Discovering the 3Ps to Launch, Grow or Reinvent Your Career – Part 3

The Story So Far…

In Discovering The 3Ps to Launch, Grow or Reinvent Your Career – Part 1, we talked about your passion and purpose as being ‘what’s right with you’ and we outlined some tips on how to tap into your passions. In Part 2 we looked at your purpose as your ‘why’, how to explore this and why it’s significant. In Part 3 we bring this together and look at how to express your passions and your purpose through your Personal Brand, as well as why this is important.

Personal Brand – What it’s not!

At this stage you may have an idea of what your passions are and how they underpin your purpose, along with some ideas around your strengths, values, skills, experience and talents. If not, give me a call (0413 776 564) and I can help you with this.

Before we talk about personal branding, let me share with you that the first time I heard about the concept of a personal brand I actually found it a bit ‘icky’. That’s the technical term! The reason I found it ‘icky’ is that I didn’t really understand it properly. I felt that I needed to decide what I wanted to be and then create a package of myself to represent that. I now know I had it the wrong way around.

Personal branding isn’t about being something you’re not. After all, that’s very difficult to sustain and the truth is that people see straight through it.

What is Personal Branding?

So what is personal branding? Really, it’s about understanding who you are, what your strengths are and how you are unique, and then presenting this to the world, and in particular to the workplace in a genuine, authentic and consistent way. Consistency is important here because consistency is a component of trust and you want people to trust your brand.

Another way to think about your personal brand is as your reputation. It’s your calling card. It’s what you’re known for and how people experience you.  Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com says personal brand is what people say about you when you leave the room. And thinking about your personal brand has become increasingly important with the surge of social media, as you need to think about how you are portraying yourself both in real life and online.  This is where it’s really important to know what’s right with you, as we touched on in Part 1.
 
Considerations

In thinking about your personal brand, consider:

• Appearance
  • What you wear – You do need to dress for the situation, be this in a suit, a uniform, in high vis gear, or in a pair of jeans. Yet, whatever the dress code, there is usually still room to incorporate your own unique style.
  • Body language – Albert Mehrabian, a professor of psychology, highlights that 55% of our message is communicated via body language. 55%! So your body language needs to be consistent with your personal brand. Ask yourself, what impression would people form of me if they looked at me, but didn’t speak to me. What does my posture say about me? If you then add on your tone of voice (so still not including the actual words you use), you will be communicating another 38%. This makes it very worthwhile to be aware of your body language and tone of voice as they make up 93% of your message!
• Competencies
  • This is about your skills, knowledge and experiences and how you communicate, demonstrate and apply these.
• Differentiation
  • This is what separates you from others and leaves a lasting memory – think about what is unique about you – and there is something unique about all of us! What would those who know you well call out as your strengths and the characteristics which make you uniquely you?
  • If you’re still stuck, I can help you explore this.

In all of this, you will start to develop a package of your values, goals, and experience in a way that shows what unique solutions you can offer an employer, be it your current employer or a future employer.

It can take a bit of time to work through your personal brand, but it’s well worth the effort to understand this and how it impacts the way people experience you. Does your Personal Brand represent you accurately and as you would like it to?

Summing Up

In summing up all three parts of this blog:

• It’s important to enjoy your career journey, not just the destination A career journey is about change and this doesn’t really have an end point. Your career will constantly change and evolve.
• Being able to tap into your passions and your purpose will ensure you are able to navigate your career in alignment with your values and strengths. This is key to enjoying what you do, whichever phase you’re at in your career, be it the launch, grow or reinvent stage.
• Your personal brand is about how you communicate this information to the world, and to the workforce in particular. It needs to be genuine and authentic and in line with your passion, purpose, values and career aspiration.

 
If you would like some support to explore your passions and purpose and to understand how this will form your personal brand, give me a call (0413 776 564) and we can do this together.

Have a wonderful day.

Warmest wishes,

Laurenne Di Salvo
Leadership & Professional Development Coach | Corporate Trainer | Learning & Development Consultant
0413 776 564
www.harvestcoaching.com.au


 

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