By Nicki Creswell, Wellbeing Training Coordinator at CABA

All successful companies invest time developing their brand, working out what values they will embody and how they hope to be seen by their customers. But the importance of brand for individuals is often overlooked. Developing your own personal brand in the workplace has the potential to set you apart from your colleagues and increase your confidence.

Developing a personal brand means considering how you are viewed by your peers and how you can change and implement this. It’s always important at work to present yourself in the best possible light as we are judged quickly on our professionalism and capability when meeting clients, senior staff, and colleagues, all of whom have an impact on our day to day working life and career progression. Spending some time considering how you want to portray yourself could help propel your career in the direction you’re aiming for.

Your personal brand should showcase your unique values. One way to think of your personal brand is what you would like people to say about you when you leave the room. Here are the first steps to establishing your brand and getting it to work for you:

1. What are your values? – What is important to you? Identifying your core motivators helps to identify what makes you happy, more productive and therefore a more valuable team member
2. What do you want to achieve in your career? – Working out where you want to be in the future allows you to adapt your brand to reach this goal. Make sure the companies you target have similar values to you and that the roles you apply for will allow you to express and use your unique skills. This will naturally improve your engagement rates with this business, and let you work towards a common goal
3. What’s your brand timeframe? – Set deadlines as they help provide purpose and maintain motivation. Establish where you want to be in six months’ time. Work towards achieving that position and then work out what you can learn from it so you can move forwards
4. What’s your brand statement? – Write down exactly how you’d like those around you to think of you, and identify behaviours that can achieve this. Keep the statement short and to the point so it’s easy to stick to
5. Get going! – Once you’ve worked out what you need to do to create your brand image, start implementing the changes. It won’t be an overnight process but having key objectives that support your values will ensure that you’re heading in the right direction

Building a personal brand has the potential to boost both your confidence and your performance in the workplace. It helps to establish credibility and niche areas of expertise, and allows you to demonstrate your value to your wider team.

Wherever you are on your career path, it’s always good to start thinking about what you stand for and how you present yourself to others. After all, we spend the majority of the working day in the office so it’s important to make a good impression. You may be amazed at the opportunities this can create.