Your actions can create and influence the audience’s perception regarding you and your brand. You may not be representing your company all the time but you are always representing yourself. Therefore, you have to be impeccable with most of the things you do in your office environment. Your actions, both big and small, have to be guided towards sending a positive message among the audience, failing which you may run a chance of stagnating your brand. Let us discuss few common factors with the potential to erode your personal brand in the office environment.
Making Enemies
Building a personal brand is all about making people familiar with your brand in an amicable manner. Refrain from making enemies at workplace, as it will deter the progress of your brand. A pleasant greeting and reasonable eye contact can do a word of good to your brand and establish you as an affable person.
However, in confrontation situations, which are common sites at our workplaces, it is advisable to remain diplomatic. Keeping your emotions aside will enable you to assess the situation with reason and handle it in the best possible manner. Make sincere efforts to develop and maintain enduring and mutually beneficial relations with your colleagues and subordinates.
Engage in gossip
Gossip is always time consuming and deters you from concentrating on your task. Engaging in gossip thwarts the growth of your brand. In gossip, information is not based on facts and hence can cloud the perception of other people. The best option is to stay away from gossip and encourage your colleagues and subordinates to do the same.
Lack of proper communication
Personal branding is all about telling your story to your audience. The narrative has to be right and the content should be genuine. If we fail to do so, we are leaving things open to interpretation. Communicating poorly gives an opportunity to others to unfairly judge us, which is not desirable for your personal branding endeavor. Oftentimes, your reluctance to communicate may be mistaken for arrogance.
Silence can hurt your brand big time. so if you are naturally a quiet person, then go against your natural tendency and regularly communicate with your office mates.
Being inconsistent
Being inconsistent with your actions, responsibilities and mood is the fastest way to lose your personal brand. One missed deadline or one lie can make you fall from grace and negates the brand you built by months and years of hard work. You certainly would avoid trusting an inconsistent person for a high profile assignment, no matter how talented he may be.
Being a copycat/follower
Personal branding is all about revealing your true self to the world. Individuals devoid of their own identity can undermine their personal brand. The best possible way to avoid this situation is to develop self-reliance in thought and actions. Projecting yourself as a team player can help but it is imperative to assert your leadership qualities. Be affable, but stand on your own two legs.
Reveal favoritism
People at all levels, particularly your superiors take notice of the manner in which you treat your coworkers. Hence, it becomes important to treat all individuals at your workplace equally. You have to careful if you are friendly with someone of the opposite sex, as it will give the office gossip mill some fodder, which can hurt your goodwill. It is naturally to have favorites at office, but avoid revealing it to the world. Remain as neutral as possible.
Be it driving rashly in the company parking lot or calling in sick immediately before or after a holiday can hurt your personal brand in the workplace.