing others as the information always leaks.
Although it can be hard to avoid the juicy gossip, getting involved will have a negative affect on your reputation. Gossiping sends a message that you will talk about others behind their backs. Others include people, companies, bosses and peers. It may seem harmless to talk about others. However, you never know when what you said will come back to bite you.
4. Increase Your Likability:
Many people believe that as long as they do their job, being liked is not that important. However, that is far from the truth. Even the best workers get a bad reputation if no one likes them. In fact, whenever their names are mentioned, it is their unlikable personality that gets all the press, not their good work.
Therefore, it is critical to work on your likability factor. You don’t have to brown nose. However, you should show respect for others and be a team player.
5. Keep Your Promises:
Making promises that you can’t keep is bad practice. Therefore, be careful in what you say you’ll do. Keeping a promise will boost your reputation tremendously because people know that you mean what you say. When you earn a reputation for delivering on promises, you become the “go to” person.
When it comes to making promises, a common retail strategy is to “under promise and over deliver”. I adopt this strategy and it works well. Using this tactic always wins your customers over. If you run into any problems that will keep you from delivering, be sure to communicate. However, don’t under deliver too often, as it will work against you over time.
In Closing:
Reputations are critical to career and business success. Although the quality of your work is important, what others think about you carries a lot of weight. Therefore, be sure to build and maintain your reputation so that others think highly of you when your name comes up.
© SASHE, LLC , The Confident Woman, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jocelyn Giangrande, SASHE, LLC and The Confident Woman with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
