1. Enlist help for other close colleagues.
If you have someone that you trust in your workplace that runs in the same or similar circles, you may be able to use them for reconnaissance. Tell that person to mention your name in meetings or on lunch outings and see what comes back. This works better if this is not someone that everyone knows is your close friend. It works even better if this person is 1 or more levels/ paygrades above you and have access to supervision and management.
2. Once someone gives you feedback, take heed.
The worse thing you could do in this situation is to enlist help and advice from others only to never follow up on it. This will have the opposite effect of possibly making your reputation worse. Even if you don’t feel you need to follow all advice to the letter, make some effort to put in some work, and build goodwill with your supporters.
3. Can you easily identify where things went left?
Did you have an emotional outburst of anger, sarcasm, or a full episode of Snapped occurred on your cubicle mate? Some things may blow over in a few day, weeks, or months if you give it time and absolutely do not have another outburst. If it was something more serious, as in the rumor is that you suck at your job this will take a little more work.
4. Is your bad reputation related to work-related performance, or is it something about your personal life that has become the spilled tea for everyone from the water cooler crew to top floor executives to consume?
If it’s of a personal nature, first you have a traitor amongst you, and you’re trusting the wrong people. Now it’s time to grow up and start to understand that all work colleagues are not your besties. Keep your personal business about sexual partners, marriage matters, and general life messiness out of the workplace. If you have an issue with talking too much once you have had a few drinks, for example at a holiday party, keep it to a two-drink minimum at company business outings. If you place od work is like mine, they may be full of heavy drinkers. Drink club soda or ginger ale with lime and keep a glass in hand for an easy out when Doug in accounting starts to buy that extra round to Tequila shots.
5. Sometimes performance can trump everything else.
If you have found yourself in a situation where you have lost the trust of your team or supervisor/ manager, the best thing to do is to ask for ways that you can improve, put your head down and work harder than you ever have before. There may not be a quick fix, but if you do your job well without question and come through with your assignments early, deliver an exceptional product, and be the ultimate team player, eventually, the reputation as a hard worker will start to follow you. Here is also another time to get that mole that was working with you to drop your name and mention how great you did on project XYZ. It can’t hurt.
6. What if you didn’t do whatever it is that got you the bad reputation?
First, make sure that you know that for sure. Have you moved to different groups, but the same statements about you get repeated over and over again? Maybe you don’t think it’s you, but you should reflect on what’s causing constant conflicts. If you find that you are working to your best ability and can’t improve, it could be time to explore a different type of career or work assignment. If a company tends to have a long memory like one I have worked for, as long as some people stay in upper management, they will always bash your name. Maybe it’s time to dust off that resume or CV and see what else is out there. Why fight that lousy reputation at one company when you can start with a clean slate at a new company? If you decide to leave and move on, do some soul searching to see if you were truly happy doing the job you had anyway. Sometimes we don’t accept it, but when we dislike our job, we usually don’t always do our best.