Very often you hear in a performance or feedback interview that you need to "raise your profile" a bit more. And then you quickly enter resistance because you don't want to be an air salesman, a blazer. You just want to work hard, deliver quality and no fuss ... so why is this profiling necessary?
The word profiling or "personal branding" has a somewhat negative connotation, it's a bit of a "dirty" word. It is bragging, only for super extroverts and smooth-talking salesmen, it is pretending yourself to be better or different than you are, being the center of attention.
And so profiling is not that at all. Profiling yourself is nothing else than showing yourself to the world in all your qualities and talents!
It's about discovering your talents, enhancing them and making them visible.
Profiling yourself also helps you achieve your professional goals. Professional goals that
refer to that which is your deepest desire and for which you feel you are walking this globe - your mission! Whether that is as an employee, freelancer or entrepreneur....
As an employee, you are more likely to be asked for an additional project or new position or role within the company when you are visible. If colleagues know what your talents and strengths are they will definitely know how to find you! So visibility creates opportunities for growth and development.
This visibility within your field or expertise will also help you when you want to look for a new job. Visibility increases your employability within or outside your company.
As a freelancer , it is definitely important for you to be visible because visibility is findability. You need to be easily findable the moment a potential client wants to call on your services.
Management guru Tom Peters was the first to coin the term personal branding in 1997. It is the perception that other people have about you, how others perceive you. It is your image!
And the great thing is that you can influence that image that others have of you, your image, by making yourself look better!
How then?
How to make sure people know who you are, what you stand for and what they can call on you for.
The diagram below makes the process of Personal Branding concrete. Modified diagram in 3 steps/phases instead of 3 spheres
- Profiling begins with self-knowledge. In a first, internal phase, you reflect on your identity. You ask yourself who you are, what is important to you in your work, what you are good at and enjoy doing, what your talents and pitfalls are, what you would like to develop, what your mission is and what you want to be called for. How would you like others to see you is also an important question in this self-analysis.
What part of yourself do you want to show to the outside world and what would you rather not show? - When this is clear, you bring this out, then you enter the external layer. Daring to show yourself as you really are takes courage! Be open and authentic. An elephant should not try to present itself as a zebra or vice versa. Show your true self and show what you are about!
You are going to communicate, online and offline and people also see your behavior. Our attitude, our behavior and what we say has an effect on others. Someone likes you or not at all, someone becomes happy with you or maybe even angry. We can mean something to others because of who we are and what we do.
We like to put labels on other people's heads. Did you know that it only takes us four seconds to pigeonhole someone? Most of the time we do this unconsciously.
If you know that your attitude, behavior or what you say has an impact on others, you had better decide which pigeonhole you fall into. Importantly, your communication should be consistent and continuous; repeating the same message over and over again will make the message very clear and distinct.
Know that you don't have to be an extrovert to communicate your mission - introverts can also find a way that suits them and makes them feel comfortable. (Possibly link to other article on introverts and communication - have we?)
- In a third phase, the outside world picks up on this, and ascribes a certain image to you based on what they see and hear. This in turn has an effect on how you feel and can be reinforcing. With your behavior and communication, you influence others, how others see you. This can inspire and motivate you to become even more yourself. As a result, your self-confidence will increase, and you will be more in demand for the things you want...
So personal branding or profiling is not just about being visible. It is primarily about being aware of who you are and how others view you.
It is also about learning how to change that image that others have of you so that it reflects who you authentically are.
With Personal Branding, you learn to look at yourself differently. You become the master of your own life and career. You will position yourself clearly, consistently and distinctively. Call it 'personal
leadership.
I invite you to connect with others, to discover multiple sides of your personality
and develop further, to be open to new ideas, leave old ones behind and become the best version of yourself!
What about you?
Do you also struggle with your visibility? Do you also find profiling something scary?
Then request a free introductory consultation and find out how we can help you further.