SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING

Very often we are carried away by what we see , as eyes are one of our most trusted and used sensory organs. In management , this coupled with our ability to hear plays a vital role in day to day operations of the organisation.

 Let us look at a few scenarios, 

 •Your manager wants to " see" you every day at office. 

 •Your employees wants to see your physical presence to motivate ( or sometimes demotivate) them.

 •Visuals around management principles and company leaders are hung around the company walls.

How often have you felt that not being in the same office as your boss has got you less "visibility". However is everything what we see in day to day office real?. You talk to a deception specialist or a magician and very often they will tell you how easy it is to fool your eyes. Precisely the same way your bosses may be lead to believe a certain way by those people who are highly visible to him. One of the ancient eastern teachings say that " the world around you is constructed by you", which basically means that whatever you see is what you really wanted to see. It is so true scientifically when we know that each of our eyes take 2 D images and it is the brain which combines these to form a 3 D image for it to make sense. When this is not available the brain would create an imaginary image and would justify its existence so that you really would believe what you are saying. 

 Now let us look a few scenarios where this could be happening at work and you don't even realize it!!,

 •You are looking at an employee who is continuously working, day and night and you judge that she/ he is a star. Infact what you are seeing is your own perception of what a crazy work schedule is , however the employee may be completely unproductive and is wasting a lot of time. This can happen specifically when there is a generational gap difference and you start judging work of an employee from how you and your generation behaved. 

 •Great visual presentations are an eye catcher, but very often we are so captivated by what we see that we miss out if the presentation was just purely impressive visually or did it have the real content that you had wished for . I have seen many presentations where people are so carried away by the visuals , that they forget to ask probing questions and feel completely disconnected after the " aura" is over. 

 •You see someone who comes for interviews dressed up immaculately with a suite and a matching tie etc. Generally , most untrained interviewers would form an opinion about the candidate in the first few seconds of meeting them and do the rest of the interviews trying to justify their impressions. 

So you see how this might impact the selection of a right candidate. I am very visually oriented , but in management i would advice caution using this to drive your decisions. A good leader has to combine his senses ( especially if she/he has visual as the primary sensory driver. Remember that what your eyes see is what your brain wants to see and believe.