If the CEO had to describe your Team in 10 words, what would he say?
If your Project Sponsor speak about your Team’s value-for-money, what would we hear?
If the Marketing VP wants a new product developed and rolled out to market quickly, would she call on your Team to get the job done?
We often talk about the importance of “branding” ourselves – of understanding how our audiences perceive us so that we can tailor our words and actions to nurture their confidence and a sense of trust.
But should we make the same effort to brand our teams?
Creating a Unique Branding Connection
The question occurred to me after I recently started on a new project and met the Business Sponsor, a nice guy with a critical problem that is really biting him – he is currently leaking $40,000/week and needs to get it solved because the company has already banked the projected savings! Ouch! So he is under real pressure and doesn’t really know where to start. No question about it, he needs help.
What struck me was the immediacy of his needs – at the very outset, he is not interested in complex solutions, project plans, Agile this or Waterfall that. He is calling out for confidence – he wants to know that I “get” his issue, I understand what he needs and I can find a way to help him.There are no results yet to show, no track record to speak to. At this stage, he is floundering in the water and desperately looking for me to throw him a life ring so he can grab hold and tread water.
Once I understood that he really needed that first-up hit of confidence, I could focus on moving beyond the typical “stakeholder” relationship to create that individual connection and build that all important trust.
That’s where the “brand” concept kicks in.
Branding in Both Directions – Touching Our Teams AND Our Stakeholders
What I really love about this concept is that it fits whichever direction we apply it, either internally to our teams or externally to our stakeholders.
Imagine the powerful impacts we can channel if we nurture the “brand” concept amongst both our team members AND our senior stakeholders. Branding our teams brings real value when we understand
- How our stakeholders want to see us. What are they looking for today, tomorrow, next month? What are their most immediate, hand-on-heart drivers?
- How we can engage our team around a common cause, or sense of purpose.
- External branding: Sure, the essence of effective stakeholder management is to connect with our audience and get the right message to them, in the right way and at the right time…BUT branding goes further than that – it is the notion that we can make an immediate and personal connection with our audience if we can quickly build that confidence and trust at the outset.
- Internal branding: Our teams can benefit as well, by creating a point of differentiation around which to rally them. Call it a sense of community, team allegiance, a totem or a tribe, but it allows us to unite them a rallying call – a “we are in it together to solve this problem” message.
Think about branding as something different to marketing or spin – it is not about creating flashing lights and buzzwords but something more substantial. It’s about perception management, recognizing that tiny window of opportunity to shape the way that our stakeholders sees our team, and our team sees itself. Managing the buzz. Taking steps to positively influence perceptions, before they take in a life of their own. Connecting with our stakeholders on a personal level and creating a sense of shared purpose, confidence and a tangible feeling of trust.
Branding in Practice – a real life success story
One of my LinkedIn friends hit the nail on the head recently when she shared that “many years ago my team was branded by default as “PMO, PMO, PMO” where people would do a quick little march whenever they saw us walking down the hall. I wasn’t quite sure how to take this initially, but eventually learned that they were providing commentary on the structure and organization that we brought to the table. Ever since then, I’ve made an effort to brand the team as a whole. The biggest thing I like our team to be known for is bringing clarity, focus, and closure to whatever they touch.”
This is a great example of branding being successfully applied in both directions.
The team has that totemic, all-embracing point of differentiation. They can take pride in the way they are presented, the way that their work is received. They can unite together around this shared ideal…”THIS is who we are!”
The stakeholders have a clear, comforting view of what to expect from the team. Confidence. Trust. A personal connection. “I know who they are and I know exactly what they will provide. I take comfort in knowing what to expect”.
Bringing it all back home
The concept of branding our teams is intriguing and can bring us enormous value if we take it on board.
Part stakeholder management, part communication planning, a little bit of chest beating and a dash of creative thinking…it’s about reaching in deep and understanding how to quickly and confidently create that engaging, individual connection with your audience.
To do it right, we need to recognise that we have one chance – lose the moment and it can take forever to build that trust or shape those perceptions. BUT get it right…create the right brand…and we are in a unique position to shape our most important stakeholders’ perceptions and support.
As always, I would love to share your stories. How do YOU see “branding”? Do you brand your team? Do you take steps to connect with your stakeholders in that unique, personal way? How does your branding differ from stakeholder or communication management? Does it bring you value?
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