Friday, June 18, 2010

Self Branding

“You need to show, when you do something.” One colleague was telling another guy on how he manages to get the attention in the organization.

It is very difficult in big organization to stand among the crowd and still to be in limelight always. Most of professionals lack the skill of self branding. Self branding does not mean actually you have to be cheerleader or just have to tell everything you do in the organization. There are lots of decent tools available for your self branding.

One thing is sure that you should be very clear about the branding. There is always a threat that your self branding campaign may go wrong and people may perceive you as soi-disant.

On professional front just ask yourselves how you are branded even in the job market. If you would like to grow in your career, you need to either grow in your current organization or you need to look after new opportunities elsewhere. The question is how you are going to get the right opportunity. You have to go to recruitment consultants or registered on job portals. Another effective option is professional networking. There are certain limitation on the side of consultants and job portals. Not necessary you will get a good deal. However professional networking is the platform where you can brand yourself correctly.

In organizations you must be doing lot many things, but does your boss or seniors know that?
It should be visible through your professional contribution in the organization off course. But does your contribution is recognized at higher level? Most of the times bosses are selfish, they may recognize you, they may even give you good increment, but at the end of the day credit goes to them only for their good team handling skills. As a leader he should get the credit, but if your organization does not have the right and concrete evaluation system in place, then you may not get the due credit of your contribution.

There are certain ways to create your brand. Just check few tips.

1)Identify the real power-station in the organization. This is always necessary when you are working in traditional organization. It may be possible that actual decision making authority is different than you boss. Do not bypass your boss professionally, but see that your top boss /power station know your contribution. Speak in meetings; contribute in the house magazine/intranet, debate on professional issues and so on...
2)Prepare and send the right and correct monthly reports of activities, achievements of your department. Most of the professionals lack sending the reports on time. Most of the times such reports are obfuscate. User friendly MIS can help you to communicate what you and your department has done in a month. Send the copies of the same to all the concerned people. But be careful. It should not be just information sharing with big data and list of ongoing activities. Receiver should show the interested and he/she should get the glance of achievements and activities.
3)Try to be a SME (Subject Matter Expert). Organization conducts training programmes for employees. Try to get the expertise in your interested area and approach your HR department as an internal trainer on that subject. Organizations prefer in house technical trainer for imparting trainings to employees. Training is the platform where you get the more exposure and even you develop your presentation and communication skills. It also builds your confidence.
4)Participate in events organized by the organization. Networking with your colleagues will help you to understand them better. Do not skip events organized by your organization.
5)Take the membership of professional bodies, subscribe for professional networking sites. Contribute in profession discussions. It will help you to understand the profession better. Write in professional journals; it will help you to create your professional image.
6)Check if you are searchable on google. Just search your name on google and check how many hits your name has. Nowadays most of the companies check the references of candidates on google. Google search also helps companies and recruitment consultants to search the professionals in specific and niche domains. But be careful while disclosing private information.
7)Write your blog. But see that you are not violating the company information security policies.
8)Associate with business colleges. Deliver guest lectures in colleges. One of best parts of this is, you have to read and study first. It helps you to go back to your studies and brush up theoretical knowledge.
9)Connect with people.
Be empathic with people and try to connect with them. Instead of using mails, walk around and discuss. Don’t be technologically blind.
10)Most important, strive for results.

7 comments:

Ravi Jadhav said...

Excellent. Thanks a lot sir

Nagesh Nayak said...

That was something which I have never come across. That was simply amazing.Please keep writing such articles.Peace...

Unknown said...

It's too good.Thanks for the article.

Anonymous said...

very useful and encouraging one.....Thanks Mr. Vinod.

Unknown said...

Excellant Article Vinod !! keep on writing.

Best regards

Sandip Kulkarni

Anonymous said...

Its was an knowledge enriching article
Nice one

Amey Prabhu said...

Its was an article which will definitely help me grow

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