Who do you think you are?

What story are you living?

Many of you will be familiar with the BBC programme of the same title, where a celebrity traces part of their family tree to reveal part of their history.

Whilst I admit to ‘stealing’ their title I’m not about to encourage you to do the same. However, I do want you to think about what your story is.

• Are you living your own story or how someone else is telling you should be?
• Do you have one persona at work and another at home?
• Do you feel you are being true to yourself?

If your answer to any of these questions indicates that you are not being yourself 100% who you are, then now is the time to do something about it.

Why? I hear you cry.

As human beings we are very good at picking up when someone is not being genuine. So if you are not ‘being yourself’ you can be sure someone is sensing this.

They may not be able to put their finger on it but they will have a sense that you are not being 100% congruent, 100% YOU, 100% truthful!

This could mean that you are not taken seriously, that people don’t know what they can rely on you for and that they don’t listen to you.

It’s also draining trying to be someone you are not, which could take its toll on your well being.

Whether you like it or not you have a reputation. A brand.

It’s what people say about you when you are not in the room.

The more you progress in your career the clearer you need to be about your brand and what you bring to the team and the organisation and to be able to articulate this clearly.

The question for you to consider is does what people are saying about me align with who I really am?

Is this what I want my reputation to be?

Defining your Brand

If you’re sitting scratching your head and wondering what your brand/reputation is, it’s time to get some feedback.

Start by identifying what you are good at. What are you the ‘go to’ person for?

You may have your own thoughts on this and it’s also useful to hear from others. They will either reinforce your thinking or provide you with some new insights. After all we all have blind spots…

Personal branding is defining what makes you unique so that you stand out from the crowd. Tom Peters first coined this as ‘The brand called YOU’ in 1997.

“Regardless of age, position or the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEO’s of our own companies:Me Inc.”

My approach is about understanding WHO you are from the inside out. Does what people see on the outside reflect what’s going on on the inside?

This means I work with you to understand who you really are:

·       What drives you?

·       What motivates you?

·       What is limiting you?

·       How do you play to your strengths more of the time?

How do you get there?

There are 5 steps to go through:

1.    Identify what you are good at and how you operate which often means gathering some robust feedback

2.    Define your values

3.    Develop your Vision

4.    Develop your Mission

5.    Develop your message so you can clearly articulate the value you provide

Each will take some time and then it’s a process of constant refinement, based on your own self-awareness and feedback.

Feedback and self-awareness are a constant for me in this process. It’s not a one and done process! As I mentioned earlier we all have blind spots those things that we do that we are, quite literally, blind to. We need others to point them out to us. That is why we actually need feedback.

So… if you are ready to stop living someone else’s story and not yet ready to go out and ask for feedback, send me an email. We can set up a complimentary discovery call to assess how best you can move forward and live the life you want to live and define your uniqueness.

“Do something today that your future self will thank you for."

 Author Unknown

Great People Deserve Great Leadership – How Great are You?

I was listening to an audio recording recently entitled ‘great leadership creates great workspaces’ with Jim Kouzes, one of the authors of the book The Leadership Challenge. Whilst there was nothing really new in what he was saying it was backed up by global research that focussed on what great leaders do to engage their people.

The one item that did make me sit up was the relationship between values and commitment.

The Relationship between Values and Commitment

From the research Jim Kouzes and his colleague Barry Posner conducted they found that the highest levels of commitment from individuals occurred when they were clear about their own values irrespective of whether they understood the organisations value.

 

So let’s start with you, the leader. Do you know your own values and what you stand for? If you can’t rattle the top 3 off the top of your head I’d argue that you don’t, and I make no apologies for being so blunt about it…

If you don’t know your values there’s no chance that your team will know what you care about, or what is important to you. Values drive our decision-making and in a leadership position will help your team know what is likely to motivate you to say yes or no to a decision that is required.

Great Leaders Connect with their People

I’ve heard it all before I hear you say…. And I agree with you. The question for you to consider is - do you connect with your people?

Leadership is personal. We are all different. We have different needs and different motivations. Do you know exactly what it is that motivates each and every member of your team? Are you able to talk to these when you have your one to one meetings and conversations with them? Do you even have regular one to one meetings??!!

Yes, I know it takes time. That time is an up front investment cost. You’ll easily regain that time over the weeks and months to come through being ‘in-tune’ with that person and the increased level of productivity you’re likely to gain.

Take Time out

If you don’t know your own values in relation to the work you do I suggest you take some time out now and do just that. There are many ways for you to do this and if you are not sure how download my personal branding demystified booklet, as there is an exercise in it that will help you, or alternatively give me a call. There is a quick and easy method I use that can then be used with members of your team.

Hopefully, you’ll then begin to engage and connect with your team on a whole new level.

‘You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you.”

Dale Carnegie

Leading with Authenticity

The term authentic leadership has been around for a while and a key starting point for any leader to be truly authentic is to know what your values are. Why is this important you might ask? Well, the word authenticity means a particular way of dealing with the external world, being faithful to internal rather than external ideas; being truthful of your commitments and intentions.

Our values are in essence our internal compass and give us clues to our internal standards and measures. They are what we hold dear and are what’s important to us and are therefore pivotal in what motivates us. They are often unconscious and I am often surprised by how few people really know what their values are.

When we are clear about our values we can make decisions more clearly and often faster, understand what motivates us and when we are being true to our values we will be more energised.

So what is a value?

Values are something we naturally move towards or away from, they are the things we are willing to spend energy on. They are largely unconscious and drive a persons true purpose. They provide the push, or motivation to take action and serve as an evaluation criteria, or judgement about our actions. They are the way we judge good or bad, right and wrong, appropriateness or inappropriateness.

We organise our values hierarchically, so those higher up the hierarchy we search for first in terms of decision-making, evaluating etc. Once the higher values have been satisfied those lower down the hierarchy are then satisfied. It’s not automatic that once you have fulfilled the higher values those lower down are satisfied.

They also determine our behaviour. Someone with a values hierarchy of adventure, family happiness, health, pleasure, and wisdom will handle a situation very differently from someone with a values hierarchy of order, loyalty, freedom, achievement and friendship.

The relevance to leadership?

At every moment of every day someone in your team or peer group is watching you – a scary thought! Consciously or unconsciously they are looking at how you behave and how consistent you are being in your approach. They are also looking at whether your actions are congruent with your words. Leading your life, as well as people, from your values, is more likely to have you be authentic and consistent in the way you make decisions, evaluate performance and go about your routines.

You are also more likely to begin to understand others values and therefore what motivates them, and through practice will learn how to motivate them and influence them more effectively. We are all unique individuals and even though some of us may use the same term to describe a value such as achievement what it means to us may be very different.

How do I know when I’m not living my values?

If you are not living by your values you are likely to be unhappy, and if you don’t know what your values are you won’t be able to pinpoint exactly why you are not happy.

If someone violates one of your values you will also feel a degree of discomfort, hurt, annoyed or angry and it won’t always be obvious why you feel this way.

How do I determine my values?

If you have not yet identified what your values are at work, what is important to you about the work you do, talk to someone who knows how to elicit your values with you. It’s a fairly quick exercise to do. Alternatively, find a good coach or mentor who can do this with you or you can go to this website: www.valuesonline.net and complete an online questionnaire.

So if you truly want to be an authentic leader embody your values in daily life. It won’t always be easy, particularly when faced with decisions that may not match your value set, however it will be more energising and rewarding.