October 2007

 

Organizational leaders develop a brand image that is associated with their work. Leaders who rely on others to discern what their brand is leave room for misperceptions and misunderstandings about what the leader values and expects. Effective leaders are intentional about building their brand awareness. What are those brand-building components that elevate awareness and shape perception?

Connection: Championing the senior management viewpoint is essential to building an effective leadership brand. Behaviors, initiatives, or convictions that run contrary to executive team values and objectives eventually become detrimental to a leader. In most instances, a leadership brand that reflects and supports the strategic direction of the organization will flourish and grow.

Vision: Communicating a clear and compelling vision sets the stage for transmitting leadership conviction across the organization. Clarity of vision facilitates decision-making, problem solving and value-added contribution, which become the cornerstone of a leader’s brand.

Visibility: There is no substitute for being seen and responsive to those stakeholders who impact a leader’s perception and success. Targeted and well-timed interactions can re-enforce a leadership brand, as well as put to rest misperceptions created by others. Celebrations and crises often become brand-building events.

Predictability: Consistency in living out a leadership brand creates a brand promise that colleagues depend upon. Meetings, rewards, presentations, commendations, and strategy sessions provide an ongoing platform reinforcing what a leader values most. Others become more familiar with what a leader may support, challenge, fund, or reward. That kind of predictability is a key ingredient in shaping the climate and culture within a division or department.

Feedback: Proactively soliciting measurable feedback helps leaders to evaluate brand effectiveness and make adjustments to better align efforts with desired outcomes. Perception is reality when it comes to building a leadership brand. Both formal and informal data gathering are critical audits for monitoring the penetration of a leader’s brand among direct reports and across the organization.

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There are as many unique leadership brands as there are leaders. However, not all leaders take the time to crystallize both thinking and behavior around the perceptions that matter most to them. Even longer-term leaders in more stable organizations can benefit from a more intentional look at the brand of leadership with which they want to be associated. They can also benefit on how to best reflect that brand while confronting the challenges and opportunities presented by a changing organizational and economic landscape.

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