How to deal with a bad reputation at work

Arina complains that her superiors do not appreciate her. One of her colleagues, with whom she shared a sense of injustice, explained that Arina has a reputation for being lazy: “You are late every morning.” Arina decided to take the children to school and hopes to make up for the “stolen” time by staying in the evenings after work.

Reputation is the image of one of the team members, created by some group of people. It divides everyone into “good” and “bad”, those who follow or do not follow the rules of conduct at work. The main topic of discussion in the professional community is the existing discrepancy between individuality and the “good” rule. Arina’s colleagues chose the theme of time as “dominant” in her story, although she is not aware of this.

The dominant version is reputation, which inflates and finally obscures other aspects of the personality. And then the employee becomes a victim of his own reputation, since everything is conducted and interpreted through it. Arina’s colleagues say that she stays at work during her lunch break and after work in the evenings only because she is lazy and unable to complete the work on time like everyone else. The dominant version can discredit a person, it creates scapegoats within the collective, which earns a clear conscience for itself at an inexpensive price.

What to do?

• To fight step by step against this legend, not to miss any innuendo, any ridicule. A person who is a victim of an unjustified reputation must continually add to the “counter-story”.
• Assess the damage to this reputation by discussing facts, figures, dates, events with your boss.
• Organize counterexamples. For Arina, it will be about finding another solution to the problem with her children and coming from time to time very early, first. Those who are considered sycophants need to take advantage of every interaction with colleagues. And try to do it publicly, bringing to the attention of everyone.
• Return to the main, that is, to the tasks set by the enterprise. It’s not about making sure you show up at 8:30 and have lunch every day with co-workers, but rather about being productive, creative, and competent.
• Resume upgrade talks mid-year. Accept the reason you haven’t been promoted yet by saying, “You’re kind of right.”