Here’s a common dilemma for team members and leaders who report upward.
The senior leaders who judge them often only get secondhand soundbites about their performance.
They generate strong views from limited information, pieced together from snippets of indirect conversations and opinions.
As a result, senior leaders form simplified narratives about some team members, leaders, and colleagues.
Unfortunately, these narratives can stick and have a tremendous influence on evaluations, compensation, and career trajectory.
Unless they are actively reshaped, the consequences can be severe.
What seasoned team members have learned is not to correct leaders who hold inaccurate views but to expand their thinking with more data and facts.
If the system they depend upon for their insights about people is producing low-quality signals about your work, then the best choice is to upgrade the signal.
Sage advice would be to create more opportunities for updates, giving the leaders a more complete view of what activities, accomplishments, and results are connected to your work.
Frequent updates in whatever format leaders prefer are a great way to paint a vivid picture.
Delivering these updates in person on occasion can encourage a conversation that connects even more dots.
But in addition to updating the leaders, most team members forget about the signal.
It is the peers, colleagues, and other leaders who are carrying the soundbites.
They are the ones in desperate need of a more accurate view.
Updating them indirectly through more frequent exchanges is the path most overlooked.
Involving those who carry the message in projects, metrics, after-action reviews, and the sharing of results upgrades the signal and influences what the senior leaders will hear.
There is no way to eliminate the soundbites, so the best strategy is to make them more favorable.
In both approaches, direct with senior leaders and indirect with influencers, the smart call is to share evidence, not rebuttals.
Getting defensive actually weakens the case.
So, avoid over-explaining or arguing over how others see your performance. Just give them the facts.
Remember, if you’re not visible to your leader, others will define your contribution and value.
Make sure they have the evidence they need to make the case for you.
When you’re not telling your story, someone else always is.
