Why working on team members’ Personal Brands creates motivation for change

“When people value themselves and their contribution, and can articulate this clearly, they STEP UP, CARE MORE, PERFORM BETTER and ACT LIKE LEADERS.”

– Julissa Shrewsbury, Director & Lead Facilitator, New Work Consulting

In this series, we will show you:

• Why a strong Personal Branding focus moves teams forward in leaps and bounds
• How to develop the Personal Brands of your team members for impact
• How to get buy-in from leaders and team members on Personal Branding

At NWC, our Purpose is ‘To help people grow in confidence and contribution, through knowing their value.’

Why? Because at the heart of our work is a belief that people do well when they think well of themselves.

And we’ve seen it in action, time and time again…

Seeing yourself differently to act differently

Whether it’s a board director, a CEO, a manager or a junior member of the team… everyone acts differently when they see themselves differently. Everyone can benefit from reflecting on how they see themselves, and how they need to see themselves, in order to step up to the next challenge.

In working with hundreds of professionals at every career level and in a wide range of industries, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing people’s professional confidence – as individuals and as teams – come to life.

As they dig deep to uncover the unique value they bring to others in their daily work, and develop clarity around the right ways to express that, they are visibly transformed.

They sit or stand taller and a new light ignites in their eyes.

They speak with more certainty and they emanate excitement.

They hold themselves to better standards and treat others the way they want to be treated.

They start to see they are worthy of being in the room with decision-makers and important stakeholders. That they have something to add, something to say, that is valuable.

Being seen as a peer to decision-makers

When your role is to build the business, develop client relationships, or simply to be a brand representative (everyone!)… you need to be trusted by stakeholders and audiences. Often this means being seen as a trusted advisor or peer to leaders and decision-makers.

How do you get your team members a seat at the table?

Clear and confident communication of value and expertise builds trust with important others. Positioning yourself at any introduction point (networking, LinkedIn, email, phone calls, website…) to highlight the value you bring to a specific audience is necessary to be seen the way you need to be seen… yet most people fail to do this impactfully!

First, you need to be visible to the right people. Next, you need to be saying the things that matter… with authenticity and conviction.

This means a clear strategy and action steps for building the personal brands of team members as trusted peers to specific audiences, through network-building, thought leadership and relationship nurturing – leveraging focused online and offline tactics that make sense for that team, that team member, that personal brand.

Beyond the Lunch ‘n’ Learn

You can probably guess from what I’ve described above that a Lunch ‘n’ Learn on Personal Branding isn’t going to cut it.

What can I tell you from running countless Personal Branding presentations over a decade? Everyone shows up for this topic (we love to know how others see us and how we might influence that). Everyone is engaged – leaning forward in their chairs, taking notes, asking questions. Everyone says it was a fascinating topic and they learned something. Everyone knows the next step they want to implement (and some people actually do it).

You usually get all these results in an hour. You get a little more action in two. In a half day you can create a plan. With a follow-up session down the track you can remember key take-aways and become accountable to achieve at least one action step.

But with an aligned team (or better yet, company) strategy on personal branding, including individual and team development experiences (such as personal brand foundations training, personal brand team strategy planning, individual coaching, measurable goals and team check-ins, say, over 3-6 months) you can actually transform how people see themselves, how they are seen by others, how they see each other as colleagues, and how they see their team as a differentiated, value-adding unit.

People who truly value their own and others’ contributions, and display that to stakeholders… that means real impact in business and in organisational culture. Now that’s exciting!

Stay tuned for more detail in our next post on how to develop the Personal Brands of your team members for impact.