The journey to peak performance as a leader started last week with step one – how you lead yourself and keep yourself inspired and motivated.
This week we turn to step two (and chapter 2 of my book) – developing your positive identity. Your identity can be split into three potential areas: your personal identity, your identity as a leader and the identity of your organisation.
It’s important to raise your own self-awareness to gain an insight into who you are and how you operate. This is one of the cornerstones of Emotional Intelligence. An interesting insight into your own personal identity can also be gained from psychometric testing. We use a basic form of the Myers Briggs and DISC profiles (two of the more widely used tools) to give an initial insight into this, but you can invest in getting the complete profiles analysed.
An area that may be available for you to develop also, is your expert positioning or your level of authority in the profession in which you do business. This is a core part of the identity that people will connect with as you build your network and connections. So what are your strengths, qualifications or experience that will form a strong part of your identity? What is your story as to how you have arrived at the place you are now? People will connect with all of these items.
Building from this is your identity as a leader of your business, but we will cover that in step four – how you lead your people.
The final part of the identity triangle is the identity of your business. Many people think a brand is a logo, but it’s so much more than that! I believe it’s worth you focusing on 3 very important things in this area.
The first is the big “why” you do what you do. What is the “purpose” of your business? Getting close to this and having it at the heart of what you do will drive you and any people in your organisation through the ups and downs. It will also connect with your potential customers. What would make you truly proud if people said this about you and the way you do business?
The second area to focus on are your organisational values. This will be the driving compass for you on your journey. What are the 5-7 key values that you and everyone must be accountable to and live and breathe? You can then use these to recognise positive performance and recruit people against.
Finally, what is your value proposition? This relates to how you can positively differentiate your business in the market place? What makes you special? You and I know you are, so how do you communicate this to your potential customers?
Building a positive individual and company identity is not straightforward, but it’s at the heart of how you will be seen and whether people will want to develop a relationship with you and your business. So it really is worth the hard work!
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