Much of personal success starts with creating and continually molding your personal brand. Your behaviors and results are the outward manifestation of your personal brand. Several years ago I developed a Cultural Framework© model to help guide the cultural development of a client organization. I’ve adapted this model into a Personal Branding Process© model (attached). Let’s diagnose the model so you can analyze your own brand.

You are in the middle of the model. What causes you to behave as you do and, therefore, produce the results you deliver are all of the items in the boxes to the left and at the top and bottom of the model in addition to the policies, practices, procedures, protocols, structure and infrastructure of the organization.

Input examples are customer demands, things the boss is asking for, the needs of your team, your perception of the market, etc.
Non-work Culture examples are your home environment, your heritage, your family values, etc.
Competition examples are others vying for your job and interviewees for open positions
Organizational Structure examples are infrastructure and the 4 P’s (policies, procedures, practices, and protocols)
Outputs examples are your work, your results, your behaviors, your leadership and your reputation

All these forces factored together mold who you are, how you behavior, how you go about your work, and the values you demonstrate in doing so. In short, the outputs you produce and how you produce them.

Even in solopreneur organizations all these forces are constantly in play. While in a larger organization, there is more formality nonetheless all of entire model exists in more casual, unwritten forms in even the smallest organizations. This may sound academic, but that is not my intent. The intent is to give you a mechanism for analyzing what shapes your personal brand and a tool for analyzing and making adjustments if you want to or need to.

Many years ago, I read a book entitled, Lions Don’t Need To Roar, by Debra Benton. She writes about how the lion because of personal branding…what she calls presence…. doesn’t have to roar. The lion’s brand alone establishes their presence and reputation. To use a familiar phrase, their reputation precedes them. This model is offered as a way for you to do your own personal brand self-examination.

Why do you return to the same stores over and over again to buy the same products over and over again? Is it because of price, convenience, value, location, reliability, ambiance, friendliness, appearance or any of a number of other factors? So why do you think others continue to buy from you or seek you out? Is it the value you deliver, your appearance, your convenience or proximity to them, the ambiance you create, your friendliness or your price? Whether you are a business owner or an employee, all these questions apply equally. What you say, what you do, what you write, and how you do it are shaped by all the forces in the model and they converge to impact how you do your work and reflect your brand. I challenge you to examine your personal brand and make it what it needs to be to enhance your success. If you don’t consciously brand yourself, others will create that brand for you. Remember, the lion doesn’t need to roar and neither do you.

Joyce Friel
Peak Performance Consulting
11353 E. Raintree Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
480 236 4266
www.peakperformancecorp.com
www.joycefriel.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com

Like most American businesses you probably would like a quick fix, an easy elixir, a sure-fired solution to employee turnover, finding the best AND keeping them, creating a rewarding and resilient place to work, and along the way making some profit. It is easy to hope for solutions, but then hope isn’t a strategy. So how do those organizations that get named to one of the “best places to work” lists do it?

I have not made a study of the companies that have been named to these lists, but I can pretty safely bet that at the core they all share some common components. Of course, these components will look a bit different, take on a different flavor, play out differently from company to company, but at the heart of all of them I suspect they each share a few common ingredients. Among these are:

Core Values – They each know the principles and values upon which they are building a solid foundation. They know and talk about what they expect from their leadership and their employees. Underpinning the behaviors of such companies are the principles of respect, trust, service-delivery, community citizenship, and
recognition and reward.

Goals – Goals are defined, shared and results tracked. Everyone knows what they are striving for, how it will help the company and themselves. Results are monitored, rewarded and reinforced universally.

Human Capital – Human capital is managed as seriously as the organizations financial capital. Finding, employing and keeping the right talent and fit for the necessary roles within the company impacts every companies ability to service it’s clients and realize a profit. One client I had a few years ago had 100% turnover…and they wondered how they could become more profitable! The revolving door of employees seriously erodes corporate culture and performance. Dissatisfaction breeds unhappiness so managing human capital with intent and skill is the keystone to corporate profits.

Communication and Listening – Everyone listens and shares information with the intent to understand and to gain understanding before offering a rebuttal. Teamwork,
collaboration, trust, respect and workplace satisfaction cannot be optimized without focused individual attention to communicating effectively.

Community – Everyone has a sense of community, of caring, and of being cared for. A sense of community in the workplace goes way back to the Hawthorne studies in 1933. The more we believe people care about us and care for us the more we reciprocate and contribute. Profits, robust culture, wanting to be at work all suffer if a sense of community is absent in the workplace. It’s the common bond that binds and allows profitability to grow.

Leadership – Leading by example is the simplest way to explain what people expect. If leaders themselves exemplify what they expect of their followers, leadership is much easier. You don’t learn to be a leader by following some B-school set of books or formulas. You learn to lead by simply living the example of what you expect of
your employees and what you see demonstrated by leaders you yourself admire.

Of course, the intent of every business owner is to build a successful organization and of course they want low turnover and few personnel issues because dealing withthe soft stuff is always the hard stuff. I know the ingredients I’ve listed are core to being the best, but what is so rewarding is to see it play out before your very eyes in a
company you know first hand. At this point I have to stop and brag a second. What caused me to write on this particular topic was something that happened to my son’s company. Actually, it is a company co-founded by my husband and son. Peaksware, LLC was named as one of America’s Best Places to Work buy Outside Magazine.
Thank you for letting me brag just a bit.

If you have built it and they are coming, but not staying you might examine this short list above to identify what’s missing. Why are people leaving? While sometimes people leave for more money, often it is because they don’t find the sense of community, engagement, and enrichment they need in order to grow, thrive and contribute fully.

For info on new programs browse http://www.peakperformancecorp.com or call me at 480-236-4266.

Joyce Friel
Peak Performance Consulting
11353 E. Raintree Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
480 236 4266
www.peakperformancecorp.com
www.joycefriel.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com