What is your real brand at work and what does it say about you?

what is your real brand at work, an article by Ascend - leading boutique talent strategy and leadership development consultancy based in London, England.

I have worked for nearly 20 years with executives and high potentials and it still amazes me how many people are unaware of their real ‘brand’ in the business. They have no idea how they are actually perceived by those above them and what roles the organisation would be willing to offer them versus the roles they really want.

We have developed a process that produces radical results in helping executives and organisations make much better-informed decisions about people’s careers and how to utilise their strengths to maximise their effectiveness, often freeing up roles for others to embark on stretching new assignments so bringing fluidity to an organisations talent/succession landscape. This happens because we build a picture of how someone is really perceived in an organisation and share it with them in a process that we call The Perspective Report.

The 360 Feedback report is only one page. It does not hide behind HR speak or psychological gobbledegook. Instead, you will get real answers to how an individual is perceived in an organisation: their impact, strengths, weakness, possible next role, potential and development areas. This information is collated via conversational 180 or 360 interviews to a structured set of questions and fed back to the subject via a face to face coaching/ development conversation. It is aimed at helping people process the information, reflect on the best way forward and make well-informed decisions about their career that benefits both them and their organisation.

We often combine their candid 360 themes with insight into any potentially significant executive behavioural or emotional intelligence derailers.

The Commercial Director of an international Energy company was desperate to be promoted and threatening to leave the organisation if he wasn’t. The organisation's Finance Director and HR Director commissioned Ascend to initiate an Executive Perspectives process for the Commercial Director with the aim of raising his awareness of his strengths and weaknesses, his impact within the organisation, as well as identifying his development areas and more importantly bringing clarity to exactly what those above him in the organisation and the Global parent company thought was his ideal role now and in the future.

As a result of the study, the Commercial Director realised how positive his bosses and peers were about his impact, what he could be doing differently to have an even more positive effect, and also what sort of roles that the organisation saw him doing in 2-3 years time. This led to the following individual and organisational benefits: - 

  • The Commercial Director reengaged with his existing role in a more positive way

  • He worked on his development areas and performed even better in his role and was then promoted to Chief Legal Officer (his original field of expertise) 18 months later

  • The organisation retained a valuable contributor to the business (avoiding the costly act of finding a replacement) and gained valuable insight for its succession process which was acted on at a later date

If you would like to find out more about how 360 feedback works or to talk to us about your needs in more details, please contact us.

 
Ditto Branding