Critical Upgrades That Elevate Your Brand

The beginning of a year, or even a new month, provides the perfect opportunity to review what you have done well, what you want to improve, and what you still want to achieve in the future ~ in other words, goal setting. You typically create goals to stretch yourself to a grander version of what you have now and you naturally identify and define the goals you want to achieve. But what tends to get overlooked is taking the time to do a personal brand review.

DOING SOMETHING YOU HAVEN’T DONE BEFORE REQUIRES YOU TO BE WHO YOU HAVEN’T BEEN BEFORE

Reviewing your brand is an essential piece to ensure you set yourself up with the right mental attitude and skills to gracefully handle playing bigger.

Your brand evolves as you evolve as a leader. For that reason, it is important to ensure your brand keeps pace with where you are going and how you want to be known. What worked for you in the past most likely needs to be upgraded to achieve your new goals.

Let’s say you are interested in moving up the ladder from your role as a manager to a more senior leadership role. To make this happen you have to be seen as a leader. How do you make that happen?

Review these top three personal brand strategies that will assist you in identifying the necessary upgrades and reinforce the need to have a strong foundation in place.

# 1  Re-evaluate Your Desired Brand Impression

What words best describe how you want to be known? To align yourself with the new goals you want to achieve over the next year or even an extended outlook of the next three years – what is the impression you want to create with your audience?

These are the top four to six words that you want people you interact with using to describe you. These words provide you with a focus and framework that allows you to operate from a place of certainty. It eliminates the second-guessing and comparing. You are in control and decide who you are. As you grow, the brand impression you create needs to keep up with where you are going!

I have had clients that have been promoted and before their promotion, the word professional was a good fit, but now being described as a leader is a better fit. Let’s face it if you are seen as a leader you are professional.

Other clients have taken on high profile projects and, before the project, being seen as competent was a good fit.  Now, visionary is a better fit. If you are a visionary or a big thinker, you want your audience to shift from the function of what you do to the incredible value you bring; in not just doing but seeing the whole picture. That is why you took on the project in the first place.?

Ask yourself: What are the words I want to own now in the minds of my audience to be perceived as capable of reaching my future goals?

# 2   Redefine Your Brand Behaviours

What do you need to do differently to shift perceptions? Once you are clear on how you want to show up, it is important to define the experience that is driven by your behaviours.

When you are working on a team and want that next coveted leadership role, there are behaviours that will be critical in elevating your brand profile.

Some of the behaviours are:

• volunteering for a project that aligns with your goals
• sharing your opinions in meetings
• being proactive
• being articulate
• exceeding expectations
• being a good listener
• confidently sharing your wins
• being prepared
• identifying leaders in your organization you want to know and booking a coffee or lunch meeting with them

You have control over who you are in any given situation. If you start with a clear intention of who you want to be, you are more likely to behave accordingly. You are in charge of the person you become, no one else. 

Ask yourself: What actions do I need to take to show up more powerfully? 

# 3 Re-frame Your Brand Story

What do you need to be communicating that will reveal your current brand story? You have conversations regularly throughout the course of a day with clients, colleagues and sometimes leaders that are very senior, what are you sharing in those critical moments?

I heard about a leader who got on the elevator with the CEO of the organization and talked to him about the weather. On another floor, a colleague got on, acknowledged her, introduced himself to the CEO and began to talk about a high-level project he was working on. It is obvious who shared what mattered most and elevated their profile through meaningful conversation.

It is your responsibility to create the link for others in the conversation between what they see, what you do well, and why it is important to you. Invest the time in identifying your recent accomplishments that align with where you are going. Next, prepare several messages so you can confidently communicate what makes the most sense when the opportunity presents itself.

Ask yourself: What are the stories that I want to have top of mind that showcase how I want to be known?

Words carry meaning, actions support your words and effective communication can tell a powerful story. Make sure they are the right ones, invest the time to do a brand review. Block the time now! Open your calendar and commit to doing it before the end of the month.

Align yourself with what matters most to you. Live your brand fully expressed with intention and purpose to play bigger!

Are you interested in having a conversation to explore how you can define your personal brand and accelerate your growth as a leader, individually or as a team? Send an e-mail to book a complimentary 30-minute consultation.