Freddie Guilmard.
How to begin and develop the process of building your leadership brand... Leadership specialist Freddie Guilmard, of consultancy RTP, shares his thoughts.
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I FEEL very privileged to be working with several leadership teams. During a recent workshop, we discussed the issues highlighted in my article last month on the erosion of trust in leadership and what can be done about it.
We explored the need to actively understand how to build our personal brand reputation, how this can have a positive impact on building trust and why we should care about what people say about us when we are not in the room.
However, there was quite a lengthy debate about the need to be an authentic leader which might mean that we are not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and that should be OK, right? After all, we are currently seeing many examples of so called ‘leaders’ who are single-handedly managing to reshape the global landscape. Everything is a choice and these choices have consequences (good and bad).
So how do you go about building your leadership reputation and brand? In the first instance, you might want to ask the colleagues and teams who work with you to share how they experience you, what you stand for and how you show up. This is not an easy thing to do but if you are really serious about building your leadership brand, it is a good place to start.
Depending on your starting point, people may or may not be willing to share their feedback but through actively listening, taking on board the points and remaining engaged in the conversation, you could learn quite a lot about yourself.
Once you have listened to the feedback – assuming you still have the energy to continue – the next step will be to think about what your core values are. Many will say that these values will have been a part of you for a long time and should not be changed.
However, I have a different view.
The person and the leader I am today is quite different from who I was in my early and mid-career. It was during the pandemic that I realised the values that I thought were critical to me were not what I needed in order to navigate my personal life and my career today.
So I changed them. I think for the first time I truly thought about what was really important to me and it has truly been a game changer.
The next reflection should be to explore and clarify your leadership style. What kind of leader do you want to be? Are you collaborative, visionary or strategic? Do you know your preferred style of communication? What unique skills or qualities set you apart? Are you good at problem solving? Do you inspire teams? Do you prefer to share stories and motivate people? Are you known for your attention to the minute details?
If you work with trusted suppliers, stakeholders and partners, they might be willing to help you understand how they experience working with you.
Once you start to have a good idea of what your leadership brand is about, you need to align your actions with your words and be consistent. Start to live your values, lead by example by being authentic and accountable.
Over time, your team will come to rely on your predictability and integrity… consistency will be key.
As your confidence grows, make sure you grow your voice and your visibility. Share what you care about and why it matters. Build trusted relationships by investing in people at work and outside of work. Be visible, approachable and cultivate trust through transparency and empathy.
Over time, your leadership brand should grow with you so ensure you reflect regularly on what is working and what is not and always welcome feedback and new learning.
One exercise I found really helpful was to write my Leadership Statement, which can be found on my LinkedIn page. And for those of you who are wondering about my recently amended values, they are:
“Kindness, always”.
“Be human”.
“Have fun, seriously”.
Freddie Guilmard is chief executive and high-performance coach at RTP, a boutique consultancy that supports leaders in building human organisations.
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