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How to build your internal brand at work
Progressing through your organisation can often have a lot to do with how your staff, colleagues and senior managers perceive you – your personal brand, writes Judith Beck.
Judith Beck
It’s a given, that first you have to do a good job and build a track record, but you also need to build a positive personal brand with internal stakeholders. In addition, if you are only visible in your division you could be missing out on key opportunities within the broader organisation.
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The competition is tougher the higher the level of position you are in, so having the edge is important when the final hiring decision is being made. Building your internal brand should start the moment you walk into the work environment including how you represent yourself on social media.
Have a personal brand plan and include the following:
1. Look at how you are presenting yourself on social and business media
Don’t put profile pictures on LinkedIn and other platforms that are unprofessional. Keep the holiday photos only visible for friends you have accepted on social sites and make sure for LinkedIn you only show your professional brand.
Remember your clients, managers, and future potential employers check these sites when your name is presented to them for potential opportunities.
2. Make an effort to connect to the people you work with, including those more senior than you
Find out “who is who” in the organisation and get to know them.
Once you connect with internal stakeholders make a point to meet them to hear about what their division does. You may work with them one day or work on a project together.
Don’t be scared to connect with someone more senior than you; many may not accept your invitation, but some will and that makes it worth it.
3. At work functions, introduce yourself to the most senior person in the room
What have you got to lose?
Most MDs of companies are only approached by their leadership team – they probably would be impressed by the courage and initiative of a more junior person approaching them.
4. Don’t forget how you are presenting yourself in Zoom meetings
Even though the dress code is relaxed, you should still be dressed smart casual.
Pay attention to the background for your meetings as people will form impressions of you based on what they see. Also, a big mistake is to turn your video off during a meeting. Be present and show them you are there.
No one wants to talk to a blanked-out screen. Out of sight, out of mind.
5. At any work-related functions including conferences, client lunches and Christmas parties – keep alcohol out of the equation, it is not social – it is work
Many personal brands have been ruined as a result of drinking too much.
Building your internal brand is also about common courtesies:
- Return calls and emails. Many internal brands are damaged when people do not return calls and emails.
- Don’t cancel appointments unless in an emergency.
- Be on time for meetings; your colleagues will see it as disrespectful if you are constantly late and it could go against you at promotion time.
- Treat everyone with respect regardless of their position.
If you don’t practise them you will have a brand, but it won’t be positive. Ever wonder why you didn’t get that last promotion?
Judith Beck is the author of No Sex at Work (Major Street Publishing), which shares the dos and don’ts from her experience as founder of executive search firm, Financial Recruitment Group.
