Building Your Personal Brand

“You need to work on your personal brand.”

Has anyone ever said that to you? What exactly is your personal brand and how are you supposed to work on it? Your personal brand just means what people think and say about you, behind your back – it’s what you’re known for. And with access improving to information, connections and skills, your personal brand can really set you apart in the workplace. Have you given it any thought? If it’s just occurring to you now that your personal brand is something you should be actively managing, try this simple three-step plan: ask, accept and action.

You don’t know if you don’t ASK.

If you haven’t done any work on your personal brand before, you’re either wondering what people say about you or you’re just making up your own fairy-tale story. Time to wake up Sleeping Beauty and smell the thorny vines – there’s only one way to know what your personal brand is and that’s to ask. Not in a generic “hey, what do you think about me?” kind of way. Because people will be nice. People generally are. You need to help them be honest with you. Try something like this: “When we work together, what do I bring that you value the most?” (Hint: We’re not talking about the technical skills you have, but the attitudes, behaviours… the added value). “And what do I do that annoys you, but you’re prepared to put up with because of the good stuff I bring?” (Hint: If they don’t give you the latter, they’re either lying or they’re afraid of you. Or maybe both.)

ACCEPT it – perception is reality.

If you’re lucky enough to get some really honest feedback (“Well Carly, since you ask, you really hog the conversation!”), resist the urge to say, “but I’m not like that!” Because it actually doesn’t matter. If that’s how you come across, then that’s your reality and that’s what you need to address. If you think you’re challenging but people say you’re difficult, then you need to find a new and more respectful way to challenge. If you think you’re helping by diving into the detail, but people say you’re a micro-manager, then you need to back off and deep dive on your own time. And if you think you’re a talented orator but people say you can talk the ears off a donkey, it might be time to ssshhhh.

Don’t leave it to chance – take ACTION!

Once you get the good oil on how you really show up for other people, it’s time to take action. Decide if you like how you’re perceived, and if not, what you’re going to do differently. The trick is to be very intentional about this, and to be consistent. Before every meeting, every interaction, every conversation, think about how you want to come across. Start with your personal brand in mind – if you want to be known for translating complex problems, then listen and reflect what you’ve heard in the simplest of terms, every time. If you want to be known for your ability to link ideas, frame your opinions around what else is going on and ask questions that prompt others to do the same, every time. Or if you want to be the ‘ideas person’, then find opportunities every time to think outside the square – yip, every time. Point a big hairy neon sign at that stuff and watch your reputation grow.

Then what? Just repeat steps 1, 2 and 3! Welcome any feedback and understand that sometimes you don’t show up how you mean to, so be prepared to make tweaks and changes. Your personal brand is built over a lifetime and busted in a New York minute. Bonnie also sings a fine country ballad called “I can’t make you love me”. But if you pay a bit more attention to your personal brand, you’ve got half a chance of standing out for all the right reasons.