Team building is quite topical at the moment with the World Cup in full swing and the rumblings about unrest in the England team, and of course the blatant rowing going on between the French. So how can Personal Branding help with building a strong team?

In a climate where business leaders are increasingly concerned with costs and motivating their teams an investment in Personal Branding maximises the organisation’s investment in their corporate brand, because people are the strongest element of the corporate brand today. It demonstrates to staff a commitment to their development, but more than that, it also helps to achieve maximum positive impact in customer facing and competitive business situations. By bringing the best out in your people, you increase their personal effectiveness and confidence, and they in turn reinforce the corporate brand image in a positive and authentic manner.

Corporate branding is so tied up with the people in the organisation - think abut how your impression of a company can be ruined by the unhelpful switchboard operator or receptionist - and it doesn’t even cross your mind that they might just be having a bad day. To you that company has to work twice as hard to ‘win’ you back onside. As we know one weak link in a sporting team can be the difference between winning and losing the game. In business poor customer service from just one member of the team can send a customer  straight to the competition with the belief that the company ‘just doesn’t care’ and in this climate it is much harder to win new customers than to retain existing customers. With the emphasis today on social media and viral messaging a corporate brand can be damaged overnight.

Building a successful team should allow the individuals to discover their own personal brand and how that interacts with their co-workers and in turn projects the corporate brand authentically and consistently. Back to our sporting team - each player knows their strengths and their role and if they use those strengths to support their team members they can be successful individually and as a team. After all Rooney needs a good supply of decent passes to enable him to score the winning goal - and let’s hope that’s what happens on Wednesday afternoon!

My Personal Branding masterclasses have been running for some time now and are always lively and informative days, I never know what to expect from the group as the course is open and attendees come from a variety of organisations and backgrounds. So I thought it would be good to share with you a view from the other side of the fence written by a recent attendee:

"As I have known her for some years I decided to attend an open workshop run by Lesley Everett who is the leading Personal Branding expert in the UK and author of the fascinating book ‘Walking Tall, key steps to total image impact’.I was a little nervous when I received my joining instructions which included a request to prepare a two minute talk on something I am passionate about and a short questionnaire for friends or colleagues to complete. The questions included –amongst others ‘What am I known to others for?’ and ‘What one behavioural trait might be worth changing for me to project a better brand image?’

There were seven attendees at the workshop – a mixture of senior corporate employees and small business owners - which was just the right number to provide feedback and some lively discussion during the exercises Lesley set us. What was really interesting was the discussion about first impressions – we’ve all heard the statistics - but what really hammered it home was Lesley asking us to put down a couple of words about each other as we stood up to introduce ourselves. We compared these with a second set we did after lunch when we had got to know each other a little better. We try to believe that we don’t judge each other by appearance but I was pleasantly surprised at the soberly dressed accountant who had a fantastic sense of humour!

Lesley explained to us that our Personal Brand is what people say about you behind your back – hence the questionnaires from friends and colleagues. We used these and the groups feedback to build a Personal Brand Profile, which included our skills and values .

Lesley talked us through the importance of building ‘brand visibility’ and creating your visibility plan, which is brilliant for business owners to help them determine who they should market to, but also fantastic for those in the corporate world who are climbing the career ladder.

One particularly fun part of the workshop was talking about Image, dress and the whole thorny topic of dress down. There were some heated exchanges about why what we wear shouldn’t matter and Lesley explained that unfair or not unfortunately, as we realised right at the start of the day, whether we had meant to or not we had formed an opinion on each other by our appearance. She gave each of us some tips and tweaks to our appearance and style based on the environment we work in, the job that we do and our daily ‘audience’.

The workshop was jam packed with really useful information and feedback but given in a supportive environment. Lesley delivers the workshop in a businesslike but also fun way interspersing facts with stories from her years of experience in the field. We received ‘constructive’ criticism on our talks from Lesley and each other, with tips we could take away and use in the future. What I got from it was a much clearer idea of what my values and skills are related to where I want my business to go and the kind of people I want to work with, as well as some great networking. One of Lesley’s key messages is that everything you do every day builds your brand; every email, phone call and interaction with colleagues and clients and so we must be authentic and be true to who we really are. I came away full of plans and ideas and it really helped me focus on how I want to project my personal brand in my business."

Our next course is on the 9th June and can be booked here.

After watching the first two live debates it has been interesting to see the rise of Nick Clegg in the opinion polls. The first debate could have just been a one off fluke for someone who went into it with nothing to lose. However, after his next performance we have seen that there is a consistency to his performance suggesting authenticity in his brand. After seeing how each of the leaders’ brand images have been projected here are my top ten reasons why I think he is suddenly so popular:

1. Our first impression of him was of someone quite relaxed and confident.
2. He engaged with the studio audience in a personable way by moving both his body and eyes around the audience, and didn’t forget the bigger audience at home by looking directly down the camera.
3. Unlike Gordon Brown and David Cameron he didn’t hang on to the lectern for dear life, he moved out from behind it and even had his hand in his pocket at times showing complete comfort.
4. His voice and delivery was passionate whilst not being over direct or too loud.
5. His personal values were clear.
6. He didn’t falter or hesitate in his delivery.
7. He looked immaculate with a great fitting suit and a tie that was tied properly!
8. He turned and faced Cameron and Brown and looked directly at them, unlike his opponents who avoided eye contact and almost didn’t want to look at each other in the first debate.
9. In summing up he included the names of the questioners in the audience which, whilst it could have been a little ‘cheesy’,  actually worked and left him looking down to earth and with a ‘real’ person image.
10. Finally he smiled more and had more natural humour and unlike Gordon Brown he didn’t seem to need scripted jokes.

It will be fascinating to see as the campaigns move forward how Clegg’s opponents react and develop their presentational style after seeing his success. It already appears that Brown has been told to be more upbeat and humorous.