Month: August 2019

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Leadership branding

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett

How do you want people to remember you?

This question will be one of the many questions I asked in the leadership workshop. The moment someone mentioned your name, what will be the first few traits or identity that come into their minds? More positive or not so positive?

I believe that building your own leadership branding will take time and it’s a journey to be consistent and maintain a great brand. It also serves as a good reminder for us to ensure we are practicing what we are preaching. It all boils down to integrity.

“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” – Henry Ford

Yes, another profound statement by Sir Henry Ford, intention alone may not be enough, we need to put into action should we choose to build our leadership brand.

The key areas to a great leadership branding, based on numerous interactions with leaders from around the region are as listed below;

Self-Leadership, leading others, emotional quotient, communication with others (the manner), how we make people feel after they have interacted with us…

One of the videos I have watched (introduced by one of the MNC leaders) mentioned the following process…

Character —> process —> results

Based on the process, the gain results and to sustain is to focus on the process. Once we get the process right (mastery and habits), the results will come automatically. Thus, to build our leadership branding, we need to work on how we are being, doing and getting it…

Our reputation and how we carry ourself when dealing with people (best is to stay true to ourselves), to strife by living your own brand (be comfortable in your own skin) and build good mindshare of others on you, and that is how I believe we can practice our differentiation (any how, we are unique).

How can we then work on building our leadership branding? We can make use of Deming’s PDCA model…

Plan, do, check, act

Plan; to me it means plan your own strategy and goals on your leadership branding.

Do; action and execution of your strategy and goals…

Check; what is the outcome from your action? How do you feel and what is the learning?

Act; fine-tune on the outcome and learning. It’s all in the details… a little bit goes a long way… the back to planning – setting your sight on your own improved version. Bigger and better… continuous improvement; Kaizen!

Recently while working on this leadership branding topic for my blog… I came across an article from Harvard Business Review;

The title of the article is as follows;

Define Your Personal Leadership Brand in Five Steps by Norm Smallwood

After reading it, I have picked up some good points that I would like to share with you… also my answers as example ?

1. What results do you want to achieve in the next year?

In the next 12 months, what would you like to see and experience with…

clients and partners;

My answer: Value in new approach, new topics, improved delivery

Own organisation;

My answer: Additional clients, new products, certification, partners

Community;

My answer: Serving with more CSR, charity,

Inspiring and developing leaders to reach their highest potential for God.

2. What do you wish to be known for?

Willingness to share, genuine and reliable

Innovative, ethical, fast and accurate

3. Define your identity

Dynamic, Integrity, Ownership, Nurturing

4. Construct your leadership brand statement, then test it.

“I want to be known for being ______________ so that I can deliver __________.”

I want to be known for being generous, ethical, dynamic, accountable so that I can deliver value to people that I served for the best memories of my life.

• Is this the brand identity that best represents who I am and what I can do?

• Is this brand identity something that creates value in the eyes of my organization and key stakeholders?

• What risks am I taking by exhibiting this brand? Can I live this brand?

5. Make your brand identity real

Being true to myself. Living my own legacy. Designing my own life as my leadership branding.

And my final thoughts,

Consistency is key.

“Your habits, your future!”

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Communication habits

“Communication is the response you get…”

The quote is one of the NLP presuppositions that I have learnt from my certification program. Yes, we communicate everyday and we get all sorts of responses as well.

Another favourite of mine is…

“You cannot NOT communicate!”

During my training workshops, I will ask the participants (especially to those who are married)… “what will happen if you do not communicate with your spouse for a week?”

Most of them will answer… “you will sleep outdoor…” “that’s the end of you…” haha all interesting answers.

In this blog, I would like to share some good communication practices and habits.

Please feel free to share your thoughts as I believe I am still learning and we are in this learning journey together.

Here it goes…

  • being congruent

How are you being consistent with your words, the way you say it and body language? Are you in harmony with your intention and action?

Trust is congruence between what you say and what you do. – Peter Drucker

  • Attunement

When communicate with others, how aware are you with their responses? How is the receiver learning? What method will be effective for them to learn faster? Visual, Auditory or Kinaesthetic?

We each have a sixth sense that is attuned to the oneness dimension in life, providing a means for us to guide our lives in accord with our ideas. – Henry Reed

  • Listening

How are you listening?

We can learn from the late Stephen Covey… “listening with the intent to understand…”

it will be challenging to listen effectively when you have filters. We start judging and jumping into conclusion… definitely not helping us nor achieving good rapport with the speaker.

Awareness and mindfulness to perfect practice empathy… listening to emotions in the tone and physiology… may not be easy at first, it requires a lot of conscious effort plus practices to make it into a good habit.

Empathy and social skills are social intelligence, the interpersonal part of emotional intelligence. That’s why they look alike. – Daniel Goleman

  • 5 second rule

Happened to come across this learning from the book… “To sell is human” by Daniel Pink. A good book to read for leaders. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594631905/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_alMrDbZZH9BHC

In summary, let’s wait for 5 seconds to ensure that others have finished with what they have to say… then we can reply. Pause and silent is one of the powerful tools in communication.

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

  • Ask one question at a time

Our brains works fast and we may have lots to say or ask… to be effective, learn to focus on one question at a time. Let the receiver understand and internalise what you are asking, let them have the opportunity to answer with better comprehension of your question.

Avoid asking “nested questions”… question within a question or too many questions at one go…

The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. – Bruce Lee

  • It’s the manner not the matter

Communication is how we deliver the message not only the message nor it’s meaning.

Even if it’s not so good news delivered in a right manner, trumps good news delivered inappropriately…

Better good manners than good looks. – Proverb

  • Avoiding sarcasm nor assumptions

Usage of words and how you say them is important. What I’ve learnt when providing feedback and not to sound sarcastic nor implying that the receiver is at fault… usage of “I” rather than “you” will be recommended. “You” sounded more like placing the person as the attention of the conversation and may cause them to feel at fault.

Ask questions, don’t make assumptions. – Angela Ahrendts

  • Begin and end with positive

Imagine when you start on a journey with positive… a good start and everything will be better… the feeling will be great too. Then finishing off with positive as well… WOW! I don’t know about you, for me… that is truly recommended and ideal in any situation (most of the time…).

Let’s do our best to start and end with positive. People will be more appreciative and should we be consistent with that practice, it becomes our brand as a positive communicator.

Communication – the human connection – is the key to personal and career success. – Paul J Meyer

Feel free to experiment the sharing above and let me know how it goes… looking forward to your success!

“Your habits, your future!”