We have all been there. We think we did something great, and we look forward to getting the feedback that tells us so. Unfortunately, when we do get the feedback, we discover that we weren’t quite so great as we thought we were. It’s a matter of perception and understanding this concept can help avoid this mismatch in the future. 

One of our listeners, Damien, found himself in this pickle recently. His organization has delivery stats that paint a glorious picture of achievement. However, the customer surveys do not paint delivery with that brush at all. So, Damien asks, why the discrepancy?

The problem could be a challenge with perception. The internal organization has one perception of performance, the customers have another. If perception is reality, which one matters? 

(Hint: say the customers. Okay, not a hint so much as a gimme, but we do our best here.)

From a psychological perspective, perception isn’t the correct term. In fact, psychologists would only have perception as one part of what is going on here. To summarize, psychologists would submit that perception applies only to receiving the information through our senses. How we interpret and compare the perceived experiences to our expectations is the reason for the discrepancy. 

In this episode, we take a deeper dive on what is happening here to Damien’s organization, and what they—and you— can do about it.  

Here are some other key moments in the discussion:

• 02:05  We hear about Damien’s pickle and why he needed our help. (Do you have a business pickle, too? Tell us about it here.)
• 05:00  Before we move further into solving Damien’s pickle, we define our terms in the style of psychology.
• 10:24  Ryan ignores Colin’s request to get practical by exploring a very heady and philosophical example, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
• 17:10  Colin explains how you can learn more about perception, interpretation, and evaluation of an experience and how it relates to memory by shopping for a TV in a showroom.
• 21:51  Colin shares a story about how he thought the Princess Lunch at Disneyland Paris was expensive; for the record, he didn’t go alone but brought along his grandchildren.
• 27:20 We share our practical advice for how to understand how there was such a discrepancy in perception between Damien’s organization and customers, and what to do about it. 

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