Lynn Taylor Consulting

What Personal Brand Are You Conveying at Work?

Is it time for spring-cleaning and updating your brand image? It could be you’ve gotten into a rut when it comes to your work routine, personal appearance, or your approach to work. Maybe you haven’t tapped into your skills or passions.

With spring in the air and new possibilities on the horizon, it may be time to uncover if your brand resonates with your career goals and dreams. Don’t wait! There’s no time like the present to conduct your personal branding checkup.

Whether you’re job searching, meeting a new manager, client, team member or networking, first impressions count. How you present yourself – body language, tone of voice, communications skills, professionalism, grooming, even your presence on social media – should consistently advance the cause of your brand. Your personal brand “arrives” before you do, so make sure you manage and sustain it properly.

In my latest Psychology Today article, I list 8 tips on building your personal brand. Here’s a snapshot of each:

  1. Know thyself. What exactly do you want to achieve? The answer to this question is different for everyone and depends on your core values, strengths and goals.
  2. Keep your brand positively you. Observe your company’s dress code, but champion your individuality to exude confidence.
  3. Support the company’s brand. If your company strives to be conservative and follow tradition, this may not be the time or place to develop a “no-fear, edgy brands,” with a plan to blow up current practices.
  4. Get in the trenches. Pull up files of those recent performance reviews and consult trusted colleagues to determine how you’re perceived.
  5. Speak up. Spending time to develop your personal brand all goes to waste if you act like a wallflower at work.
  6. Leverage social media. Think about your online presence. Keep your social media up to date and monitor your online presence via Google alerts.
  7. Perfect that posture. You may have terrific jobs skills, but someone who slumps can be seen as less confident than someone who has great posture.
  8. Reinvent your personal brand as needed. Don’t wait for people to uncover your untapped talent.

For the full article on how to present a “brand new you,” check out What Personal Brand Are You Conveying at Work?