Personal branding and network building

I had a very interesting discussion yesterday with a very young colleague of mine about his struggles in working with his manager. He says that he is the type of person who wants his work to speak for himself. He says that he doesn’t need to suck up (sorry for the choice of word) in order for him to get noticed. His major concern was that for the past couple of months his manager has been claiming the initiatives that he introduced to the company without giving him a credit for it.

So, he asked me what my take on his situation is and what should he do in order for him to get noticed for his performance and get the credit for the initiatives that he brought to the company. I told this young man that I’ve witness how in the past employees with great potential and excellent performers were sidelined because their managers and the company think they’re happy where they are.  Early in your career, you really must establish your personal brand. You should be your number one advocate, particularly in a situation where you feel that your manager is sabotaging your career progression. If you can’t stand for yourself, when who would? While I don’t discount the fact that we at some point of our careers would really need the support of people who believe in us, who are higher than us in the organizational hierarchy.

How then would you establish your personal branding? The first thing that you do is of course be the best in your current role. Establish yourself to be the subject matter expert in your field. Take as much knowledge and training you could get. You may then start with establishing a network in your organization. A simple hi and hello initially in order to start up a conversation would really help in the long run. In the Arab culture, it is important that you greet your colleagues and ask how they are doing. This could be a great opportunity for you to establish yourself. 

In my experience, if you have established a network with the higher ups, and you are the subject matter expert in your field, the senior leaders would recognize your potential and performance. If you are the subject matter expert in your field of work, this will discourage your manager from claiming work or initiatives that he did not do. 

In order for young people to climb the organizational ladder, competence and job effectiveness alone will not get you nowhere. You need to have personal branding and a huge network to get you where you want to go.

#personalbranding

#networking

#careeradvise

#careerdevelopment

#personaleffectiveness

#careers