When your car’s wheels are out of alignment, you can drive the car but it won’t be a steady, smooth ride for long. And it will need constant correction to stay on course. The same image comes to mind with alignment between a leader and the organization.
Moving up in the organization takes a certain level of skill and focus. However, if you are out of alignment, you will need to make the necessary corrections to attain a steady, smooth climb.
While branding yourself is integral to moving up in any organization, it’s important to ensure your personal brand adds value to the organization. However, personal branding is focused on the individual. It’s about gaining clarity on individual strengths and building visibility for individual capabilities. This doesn’t address how your brand fits within the organizational value system. That’s where Performance Branding adds value. Leaders who learn how to align their brand with the organization will strengthen their reputation, grow their influence and position themselves for upward mobility.
Let’s look at an example of what I mean. Let’s say you define your personal brand as someone who is a go-getter. You make things happen. That’s great, right? Well maybe, maybe not. Does your company value these attributes? Will these help you get to the next level? And how do you execute on the “make things happen” part? Is it in such a way that is in alignment with the corporate culture and value system?
Here’s the formula Sage Alliance uses with our coaching clients for Performance Branding;
Individual Strengths + Contributions and Impact + Organizational Value = Your Performance Brand
It starts with gaining clarity on Individual Strengths and unique skills and abilities. It’s important to take the time to identify what you’re good at and how you want to be known by others. Refer to my earlier two-part blog The Keys to Self-Awareness Part I and Part II for some useful tips.
The Contributions and Impact you make are the way in which you leverage and take action on your strengths. For example, if your strength is being a go-getter this may translate into never taking no for an answer as you make things happen. This is where you gauge how effectively you turn your strengths into tangible and actionable contributions that make an impact in your organization.
It’s essential to define your brand in the context of the Organizational Value system to ensure alignment with the corporate culture. While a go-getter is viewed as positive in one corporate culture, it may be seen as overly aggressive in another. Does the never taking no for an answer mean people feel they can really count on you or that you overstep boundaries and can burn bridges; thereby eroding trust? By connecting the dots between your strengths, the contributions and impact you make and the corporate culture; you can determine which behaviors are valued in the organization to support its goals.
Performance Branding takes what you want to be known for to a whole new level. It not only defines who you are but how you are aligned within the organization and its value system. This is essential if you want a strong brand that resonates and positions you as an effective Leader for the long-term. This is the essence of Performance Branding.
Sage Alliance, a Leadership Performance Company, provides coaching, teambuilding and assessments, workshops and speaking on topics including; leadership development, empowering teams, communications, lasting impressions, personal branding and building a coaching culture for executives and high-potentials – for both team and individual leaders.
Contact us today to discover how your organization can get the most through improved productivity, efficiency and direct impact to your bottom line, while leaders gain powerful insight, crystallize opportunities for growth and fine tune their strengths, enabling them to make the greatest impact. You can contact Shelley Hammell directly at shammell@thesagealliance.com.