It Takes Focus to Get to Where You Want to Go Next

Did you know having Focus is probably the single most important thing in achieving a solid brand? I tell all my clients, don’t try and be all things to all people, you must zero in on your brand value and focus. Solid brands focus on filling a specific need. They don’t try to be everything for everybody. Turns out, this is the hardest step in creating a strong brand. Most people can’t resist the urge to take on as much as they can. They want to demonstrate their solid work ethic, their willingness to do whatever it takes and that they can be counted on to get the job done. Someone who will get promoted, right? Well not necessarily. The hardest worker isn’t always the one who gets promoted.

To illustrate my point, one of my coaching clients had the same mindset, and as she began getting feedback on her brand she heard things like “no matter what we give her, she gets it done”. Hmm, she was positioned as the ‘get ‘er done girl’. Not exactly the brand that will get you into the boardroom or get you a seat at the table, in any room for that matter. Instead of being positioned as invaluable and someone to promote, she became the “worker bee” that supported the senior leadership team. And they wouldn’t dream of promoting her since she was seen as ‘the person who gets ‘er done around here’.

Focus entails carving out your niche and being known for the thing or things that are invaluable to your organization. If you’ve been following my seven tips for Powering Up Your Brand, you should have already created a list of your brand attributes and gotten feedback on them. The next step is to match your brand with that of your company’s. What are the three to five words you would use to describe your organization? And what attributes does your organization place value on? For example, is it someone who can build bridges by bringing people together? Or maybe it’s someone who’s not afraid to speak their mind and challenge the status quo. We just assume whoever works the hardest gets promoted, right? Well not really. That’s not to say you shouldn’t take pride in your work and put your all into it. But it takes more than just hard work to get to where you want to go next.

It’s imperative to understand what it takes to get promoted in your organization and to do that you must understand where the organization places the greatest value. Now make a list of these attributes. Do you remember the old matching game where you had to match-up the words in column A with the phrases in column B? In essence, that’s what you’ll do here. In column A list your brand attributes. In column B list your company’s values. Those things they place the greatest importance on. Now match the two columns together.

Your goal is to match your brand attributes to the values your company places importance on. It’s not until you have the road-map of what is needed in your organization that you can get to where you want to go next. And the vehicle that will help transport you there is Focus. A solid brand has Focus!

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.