Take a Personal Inventory of yourself to help identify your brand by downloading this questionnaire.
As we kick-off the new year we often times set lofty goals only for us to veer from those goals soon thereafter. I’m a big proponent of setting goals but I suggest starting the new year off right by first taking the time to reflect on what you want to be known for, i.e. your brand and how you want to leverage this brand in the coming year. Only after you have established your brand position can you set meaningful goals. The first step is to gain a deeper awareness of where you are now by reflecting on the past year and conducting a personal inventory. Some questions to consider include:
What were your key accomplishments?
Where did you add value?
Where have you made the greatest impact?
What are you most proud of?
How are you perceived?
How have you grown as a leader?
It’s important to ensure your brand is consistent and focused around your key strengths since this is where you add the greatest value. The best leaders are self-aware and they continually look for ways to leverage their strengths and close the gaps on their development areas. Once you’ve taken a personal inventory you are in a much better position to set goals which will help you remain consistent, focus on the key things that matter and narrow the gaps on your development areas.
This time to reflect can help you position or reposition your brand. If you haven’t defined your brand, now is the perfect time of year to do so. The results of your personal inventory can help you not only define your brand but help you zero in on your key areas of expertise that differentiates you! This differentiation demonstrates to your organization where you add the greatest value. Why is it consumers are willing to pay 12% more for a branded product than a non-branded product? It’s about perceived value. And those with strong brands enjoy greater success than those that don’t intentionally manage their brand due to this perceived value. A strong brand enables you to help others by leveraging your expertise and helps guide your actions and behaviors. See my blog on Tips to Power up Your Brand for additional insight into creating a powerful brand.
Once you’ve spent time thinking about how you want to be known, the next step is to think about the times where you weren’t consistent or true to your brand. What derailed you or got in the way? We all work in high stress situations which can cause us to react in the moment and lose sight of being consistent in our actions and behaviors. What are your hot buttons? What causes you to go into a reactive mode? Think about the times where you could have led with a more consistent brand. I’m not about should have, could have, would have’s but rather using this post-mortem as an opportunity to gain greater self-awareness enabling you to be focused on the areas that can derail your effectiveness.
Armed with this information you are now ready to set goals. Don’t forget to keep them SMART, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Bound. For the new year, ensure your brand is consistent, focused and differentiates you and your unique expertise. Reenergize and power-up your brand for greater success!
Take a Personal Inventory of yourself to help identify your brand by downloading this questionnaire.
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.