How to Influence Your Organizational Culture without Impression Management
In this modern age of the influencer, we’ve witnessed the flourishing of the online personal brand—replete with ring lights, filters and clever editing. And we all do the same, offline, in our daily lives. It’s called impression management, a term coined by sociologist Erving Goffman.
Most everyone cares about what people think of them, the impression they make and the impression they leave. And it’s healthy to be self-aware, but if you care too much about what others think of you then there will be unintended consequences in both your life and leadership.
Think about it, how often are you measuring your words, selecting your attire or altering your behavior, not out of kindness, adherence to a dress code or self-control, but because you are curating a specific image of yourself? Now what if instead of spending all the conscious (and subconscious) emotional energy that you do on protecting the image that you want people to see, you instead work on knowing and accepting yourself? In doing so, you’ll be a more emotionally intelligent leader who is better able to not just know and accept your teammates, but also support and develop them. In this article, we’ll share four consequences to consider for a leader managing their impression and also some tips for creating an authentic and inclusive organizational culture without impression management.
4 (Unintended) Consequences for a Leader Managing Their Impression
People don’t actually know you. Inauthenticity is lonely, a façade can be isolating and the funniest thing about false confidence is that it usually comes off as insecurity. The image you may be curating may not actually be the look you’re going for. Instead of running each word through a filter that matches your preferred image, try being honest and vulnerable with those you lead. If your teammates see you as a human who makes mistakes too, they’ll be more likely to come to you in transparency for support when needed.
Your decisions are limited by the perception of yourself you’ve created. Have you ever thought about trying something new but stopped yourself from doing so because it felt too different than what you’ve tried before? If you’re allowing the image you want for yourself to stop you from taking risks, then you’re allowing it to limit your personal and professional growth. As a leader, you have the opportunity to commit to life-long learning—and often times that looks like trying something new or taking a huge risk! Don’t limit your leadership potential by protecting the image of yourself that you think you should be.
You can become status driven. How exhausting! If your carefully managed social image is connected to your self-worth, then you might be making unwise financial decisions to keep up that image. Going into debt for something that will depreciate because you feel you must stay relevant to protect your image is a risk that comes with impression management. To work toward health and away from a status driven image, then take some time to get real with yourself and figure out why you feel you must keep up this appearance. What freedom might you feel if you didn’t let your desire for status drive your actions?
You might flatter people to get what you want. Those are tough words to read, aren’t they? No one wants that to be true of themselves. (And if you do, then please understand how that can come off as manipulation.) We’ve seen flattery portrayed by charming and interesting characters in movies, but often, the character’s narrative has a sad backstory or dark motive. Encouragement and compliments are wonderful things to give away to those around you, but if motivated out of flattery alone, then those words quickly become empty and meaningless.
We all manage aspects of our image throughout our personal and professional lives—and that’s normal. But it’s important to be aware of the dangers that can come with impression management and assess how and if our choices are being affected by it. There can be great benefit to impression management, but there might also be a cost.
How to Create an Organizational Culture without Impression Management
Be transparent with the organization’s current reality. During your organization’s all-team meetings, be honest with your team. If numbers are down, don’t hide them. If you want to create an environment where everyone understands how their work connects to the organization’s mission, then they deserve visibility on the company’s current reality. You might be surprised. If numbers are down, fear (of layoffs) isn’t always the first reaction. If communicated well, then people will likely rally together to make positive changes, increase efforts and do their part to remedy the situation. Transparent communication is key to gaining employee and stakeholder trust and your organization’s internal brand should be just as valuable as its external one.
Promote others more than yourself. This doesn’t mean that you need to be overly humble or sell yourself short, but if you become known for celebrating the accomplishments of others more than your own accomplishments, someone will inevitably “ring the bell” for you too. If you use your influence to speak belief and hope into those you lead, you’ll see your teammates become more than they thought they could be. This will increase productivity, effectiveness and innovation. And ultimately, it will create an organizational culture where people feel valued. If we spend less time worrying about the impression we’re making and more time considering the legacy we’re leaving, our organizations will be full of healthy and thriving people.
Eat lunch in the breakroom, not at your desk. If you’re a leader in your organization, especially at a senior or executive level, you may seem unapproachable to people within the company. The way to change that is to make yourself available. And one way to become more available is to eat lunch in a common space. If you’re in a hybrid or full-time office environment, then eat your lunch in the office kitchen or breakroom, at least a couple of days a week. This is a great way to get to know people in other departments who you might not otherwise interact with. It’s one way to lead by example and foster inclusivity. And invite others to join you. Take the opportunity to learn about those heating up their lunches—ask about their weekends, their hobbies, their lives outside of work and share with them about yours. This is one small step toward increasing your approachability and, in turn, fostering inclusivity.
Again, we all manage our impressions and there’s a component of self-awareness that comes into play—but for leaders, the cost of impression management may be greater than any reward. It’s a privilege to lead others which makes it vital to understand the influence you have on those in your team and within your organization. To learn more about fostering an authentic organizational culture, check out our executive coaching program to see how we can help you positively impact the lives of your people and position your organization for the future.
