What Message Is Your Professional Image Sending?

As you go about your work, people are noticing you and observing you—sometimes very closely. They are constantly forming impressions:  about your physical appearance, speech, competence level, body language, confidence, and character. While they may not tell you what they're thinking, they are forming opinions of you all the time. These opinions may change, depending upon how you present yourself in a certain situation. If you haven't already done so, it's time to pay attention to the direct and indirect messages you send. Your promotion may depend on it.

Take a look at the following ten areas you need to assess about yourself:

1.  Your personal hygiene and dress

Unfair as it may be, most people judge you first by how you look.  You don't have to be knock-out gorgeous or blindingly handsome, but you've got to appear clean, neat, and well put together.  Do your clothes match?  Are you shoes shined?  Is your hairstyle simple and regularly maintained?  Are the outfits you choose to wear appropriate for the occasion and the setting?  Is your makeup attractive but subtle?  What do people actually see when they look at you?

2.  Your speech

People also judge you by the way you talk.  This includes your choice of words, tone, volume, and speed.  Do you select your words carefully so that they authentically represent the person you are?  Do you avoid slang most of the time?  Do you limit your use of profanity?  What kind of tone is typical for you?  Friendly?  Considerate?  Sincere?  Do you speak too loudly or too softly?  Do you talk too fast or too slow?  Others take note of these stylistic characteristics.

3.  Your competence

Whether someone is meeting you for the first time or has known you for five years, that individual is deciding just how competent you are during the conversation.  The person is observing your posture, your state of alertness, the quality of your verbal contributions, your ability to engage him, your talent for responding appropriately.  Whether or not this person's assessment is accurate, he forms an opinion around your competence very quickly.

4.  Your body language

Know that your body language communicates more than 80% of your message.  Your facial expressions, mouth position, eye contact, how you sit or stand, and your degree of comfort in your personal space all tell people a lot about you.  You could say you aren't angry, but if your arms are crossed tightly, your eyes are narrowed, and your lips are pursed, people may very well see those as demonstrations of anger.  In many cases the signals your body sends out carry more weight than your actual words.
5.  Your approachability factor

Immediately people determine whether or not you are someone they want to talk to, ask questions of, get input from.  If they see a relaxed body with a smiling face, they are more likely to come over to you than if they see physical rigidity and a frown.  Think about how you view this sort of thing.  Aren't you more apt to approach a person who emits vibes of openness?  A person who conveys receptivity to others?

6.  Your interest in others

The narcissistic style so prevalent in America today doesn't do much for enhancing relationships with other people.  Do you show genuine interest in the other person when speaking with her?  Do you ask questions to draw her out?  Do you empathize with her concerns?  Avoid the mistake of making it all about you.  People get bored with that quickly.  They feel uncared for, neglected, ignored.  To what extent do you really focus on others?

7.  Your confidence level

People detect your confidence level almost immediately.  You provide neon lights clues through your eyes, facial expression, body stance, style of dress, and how you talk.  Do you stand tall, look people in the eye, smile, appear comfortable in your own skin?  Does your voice sound welcoming and your words offer something of value?  These are the criteria by which people judge your degree of confidence.

8.  Your character and integrity

In order for people to want to do business with you, they have to feel like they can trust you.  They must intuitively sense that you are someone who is basically good, genuine, a straight shooter.  In general, they must believe you tell the truth and strive to do what is right in all of life's circumstances.  They need to know that you don't wear different faces to suit different people in different situations.  They want someone who delivers on "what you see is what you get".

9.  Your likeability factor

Do people see you as basically a likeable fellow human being?  Or do they view you as off-putting because you're overly critical, frequently angry, overbearingly rude, distastefully self-centered?  Just how likeable are you?  And how likeable do you really want to be?  To what extent do you care if others like you?  Very simply, if lots of people dislike you, how do you expect to grow your career, your professional reputation, your personal happiness?

10. Your credibility factor

How many people in your life take you seriously?  Do you have a read on that?  If you ‘re feeling like not enough people—or the right people-- take you seriously, do you have any insights about why that is so?  What can you do to bump up your credibility with them?  Some ideas include:  follow up on what you say you're going to do, speak your mind directly but diplomatically, add value to conversations, be conscious of your impact on others, ask others for their ideas, communicate concern for the world around you.  Feeling as if a certain person doesn't take you seriously enough?  Depending on the relationship, consider asking her what you could do to alter her perception of you in this regard.  You may learn something useful.