260
meters.
We are not objective. The
fourth question is usually answered on the basis of personal values
and bias, rather than on objective
criteria ("I need more information about the risks")
6Ask
yourself.
1What kind of decision maker are
your?
3 Do
you like to be the first to act or are you more cautious?
4 Are
you prepared to take risks or do you delay decisions until you are sure of the
outcome? 5 How would you describe the decision-making culture where you
work/study?
6
To what extent do you fit into the culture?
7 Think about your last major
decision at work/university.
- To what extent did you collect
the necessary amount of information? How well did you set the criteria for
creating and comparing options?
-What tools (if any) do you use to
help you make your decisions? Does fear of failure sometimes stop you from
making decisions? If so, think about the positive aspects of risk taking.
- Think about an important decision
that you made recently at work/university. How well did you sell the decision
to those affected by it?
- Think about the last bad decision
you made. What did you learn from the experience that helped you to take better
decisions?
EXERCISE: Which type of decision
maker would say what?
Four types of decision makers are:
directive, analytic, conceptual and behavioural.
Look at the comment below. Match
each of them to one of these decision-making styles. (The
answers are on page .
. . .)
1
"I think our feeling here is that
the third solution is the most creative and will also produce the best result in
the long term. Is everyone happy with that
solution?"
2 "On
the basis of all the data that we have collected, I think it's clear that the
third solution is by far the most logical."
3 "OK.
I think that we have talked things through and have now a clear commitment from
everyone. Can we agree to implement the third solution and discuss results at
the end of the month?"
4
"Implement this approach and report
back at the end of the month on results." Answers: 1
Conceptual; 2 Analytic;
3
Behavioural; 4 Directive.
SURVIVAL GUIDE: decision making to
bring about change
Coaching has established itself as
a useful tool to support both individuals and groups when they have to take key
decisions. Co-active coaching works with questions that stimulate insight into assumptions
and principles behind decision making. The following questions, based upon
a template created by Sharon Drew Morgan(see www.businessballs.com), can help you to begin the process of
innovative decision making.
1 Take
a look around your working situation. What issues do you see that require a
decision for change?
2 What
has stopped you from deciding until now?
3 What
would you need to see/hear/feel in order to take a decision?
4 What
criteria are you using to decide what aspects of the situation need to be
changed?
5 What
needs to be changed first?
6 How
are you going to handle of opinion in the decision-making process?
7 Who
needs to support you so that you can take this decision?
8 How
will you motivate them to support you?
9 How
will you know whether you have taken the right decision?
10 How
will you be able to make this success sustainable?
THE LANGUAGE OF DECISIONS
Section A
This section provides some
suggestions on phrases and vocabulary that you can use when making decisions.
Remember, however, that you should only use the language that you and your
colleagues feel comfortable with in your specific working context.
1Deciding
to decide
What do we need to decide first?
How soon do we need to take a
decision
on this?
Are we in a position to take a
decision?
2Defining
the decision-making process
How should we decide this? Who
needs to be consulted? Who should take the final decision?
I think we need to decide on a new
logo.
Could you let me have a decision by
next
Friday?
Well, we can decide when we get the
extra
information.
I think we need to discuss .
. .
We need to involve ..
.
The person ultimately responsible
is . . .
3Collecting
information
What do we need to know to take a
decision? Why can't we take a decision? What information are we waiting for?
4Setting
criteria
What criteria are we going to use?
On what basis will we take our
decision?
What is important here?
We need information about.
. .
We don't have enough information
on...
We are waiting for confirmation of.
. .
Our decision should be based on .
. . I think the decision should be driven by
The deciding factor will be ...
5 Deciding
on an option
What do you think we should do?
Which option is best for you? What is your decision?
I think we should .
. .
In my opinion we should decide to.
My decision is to .
. .
6 Implementing
the decision
What do we need to do to implement
this decision?
What do we do now?
Can we agree on an action plan?
We have to .
..
The next step is to. Yes, I suggest
that
7 Reviewing
the decision
Was it a good decision? Yes and no.
On the one hand, we could.. .
Did we take the right decision? Yes,
we did. So far. . .
Would you take this decision again?
I think so.
Section В
Decision-making idioms
There are many idioms and idiomatic
terms in English about decisions and decision making. Here are some of the most
common ones.
A done deal
This expression describes an
agreement or decision that has been reached on a specific issue. "We are
still looking at different options, so it's not a done deal yet."
Jumping on the bandwagon
If someone "jumps on the
bandwagon", they decide to join a trend that is already very successful or
fashionable.
"So many companies are jumping
on the work-life balance bandwagon at the moment and starting initiatives. But
I don't think they really believe in it."
Putting your money where your mouth
is
People who "put their money
where their mouth is" support a decision or opinion, often in some
financial way, either with an investment or some kind of bet.
"Come on. If you believe
England will beat Germany in November in Berlin, put your money where your
mouth is and bet me $10.
Playing for time
People who "play for
time" try to delay a decision in some way:
"He tried to play for time by
asking for more information. I think he was hoping we would just
give in and reduce our prices."
Blamestorming
This business buzzword is used to
describe the process of groups trying to find out who was responsible for a
decision that produced bad results. The term comes from
"brainstorming". "The meeting about the failure of our marketing
campaign turned into a blamestorming session, with nobody taking
responsibility. Everyone just blamed everyone else."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Bob Dignen is
one of the directors of York Associates (www.york-associates.co.uk) who
specializes in language,
communication and intellectual training.
Contact: bob.dianen@york-associates.co.uk
BOOKS
Group Communication, Peter
Hartley, Routledge, ISBN 970-415-11159-1.
Harvard Business Review on Decision
Making, Peter Drucker, John Hammond, Ralph
Keeny, Howard Raiffa, Aid
M.Hayashi, Harvard Business School Press, ISBN 978-57851-557-
Unit 4
PERSONAL BRANDING. A BRAND NEW YOU
1 Before you read the article, take a few minutes to
think and say what the word ‘brand’
means. Give examples of your own.
2 Read the first part of the article.
PART I
I Companies
invest an enormous amount of time to develop, promote and sustain their corporate
brands. Think of Coca-Cola, Apple, BMW or McDonalds. Branding is a powerful
way to shape customer perceptions of products or services and to
influence their buying behaviour. So, if branding works for companies, why
can't it work for you as an individual? Personal branding uses key
corporate principles and practices to enable individuals to manage their image
in the workplace. Before you read on, take a few minutes to think about the
following questions. Then compare your answers to the comments in the article.
■ Why
do you need a personal brand?
■ What
steps should you follow to create such a brand?
■ What
channels can you use to communicate your personal brand?
■ What
role does culture play in personal branding?
■ Why
do you need a personal brand?
II On the history of branding
The origin of the term
"personal branding" is often traced back to a 1997
article, "The Brand Called You", by Tom
Peters, one of the world's leading business experts box, He said that everyone
has a personal brand, whether they like it or not. Peters defined brand
primarily as what other people think about us —
the ideas and associations we stimulate in their
minds by the way we look, sound and behave.
Some aspects of our brand will be
positive, others negative. Yet most of the time, we don't think about managing
how people experience us. Peters believed it was time for individuals to take
control of their personal brand in the workplace and to market themselves more
consciously.
Peters argued that flatter
corporate structures were making career development more problematic. Automatic
promotions up the organizational ladder were be coming a thing of the past.
Instead, individuals needed to promote themselves by defining and communicating
their unique selling proposition (USP).
Some benefits of personal branding
·
Greater visibility and opportunities for
promotion
·
Better working partnerships inside your
company
·
Higher salary
·
The ability to attract and retain
more customers
·
Greater self-confidence
·
Clearer focus on what really matters for
you at work
III Creating
a personal brand
It will be easier to create an
effective personal brand if you follow these three key steps:
a) Define your personal brand
vision. When was the last time you thought about
what you want to achieve at work over the next three, five or ten years?
Ask yourself questions both about specific career objectives (What do I
want to become? How much do I want to earn?) and about general professional
objectives (What kind of leader do I want be? What kind of team do I want to
work in?). This process enables you to devote the appropriate
amount of energy to the right areas and also plan to reach meaningful career
goals.
b) Define your personal brand. The
second step is to define a unique and impressive professional brand.
Start by creating a short statement of who you are: the values you represent,
your key qualities, and what makes you unique. Tom Peters suggests that your uniqueness
include not only general personality descriptions, but also four key aspects of
working life: your vision and style as a leader; what makes you special as a
team member; your technical expertise: and your ability to help deliver
results. Think about your own uniqueness by answering the following questions.
You will find some useful examples of language to answer these questions, see
the survival guide section.
Leadership vision
·
What inspires and motivates you?
·
How do you inspire and motivate others?
·
Where are you taking people?
Team focus
·
What do you see as your greatest
strength in team?
·
What do your colleagues admire most
about you?
·
What's special about working with you in
a team?
Technical ability
·
Where are you excellent?
·
What are you known for doing better than
others?
·
What is your particular genius?
Pragmatic results
·
What have you achieved that you are most
proud of?
·
What will you deliver to your
management?
·
What unique benefits do you offer the
customer?
c) Promote your personal brand. No
matter how good a brand is, it will be of little value if it isn't promoted
well. That is why companies spend millions on advertising to increase the visibility
of their brands. The same is true of personal branding. It is essential to move
on from creating the brand to making sure it is experienced by key stakeholders
— that is, the people
with whom you work and who have direct or indirect influence over your career
development.
3 Read the first part of the text quickly once more
and find the words and phrases that match the definitions below:
a) excellent knowledge or skill in your professional
subject
b) the feature of being very special, unusual
c) the relationships between people in business,
organization
d) something important in your job that you hope to
achieve
e) the process of creating your special image
f) the state of being more popular
g) the main personal characteristics
(personal branding, greater visibility, working
partnerships, meaning career goals,
key qualities, uniqueness, technical expertise)
4 Read the second paragraph, discuss the importance
of the enlisted benefits. Which one is the most important in your opinion?
Write the list of the benefits of personal branding in the order of importance
from your point of view.
5 Read the third paragraph and
a) name the three key steps in creating a personal
brand (don’t look into the text)
b) answer the questions from part 1 in close pairs, then in open pairs
c) speak about your uniqueness using four key
aspects of working life from part “d”. You will find some useful examples of
language to answer the questions in the survival guide section.
d) speak about the importance to promote your
personal brand, use no more than 3 sentences.
6 Write down 10 words and expressions from the first
part of the text, which you think are the most suitable to speak about personal
branding.
1-write down your personal brand vision, using no
more than three sentences,(see the survival guide section)
2-wrte down your own personal brand statement, using
no more than three sentences, use a list of useful personality adjectives from
the survival guide section.
7 Read the second part of the
article
PART II
IY Communicating
your brand
There are various channels you can
use to promote your unique personal brand in the workplace.
a) The work channel. Effective
personal brand promotion is more than telling everyone how wonderful you are.
The best way to showcase your talent to others is to find opportunities
to work with them. Look for new projects where you could play a role. Volunteer
informal support and advice to those who might benefit from your experience.
Don't expect opportunities to fall into your lap; you need to look actively.
And don't get impatient if benefits don't appear immediately. Allow your
reputation to grow slowly but surely. As a way of getting started, commit
yourself to one extra task for the coming four weeks that will enhance
your reputation with a significant decision maker.
b) The people channel. One
of the best forms of marketing is personal recommendation or "word of
mouth". It is essential to cultivate a strong network of carefully selected
people who like and respect you. Such people can act as multipliers for your
brand in conversations with other decision makers. Some people like to join professional
networking sites: others increase the number of strategic lunches they
take part in. Whatever method you use, it is important always to think about
whether you are spending the right amount of time with the right people talking
about the right things. Your aim is to ensure that your
"stakeholder network" understands your values and talks about you in
the right way.
c) The emotional channel. Corporate
brands use emotions to connect strongly to customer desires, such as the wish
to be successful or attractive. Your personal brand also needs to manage
emotions. In their book Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate,
Fisher and Shapiro identify four areas of emotion that need to be managed in
business contexts. Think about these four areas for your personal brand:
Appreciation.
People feel good when they see that they are liked.
When people meet you, do they feel liked and appreciated by you?
Affiliation.
We usually have more positive feelings towards
people with whom we have something in common. When people meet you, how clearly
do you communicate that you are similar?
Autonomy.
We need to feel a sense of control over our own destiny.
Do people feel empowered and autonomous when they are with you, or do
you threaten their independence and expertise?
Status.
People need to feel respected. How does your
personal brand communicate respect for others? How does talking to you confer
status on others?
To gain their customers' trust and
loyalty, companies try to make the experience of their brand an enjoyable one.
Effective personal brands work in the same way. Do people find it enjoyable and
rewarding to be around you?
d) The visual channel. When
people see you, they should experience credibility, authority and
openness. For example, when you are making a presentation, an open posture
with strong and controlled gestures normally helps to build your brand
better than shifting from foot to foot or waving your arms around wildly.
Choice of clothing, hairstyle and portables, such as a briefcase
and laptop, also communicate your values. And think also about your written
communication, including e-mails, presentation slides and even your handwriting
on a flip chart. What do the information load, format and design
say about you?
e) The auditory channel. What do
people think when they hear you? Are they inspired, or do they have mixed
feelings towards you and your approach to business? Does your voice
persuade with warm and friendly tones, or does it create discomfort with dull
intonation or shrill tones? Do people "hear" you smiling on the
telephone? If you don't know what people really think of you when they hear
you, start asking!
Y The
culture question
Creating and communicating a
personal brand is not easy. For example, what should you do if you feel that
the key people in your professional network don't like your personal brand?
What if they respect alternative values and behaviours? Should you change
yourself and risk becoming inauthentic?
There is no easy answer here, but
it can help to think about this problem in two parts. If you believe that key
stakeholders have the wrong perception of your talents, then you need to work
on improving the promotion of your brand. If on the other hand, your brand
values genuinely offer little to your stakeholders, think about whether
you can adapt your brand, or whether you need to find another place to
work.
Culture can play a key role in
brand communication. Whatever values or information we try to transmit,
the receivers of our message will see or hear us and interpret the message
according to their own mental model and filters. For example, you may wish to
promote a brand that says you are direct and honest, but others may experience
you as aggressive and pushy. Or, you may want to promote the patience
and empathy of your empowering leadership, only to find that others see
you as indecisive and lacking direction.
You are likely to have a number of
diverse audiences for your brand campaign at work. These may include
different national cultures, departmental cultures, age and gender
cultures, different business relationships (for example, that between a
customer and a supplier) and, of course, the individual personalities of your
colleagues, managers and business partners. All these audiences will have distinct
needs and perspectives and may experience you in different ways. Effective
personal branding requires a clear vision and message but, above all,
intelligent promotion to diverse audiences.
YI Always
be selling
Developing and communicating your
personal brand is not enough. You also have to "walk the talk".
Are you a leader who breeds confidence and trust with analytical
excellence and good people-management skills? Are you open for feedback and do
you act to improve yourself even when the messages you get are difficult to
accept? If not, your brand may be compromised. Remember that every encounter
represents an opportunity to sell "Brand You", from first impressions
in casual social encounters and the many e-mails you write each day to
taking part in international meetings or presentations. Effective brands are consistent
brands. So make sure that how you look, sound and act at all times sends a
consistent message about who you are and what your unique value is.
8 Read the fourth paragraph of the text quickly and
find the words and phrases that match the definitions below:
a) to present somebody’s abilities or good qualities
b) when people tell each other about it (not read or
write, only speak)
c) people or companies that are involved in a
particular project, especially if they invest money in it
d) to give somebody the power or authority to do
something
e) to make people feel that they are respected by
you
f) to have the feeling of trust and belief
1-experience credibility
2-stakeholder network
3-to communicate respect for others
4-to showcase
5-to feel empowered
6-word of mouth
9 Check your memorizing skills. Name five channels
which you can use to promote your unique personal brand, don’t look into the
text.
10 Read part “c”(paragraph IY) once more and
a) try to explain what the words “appreciation,
affiliation, autonomy, status” mean
b) complete the sentences with proper words
mentioned above
The job of a university teacher brings with it high
________ and good income.
His_______ to the most powerful political party
gives him high position in the society.
Frenchmen usually show great_______ to women.
Young people would like their parents to give them
greater ________ autonomy in their personal life.
c) answer the questions you can find in the parts c,
d, e.
11 Read paragraphs Y and YI quickly. Try to
summarize in a sentence what each part (a-f) is about
12 Find key words and expressions(at least 10)
suitable to speak about developing and communicating your personal brand from
paragraphs Y and YI.
13 Match each sentence 1-6 to the sentence( a-f)
that should logically follow it, don’t look into the text
1-What should you do
2-It can help you to think
3-Whatever values or information we try to transmit
4-Effective personal branding requires
5-Are you a leader who breeds
6-Every encounter represents an opportunity
a) confidence and trust with analytical excellence
and good people-management skills?
b) if you feel that the key people in your
professional network don’t like your brand?
c) to sell your personal “Brand You”
d) about this problem in two parts
e) a clear vision and above all, intelligent
promotion to diverse audiences
f) the receivers of our message will see or hear us
14 Read the survival guide section, get ready to
participate in the round-table discussion “Creating a personal brand helps to
face the challenges of the modern life”.
SURVIVAL GUIDE. PERSONAL BRANDING
Creating your personal brand.This
section provides some suggestions for phrases and vocabulary that can be used
to communicate your personal brand at work. Remember, however, that you should
only use the language and approach that you feel
comfortable with in your specific context.
1. Communicating
your brand vision and values
Building a personal brand is not achieved
by telling everyone how wonderful you are. You need to communicate your
vision and values regularly in business encounters such as
presentations, meetings and social conversation. Here are some key aspects you
should consider:
a) Leadership vision
Communicate your vision of good
leadership, so that your staff can deliver the performance you want.
For me, good leadership means...
This organization's strategy is
to...
What inspires me is...
My greatest motivation is...
The future for me is...
b) Teamwork
Communicate your vision of good
teamwork practice.
My approach to teamwork is...
The critical success factor
is..
What I always want to see in teams
is...
Teams need to have...
For me, a team is not a team unless
it has
c) Skills
Communicate your own skills as well
as those you admire in others.
Your skills:
·
One thing I do know is how to..
·
My core competence is...
·
Some people say that my particular attribute
is to...
Others'
skills:
·
One quality I admire in people is...
·
The key attribute for firms is...
·
A core skill for us all today is...
d) Results
Communicate an attitude to
goals that is personally focused, but also highlights the importance of
wider goals.
I guarantee that I will deliver...
·
My goal is to...
·
My view of (customer service) is…
·
The secret to getting great results
is...
·
The team has to reach...
·
The organization's objective is
to...
2. Differentiating
your brand
Positioning is a critical element
of brand identity. Differentiating clearly between what you see as right and
what you see as wrong is a simple way of distinguishing your personal
brand from the competition. The following extracts from
presentations are examples of the type of approaches and sentences you could
use.
Empowerment, not dictatorship: a
message about leadership
"I am not going to stand here
and tell you what to do every time something goes wrong. My leadership
philosophy is one of empowerment, and not dictatorship. I work with trust, and
I work with you, not instead of you."
Responsibility, not blame: a
message about teamwork
"I don't like the current
atmosphere in the team. There is too much focus on finding the person to blame,
rather than taking responsibility for putting things right. Responsibility for
me is a value that I expect everyone to live by."
Analysis before action: a message
about results
"I don't think we should take
a decision without having the data. In my view, you can't get effective
performance without sufficient analysis."
Clarity, not confusion: a message
about communication
"The messages we are sending
to our staff confuse not just them, they also confuse me. I am a great believer
in clear and direct communication. So we need to look again at our communication
to create greater transparency and thus increase motivation."
Solutions, not problems: a message
about customer focus
"My approach to this issue
is to focus on solutions, not problems. We don't have the time or resources to
discover every problem. And anyway, our customers need solutions...
yesterday!"
3. Finding
your strengths and talents
The Gallup Organization's
Strengths-Finder is a talent assessment instrument developed for the
internet. A talent is defined as a "naturally recurring pattern of thought,
feeling, or behaviour that can be productively applied.
Knowledge and skills, on the other
hand, can be taught and learned.
The Strengths Finder instrument
lists 34 different
"themes" that describe talents. These can provide an excellent
starting point for the creation of your personal brand statement. Among the
themes are those below. Remember that people can be strong in a number of
themes.
Achiever:
People who work hard and enjoy being busy.
■Communication:
People who find it easy to put their thoughts into words.
Developer:
People who recognize and cultivate the potential and abilities of others.
■Futuristic:
People who inspire others with their visions of the future. Harmony: People who
don't enjoy conflict and try to achieve consensus instead.
■Maximizer:
People who focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group
excellence.
■Responsibility:
People who are committed to honesty and loyalty.
■Woo:
People who love the challenge of meeting new people and making a connection.
■For a full list of the 34
themes and their descriptions, see the article
"The Gallup Organization's Strengths Finder Instrument" by Tonya
Fredstrom, Jim Harter and Kenneth Tucker. The article can be found on the
Career Trainer website (www.
careertrainer. com).
Personality adjectives
When creating your personal
brand statement (see below), it can be helpful to use adjectives that
describe your personality.
assertive
|
настирний
|
competitive
|
конкурентноспроможний
|
conscientious
|
сумлінний
|
cooperative
|
спроможний до
співробітництва
|
driven
|
цілеспрямований
|
easygoing
|
с легкою
вдачею
|
flexible
|
здатний
пристосовуватися
|
forceful
|
переконливий
|
imaginative
|
здатний творчо
мислити
|
individualistic
|
індивідуалістичний
|
organized
|
організований
|
outgoing
|
товариський
|
patient
|
терплячий
|
resourceful
|
винахідливий
|
self-assured
|
впевнений в собі
|
self-disciplined
|
самодисциплінований
|
self-sufficient
|
самодостатній
|
solution-oriented
|
Оріентований
на рішення
|
time-driven:
|
темпорально
оріентований
|