There is no secret that the labour market for high-performing Geotechnical Engineers and Geologists is very tight. High-achieving professionals seek growth, opportunity, and objective feedback from their current employer to know if their actions are making a difference.

Top-level Management is acutely aware of this, and as such, the attraction and retention of high-performing staff is the number one concern of CEOs globally (59%), as discussed in a recent study by DDI of more than 13,000 leaders. https://www.ddiworld.com/global-leadership-forecast-2023

DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2023 identifies an area of focus for Managers to “infuse Purpose into Leadership from the Top Down” and that professionals are 4X more likely to find their jobs full of meaning and purpose if they understand their career path.

Your manager will be looking for meaningful ways to engage with you regularly so that they can present opportunities to you. If this isn’t happening, it might have something to do with your Personal Brand.

A Personal Brand of an employee is what others think about you and your work at the company. The opinion of others reflects the level of trust they afford you with project involvement, your acceptance level within the office, your career growth and remuneration.

Unfortunately, your Personal Brand is not always evident, so it’s an excellent exercise to consider it.

In an article by Harrison Monarth for the Harvard Business Review, entitled “What’s the point of a Personal Brand”, he describes a Personal Brand as “it is how you want people to see you. Your Brand is about visibility and the values you outwardly represent.”

In this article, I discuss the importance of your Personal Brand and how it influences what others think about you and your work at the company.

You can spot a co-worker with a solid Personal Brand as they will most often be the busy person in the office (utilised), and others approach them to assist on their projects. Often their work is nearly always completed on time, within budget and with minimal corrections and little to no rework required.

A colleague with a solid Personal Brand may move through the ranks quickly and might have taken on another role within the company, for example, a Team leader or an HSE rep.

If you feel like you are going unnoticed and unrecognised here are five tips to help you discover, understand, and build the Personal Brand you want and most likely deserve.

Expectations

Ask “what’s expected of you” before you start working in your next project including:

• The budget.
• Client details.
• Project location.
• What’s being built.
• Your deliverables.
• Timeframe.
• Potential issues/challenges.
• Reporting requirements.

On a side note, you would be surprised at how many people I speak with who don’t know many of these details when they share their work experience with me.

Feedback

You should ask for feedback after completing the work on a project, but why not consider checking in at an agreed milestone to ensure you are on track.

Run through those expectations set for you, and if you haven’t hit the mark with something, agree on a plan of action around how to improve.

Find someone in the office who is supportive.

Having a person who is onside helps your Personal reputation. That person could be a Mentor, Direct Manager, Team Leader or even a Senior Manager.

An advocate with the Management team’s ear could influence your level of project involvement, promotions, pay increases and other opportunities.

Find out what the mission/purpose of your company is.

Ask your Direct Manager what this is and how you can help your employer achieve this. Being aligned with the direction of your current employer shows that you care and are engaged. It will also help you to assess if what you are fighting for is worth the effort.

Create the opportunity to learn and grow.

Your employer will want to contribute towards your development. Take some time to review your Position Description, the feedback provided to you and any other document outlining your current role and responsibilities and self-assess where you think you are.

In summary, all of the above will help you with your next personal performance review and prepare you to present your case to your employer to support additional internal or external training. Try and have a conversation every six months with your manager.

If you want to discuss anything in this article, please get in touch with me directly through LinkedIn, and we can talk further.

We aim to release a new article every month, so stay tuned; thanks for taking the time to read this article.

Remember, if you’re not defining your own Personal Brand rest assured that someone else is defining it for you. Why leave success to chance.