Your Image (1983)

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] hi I'm Eileen Finn and I'm Lee cop and we're here to talk about something that's so simple most of us never think about it and that's a thing called image every day each of us makes a statement about the sort of person we are through lots of little things we do these things include the way we dress the way we groom ourselves the way we communicate with words and the way we use nonverbal forms of communication and there's more the way we perform our work also makes a statement about us us and even the way we stand or sit or use our eyes reveals details about us we all make judgments of other people based on these kinds of things and all the people with whom we deal use the same kinds of behaviors to make judgments of us this collection of character traits and behavior is what we call an image every person that you deal with has an image of you and you have an image of each of them as well this image can be very important to your career and to your personal life people make decisions that affect you based on the image they have of you these decisions include things like getting a job or a promotion or losing one things like making a sale or losing one even the difference between making a friend or losing one so the image other people have of you is important to you as an individual and that same image often becomes the image of the company you work for when we talk about image we're including a whole range of verbal and non-verbal Communications we're going to try to get you to think about the kind of image you project and we're going to suggest some ways to possibly improve it people can have a positive or A negative image of you and either one is pretty easy to get for example think of the people you know who seem effective and competent those people with a good image and now think of the people who don't seem so effective or competent the people whose image isn't quite so good the first the most basic element in anybody's image has to do with cleanliness it's the thing almost all of us notice first but everybody already knows that don't they uh well almost everybody and most of us have had to work around people who are a little casual about their personal habits and since it isn't really polite to say rad you stink instead we say no thanks not today or sometimes red hey we're going to let you work out there in the warehouse gee this is oh thanks so long so keeping yourself and your clothes clean and neat are really basic to a good image someone who is casual about it does so at his or her Peril other people will assume that the Casual uncaring personal habits will be casual uncaring professional habits as well the next thing that people usually notice is the way you dress yourself the kind of clothes you choose to wear and the way you wear them everybody wears a uniform of some sort in the military details of the uniform can tell a lot about the person inside rank which tells something about responsibility and Authority qualifications which suggest what sort of work the individual performs and experience those of us in civilian jobs wear a different kind of uniform but it often reveals similar information to the people around us we tend to use our clothing to tell others what we think we are or would like to become things like rank within our companies people who wear dark conservative suits are telling the rest of us that they're administrators of high rank and most of us recognize that rank right away the clothes people wear also suggest the kind of work they do men who work in offices often wear a tie if they work with their hands they probably won't wear a tie proper attire for women is not as formalized but Executives generally wear suits rather than dresses and we use details of our attire to let everybody know what our attitudes are about a whole range of subjects things like this help Define our image for instance are you the type of person who tries to fit in and be part of the system or are you the type that just has to be different and just like soldiers we wear our little badges to show our qualifications and interests how we dress act in business and social situations provides clues about how we feel about the other people in those situations and how much we value the opportunity to be with them the point is our address should be appropriate for each situation we're in and should present us positively in that situation for example the unshaven salesman who calls on a corporate president while wearing a dirty shirt and worn out blue jeans may not make the sale if that was his jective but he will certainly make a strong statement about how he views himself in some of his business standards if his primary objective was to say I don't believe in Conformity at any level well he will have accomplished that if you have questions about how you should dress for any occasion observe what the standard seems to be and then ask questions of someone who knows there's another basic area of your image which has to do with something called body language body language includes the way you stand the way you use your hands your eyes and the many ways you can reveal your attitude through facial and body expression just consider eye contact for a moment here is someone who is clearly not very comfortable about this conversation he isn't willing to say so in words but his eyes say it anyway Behavior like this this will influence your image and not in a positive way but here is someone who is clearly interested her eyes tell us so she is paying attention and is listening intently Her Image will be affected also but in a much more positive way for example you can demonstrate Poise and confidence or shyness and insecurity or even aggressiveness and hostility all with just your posture how this shouldn't come as a complete surprise but just a reminder and thought the next time you meet someone think about the little ritual you both go through and how you use it to evaluate the other person you approach each other being careful not to get too close or too far away and you greet each other in a ritual way you shake hands and ask a rather meaningless question how are you and you get a ritual answer in return I'm fine how are you these people are performing a little dance and their skill at it will determine how the other will feel about them it is the beginning of their image in the eyes of the other person at this stage in their relationship a lot of that image will depend on those elements we've just been discussing grooming body language and the first impression each will be evaluating the other on things like sincerity friendliness attention to into detail and appropriate behavior all from that seemingly innocent first meeting and the image that was projected so if we make a bad impression it can take years to change it makes sense to be very careful about the way we behave in an introduction people who study hiring policies and procedures say that things like Poise and self-confidence along with verbal communication skills rate well above some things you might think would be more important like grade point average in school yes but there's more to maintaining a good image than making a good impression most of us have met people who were unqualified for jobs but got them anyway because they were good at making that first impression so a big part of your image has to do with your performance and not just the first impression you know the beautiful part about this job is I don't really know what I'm doing but nobody could possibly tell and your image is different for the different people with whom you deal for instance your mother has one image of you my son he is such a sweet boy I know they just love him at the office and I'm so proud of him and your boss has another oh yeah that guy so people have an image of you that is also based on the way you perform on a day-to-day basis for instance her friend here who made a great first impression and Charmed his way into a good job thought his first imp impression was his only impression man this job is no sweat well let me see what should I be doing next here well nobody can tell what I'm doing anyway what's this this looks interesting outdated material must have been sitting on my desk here for about six weeks now if you wait long enough you don't have to do it I'm always having to take up his slack and make excuses for his long lunch hours and um I think he's playing games with his expense account in time sheets never gets his work done on time and when he does get it done it has to be done over yellow would you come over to my office uh there's something I've got to talk to you about H I wonder what that call was about gee well I don't know I've been here 30 days maybe they're going to give me another promotion well let's just take a look and see Poise and self-confidence are excellent components of your image but make sure that they're based on reality confidence and ability it's one thing to look like you know what you're doing it's another to do your work well your image is subject to change on a daily basis for better or for or worse so your good image starts with simple things like grooming body language and proper attire it builds on those things with job performance and goes on to include lots of little things like composure honesty intelligence and communication skills consider honesty most people expect others to be truthful and fair in what they say and what they do but we all have encountered people who cheat on their time cards and take lunch hours that are usually longer than they're supposed to it gets noticed and it naturally becomes a part of their image well you see I I looked at when I got up this morning I must have said my watch a little quick that that or how about effort there are people who get their assignments done there are other people who don't some people are just more productive than others and since we get paid for being productive those are are the people who have a solid reputation you could even call it a good image I don't think anybody likes to work late but there are times occasionally when it's important for me to get something finished and there's no alternative I'm proud of the work that I do so if it takes a little extra effort once in a while that's okay besides I guess I'd rather have the people I work with think of me as someone they can depend on instead of a person who always leaves at 5:00 they'll stay L late once in a while when it's necessary but they're also the ones whose work habits let them get finished on time most of the time composure is another image Builder there are all sorts of stresses in life personal and professional if you happen to be one of the people who can handle these stresses without getting upset or throwing a tantrum other people will notice your image will include the valuable element of composure and finally competence communication skills are an important part of your image and one of the most important parts of effective communication is to know what you're talking about one way to make sure you do know what you're talking about is to do your homework by preparing for discussions Whenever I Call On a new client I spend some time studying their company by reading their cataloges newsletters and any brochures they might have because this gives me a good idea of their products and services and usually some clues about the problems and possibilities of working with them it just gives me a chance to prepare solutions to their problems whatever they might have which means sales for our company another way to demonstrate competence is to think through a problem for instance if you're going for a job interview you'll probably have to fill out an application a thoughtful person will come prepared with a pen simple right but then almost all of the things that go to make up your image are simple obvious ways to let people know you care if the image you project is important to you if you're at all interested and making it work for you there are only a few simple things you've got to worry about and when all else fails remember to use your brain it's sometimes surprising how few people think problems all the way through the image other people have of you is a valuable thing it deserves to be developed and maintained it's a way of telling other people about yourself why take chances show them your best side after all it's your image make it work for you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music]