Few subjects have detained philosophers for quite so much time as the difference between perception and reality. Rene Descartes famously mistrusted the five senses and claimed only thinking could provide certainty.
Immanuel Kant went a step further and insisted even the mind cannot apprehend reality as it is. But whatever our views, all of us behave as though what we touch, see and hear is real. Otherwise, why carry on? Why eat, wrap up warm, kiss our children good night?
At the corporate level, though, such blind faith in perception can be dangerous. We see this frequently in our talent intelligence work – companies who think they pay better relative to the market than they really do; TA leaders who persist with an EVP that doesn’t resonate with candidates; CEOs who champion social causes which are not quite as popular with the wider public as they imagine.
Fortunately, we’re on hand to help. That’s because our researchers are experts in separating fact from assumption, data from rumor, and perception from what Kant would call the ‘thing-in-itself’.
In short, we think differently about perception analysis. Here are five ways you should start thinking about it too:
1. Choose the right source pool
A lot of companies go wrong because they live in an echo chamber of their own making. They hear what their employees say and assume this is what everybody else is saying too. And sometimes they’re wrong.
A few years ago we did some work for a global tech business which has a fantastic maternity leave policy and a great all-round EVP for female workers. At least, that’s the almost unanimous view of the women who work there. But when we spoke to women outside the business, there was almost no awareness of these benefits. Thus, the company was missing out on a massive tactical advantage in its efforts to attract female talent.
It’s always good to know what your workers are saying and feeling, and you certainly don’t want to take your talent for granted. But don’t stop there. Talk to everyone.
2. Assume Nothing
Clients usually have a suspicion of what a perception analysis study might reveal. If you think you’re perceived as a bad payer, that’s probably correct. If you reckon the reason you can’t hire in Budapest is because nobody in Hungary has heard of you, odds are you’re right.
So, absolutely, you should ask your sources tailored questions which confirm or deny those suspicions. But don’t assume these are the only perceptions people have of your brand. If you’ve got sources talking to you, take the opportunity to ask as many questions as possible. What do they think of your leadership? How do they rank you alongside your competitors? What are they even looking for in a new employer anyway?
By defining the frame of reference correctly, you get all the information you need and avoid fixating on an issue which may turn out not to be the biggest problem after all.
3. Perception is more important than reality
It shouldn’t need saying, but perception studies are not fact finding missions. Their purpose is to uncover sentiment, assumptions and preconceptions. It really doesn’t matter if some of those perceptions are wrong. In fact, it might be better if they are. Let us explain.
One client – a bank – was dismayed to discover that a majority of candidates thought they had poor retention levels in their equities business. They insisted this was incorrect. But then they sort of shrugged and moved on. Wrong response. Instead, they should have accepted the findings and worked out a way of communicating to the market the truth about their (apparently) thriving and harmonious equities desk.
To our earlier point, it was actually good that we identified this wrong-head sentiment. It showed our client a simple, straightforward way of improving its EVP and attracting more talent. If the sentiment had been right, fixing the problem would have been much more difficult.
3. Don’t rush it
Clients, quite rightly, want to formulate strategy as quickly as possible. But if there’s one type of project you can’t rush, it’s a perception analysis study. Quite often, we start forming provisional conclusions after eight or ten conversations. But you need more than that to ensure those conclusions are robust.
Also, what about shades of sentiment within a targeted cohort? Let’s say you’re targeting the opinion of software developers. Is there perhaps evidence that male and female developers (at group level) think differently? And what about people in different geographies? Or age groups? Or types of company? Unless you engage with sufficient sources, you won’t be able to answer these crucial questions.
Then, some talent cohorts are more responsive than others. To generalize, salespeople tend to be easy to engage while laboratory technicians are a little more reticent.
All of which is to say, you need time to get your data. Rushing things is a false economy which will lead to wrong conclusions and unsupported strategy.
5. Keep your sources close
One of the joys and frustrations of talent intelligence work is that facts change. The structure of a business one year may be wholly different to the year before. A brand can go from strong to weak at the drop of a negative press release or an ill-advised marketing campaign. In other words, opinions shift. So, if you’re looking to base strategy on established perception, you have to make sure that perception is up-to-date.
That means repeating your study on a regular basis. Of course, that’s a time-consuming and expensive process, but only if you’re starting from scratch each time. We have clients who refresh their PA studies once a year or more and for these we have curated an established pool of go-to sources – a focus group, if you like.
At any time, we can reach out to these sources (who all know the drill by now) and provide our clients with rich, detailed, fully updated information on how the market perceives their offering.
