May Busch* has advice for workers who have been typecast in one particular role and are desperate to move on and advance their careers.
“If you’ve been pigeonholed, how do you get others to see you differently?”
This was a question someone asked me recently, and it’s an important one because being pigeonholed in a particular role or typecast as someone who can perform only one function, limits your career.
The good news is it probably means you did such a fabulous job of what you’re doing that people can’t see you flourishing in another role.
Like my friend who once said she likes frogs and then all she gets for birthday gifts are related to frogs — frog sweaters, frog earrings, frog stationery, and on and on.
Maybe you’re the one with the skillset that regularly gets called on to do the same tasks, like crunching the numbers, or planning the office holiday party.
Perhaps you’re seen as effective in specific situations, like turning around failing operations or handling difficult people.
While you can’t control what others think of you, there are things you can do to help change their perceptions.
Here are the three steps I’ve found most effective.
Do things differently
There must be something you’re doing (or not doing) that gives people the perception that they have now.
Step back and take an objective look at your behaviour and actions as you go through the day.
Notice what you’re doing and saying that might be giving the ‘wrong’ impressions.
For example, maybe you’re talking about your expertise in one area without showing any signs of interest or ability in the area you want to grow into.
You can also use the feedback you’re getting to determine what behaviour you need to change.
Whatever this behaviour is, you have to make a significant change. If you just make an incremental change in your approach, no one will notice.
For example, I struggled to speak up in meetings and was perceived as quiet and meek.
Being pigeonholed as the one who won’t make waves was not a great reputation for becoming the senior leader I aspired to be.
If I just spoke up once a week, no one noticed. I had to make a 180-degree shift and speak up at every meeting.
Aim for consistency and frequency
The impression people form of you is likely to be based on a series of interactions over time.
In my case, I had been sitting quietly in meetings and over-preparing for meetings for years.
So you can’t expect to have one or two instances of seeing you do your new thing offset the weight of dozens or even hundreds of impressions of you in your ‘old way’.
That means you’ll be best off exhibiting the new behaviour consistently and often. You’ll be giving people more chances to see the new you.
Give yourself several months of doing this before you judge whether you’ve been successful in changing perceptions.
The longer you’ve done things the old way, the longer it takes to generate enough instances and interactions to shift perceptions to your new way.
Signpost your new behaviour for others
Most people won’t be watching closely to see if you’ve changed.
That’s why you have to get their attention. Otherwise, all your hard work won’t pay off.
So once you’ve identified the people who you want to have notice your new ways, find a way to make sure they see or hear you in action.
When I wanted to change my reputation for wasting resources on presentations that never got used, I enlisted the help of a junior team member to give me feedback.
Having her notice was the equivalent of doing a broadcast to all the other juniors in the group.
If that feels too risky, then do what my former colleague, Carla Harris did.
During a performance review, Carla was told she wasn’t tough enough. So she went on a campaign to use the word ‘tough’ as much as she possibly could.
She said things like: “I know I’m being tough, but we need to go all out to do X”
Or: “We’ve got to be tough and take a stand on this policy”
After months of ‘tough, tough, tough”, she overheard her team nervously checking before a meeting.
“Did you run the sensitivity analysis? Did you double-check the numbers? You know how tough Carla is!”
Growth begins outside your comfort zone, both as a person and in your career, so get comfortable being uncomfortable. This will serve you well in life.
*May Busch works with smart entrepreneurs and top managements to build their businesses. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared at maybusch.com.
