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
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