What’s Your Leadership Brand?

I don’t want to pass up the opportunity to share an article I read about leadership. Here are a few highlights:

How You Get Results Defines Your Value as a Leader?

Chances are, you spend at least some time thinking about your reputation at work.

You may wonder how a recent initiative you led influenced how colleagues think of you, or worry if your boss considers a recent mistake part of a larger issue you struggle with. You may fret about whether your direct reports look up to you as a leader. But have you ever thought about your personal leadership brand?

Why Your Leadership Brand Matters

Your personal leadership brand illustrates not only?what?you deliver but also?how?you deliver it, and should be an authentic representation of what you aspire to and cherish. Chances are, if you aren’t thinking about it, your leadership brand isn’t closely aligned with what you want it to say about you.

A well-tended leadership brand is a reflection of your deepest values, and it helps people — including yourself — define who you are and assess your anticipated value as a leader. You should consciously and authentically shape your leadership brand for the following reasons:

• A powerful leadership brand can enhance your ability to achieve your career goals.?Whether you aspire to a higher-level position or want different challenges than you currently have, you need a leadership brand that signals your capabilities and interests. As you become more respected and appreciated for your leadership contributions, you gain more opportunity and experience, which then reinforces the brand that supports your aspirations.
• Your leadership brand can help you broaden and deepen your impact.?Your brand reflects not only the work you get done, but how you interact with and relate to others to do so. Do you work effectively with others? Do you build and sustain partnerships? Do you and your team achieve the?3 crucial outcomes of leadership: direction, alignment, and commitment ? The way you engage in the?social?process?of leadership helps you to execute or scale work and creates a leadership brand that others will likely remember and talk about. Remember that?your persona comes through in virtual interactions , as well.
• Your leadership brand differentiates you from other leaders based on your own unique value.?When you have a clear leadership brand, people know what to expect from you versus others on the team. Maybe you’re uniquely able to organize complex projects, mediate disagreements, or develop others. When people think about your brand, those talents should immediately come to mind. You will then be pulled into roles where those talents are valued — and given more and more opportunities to do the type of work you like.

Steps to Build Your Brand

1. Make 2 lists.?

List everything that you love about the work you’re doing, and make another list about all of the things you’d prefer?not to be doing. This sort of clarity will help inform your professional goals and the decisions you make toward realizing them.

Part of tending to your leadership brand is a constant process of self-evaluation and building your self-awareness .

2. Audit your online presence.

Check your digital and social media footprint. This will often be someone’s first impression of your leadership brand, and you want to be sure the image you present meshes with your desired brand. Look for examples of other people who do this well and emulate them by creating a website, contributing to a company or trade newsletter, or joining social groups on LinkedIn or other platforms.

3. Choose an accountability partner.

Pick someone who will give you the truth about what other people think about you. They can also help hold you to your other goals for improving your leadership brand. Incorporate feedback from others, whether it’s your boss, friends, significant other, or colleagues. Does what they say about how others view you align with your desired projection? Ask your accountability partner what you can do more of or less of to be more effective.

4. Create a tagline.

If you summarized your unique leadership contribution, what would your tagline be? Think of an image and a catchphrase that depicts the core of your leadership brand. Gather feedback — from your accountability partner or others — and adjust as needed. Once it’s ready, post your tagline and symbol somewhere you can easily reference it as a regular reminder to yourself.

5. Design an action plan.

Once you’ve figured out the gap between your current leadership brand and the one you desire, develop an action plan to improve on your weaknesses. A plan will help you build new competencies, solicit help where appropriate, and assess your progress.

And be patient! If you’ve figured out that your leadership brand isn’t working for you and you try to change it too rapidly, the shift will appear disingenuous. Colleagues will view radical changes with suspicion. Authentic change takes time.

Want to know more? Head on over to the full article here for more ideas and perspectives. Afterwards, why not drop me an email to share your thoughts at [email protected] ; or call me on 0467 749 378.

Thanks,

Robert