Why would you need to reinvent yourself at work?
If you are promoted or get the opportunity to take on a new type of role within your business this can be very important. Perhaps you’re a lawyer that’s moved into the BD team; a Senior Exec now promoted to BDM (maybe even with with former peers reporting to you); or a BD generalist that’s been given the opportunity to move into a Client role.
In each example, it’s imperative to your success, to reinvent your personal brand and your colleagues and stakeholders understanding of who you are and what you do. Without concerted effort, the Partners will still come to you for the work they always have out of habit; and/or the BD team around you won’t see and respect the concerted change and growth in how you operate.
So how do you achieve this self-reinvention in the workplace? Here are our top tips:
Surround yourself with the right people
A new role may require a new mentor best positioned to help you grow in this new area. It may also involve a different group that you should network with – both internally and externally to your business. Become part of the right groups and invest in conversations that are of course mutually beneficial but allow you to learn and grow in your new role.
Find your new peers and take inspiration
Look around your business, or the broader market and find the people you admire with a strong brand and reputation for the role you’re now in. Learn and emulate what works for them whilst balancing this with your own uniqueness. Keep looking sideways and upwards in your career to benchmark yourself and challenge yourself to keep growing & developing.
Live your new self from day one
If you leave work on Friday as one thing, then arrive on Monday as another, you need to have a plan and behave differently and commit to that new role from day one. Otherwise, what may start as you thinking you’re just helping out could end up with you falling into operating in your old role far too much.
Talk to your stakeholders
Don’t assume that a Partner understands what work a Coordinator typically does versus an Executive or a Manager. It’s not top of mind for them a lot of the time, they just need things done. Explaining to them the way to get things done can still be achieved without pushing back too much and while maintaining your concierge approach.
Understand how people view you and how you want to be viewed
Many large firms run 360 feedback programs which help with understanding this. If not, you can seek feedback and ask people around you to describe you professionally in three words. There may be strengths you hadn’t realised were so prominent. Also ask your mentors where you should develop stepping into the new role. You need to know where you are and where you want to be in order to go on the journey.
Take your appearance up a notch. This is worth doing constantly. Personal brand is so much more than your physically presentation but it remains a core component and a promotion is the perfect time to reinvest in yourself this way.
Reinventing yourself is always more of a challenge when you’re doing it within the same business, particularly a smaller business where roles grow organically. However, it’s important and many people have managed to continually reinvent themselves successfully.