The Power of Perception

So I had my annual evaluation with my supervisor today, and although there's always the possibility of something coming up I didn't expect, I was pretty confident that it would go well, because my supervisor is always very open about what she expects, what she wants from us and keeps a good line of communication open. Therefore I felt very confident that there wouldn't be any performance issues to address. So imagine my surprise when the first thing she says is "In the interest of professional development take this how you will. . . " Dun, Dun, Dun. . . I could feel my heart start beating faster because I had no idea what she was setting up to chastise me for, but could tell that something bad was coming. She continued to tell me not to text during meetings anymore. Which is certainly unprofessional and something I never do. So of course my first question was "When was I texting?" all the while trying to remember a time recently that I'd even brought my cell phone into a meeting because I always leave it at my desk in my bag. She answered "Last week at the all-staff meeting". And suddenly the mystery became clear. I have an ipod touch which serves as my PDA that I usually bring to meetings because it has my calendar on it, and that day, I realized I'd forgotten a notepad so I pulled it out and started taking notes on the diversity presentation we were having because it was so interesting I wanted to take note of my thoughts and how I could apply the principles better to the programs I manage. I quickly explained the misunderstanding and realized two things:

1. Like it or not perception is everything.

It was comforting to know I'd done nothing wrong - in fact I'd done everything right. I was paying attention in our meeting, taking notes on the content matter and thinking how I could apply it to my specific job functions. And although I knew my phone was safely tucked away on vibrate upstairs at my desk, I wonder how many others in the room erroneously assumed I was texting simply because it appeared as such. Now it's tempting to think well, that's their problem for making assumptions and jumping to conclusions to think the worst of me, but the fact of the matter is, what were they supposed to think? Most of them don't text or use PDA's that you thumb type on, and although I don't regret what I did, I will be more careful in the future simply because I'd rather use the old fashioned pen and paper if necessary than appear unprofessional because like it or not, perception, not reality is usually what's used to make judgements.

2. You've got to have character to back yourself up.

I love my supervisor. We have a great working relationship and I know that she trusts my judgement. Which was one reason it was so uncomfortable for her to bring up the issue in the first place. However, I was comfortable addressing the topic because a) I knew I hadn't done anything wrong and b)I was confident that she would accept my explanation for the situation. I hate to think what it could have been like if I weren't such a trustworthy person or had had performance issues in the past, or had really been texting and had gotten caught. In any case, I was glad that I had my good character to stand on.
This experience combined with a few others of late have certainly driven home the point to me that although we should never be afraid to do or say what's right, it never hurts to take an extra second to consider how our words or actions could be perceived by others, because certainly their perceptions can affect our reality.