0:08 Hello, and welcome to Less Chatter, More Matter. I'm your host, Mel Loy. In this podcast, I'm going to share everything I've learned from more than 20 years in the communications sector.What works, what doesn't, and how you can run your own business as well.I'm wife to Michael, aunty to 11nieces and nephews, gym owner, group fitness instructor, yoga teacher, and a whole bunch of other things as well. I promise these episodes will always be short, sharp, and insightful. Speaking of which, let's cut out the waffle and get straight to the point.Here's today's episode.

Hi everybody, welcome back to Less Chatter, More Matter - the podcast where you get bite-sized learning you can use immediately to improve your communication. If you are a regular listener, it's great to have you back for another episode. And if this is your first foray into the podcast, a huge welcome to you. As this episode is going to air, I'm on holiday with my nieces in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales. It was funny when I was in Canada recently talking to a number of North Americans.Obviously, many of them just had no idea that we get snow in Australia, which speaks to communication in a way, how we message and presents ourselves to the rest of the world. It really is about beaches and the outback and Kangaroos. But yes, we do get snow in Australia. Quite a bit of it in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, actually. Uh, definitely not on the scale of many places in North America, Japan, and parts of New Zealand, obviously. So while I'm trying not to break any legs or arms while relearning how to snowboard, you get to listen to my dulcet tones in today's episode, which is all about how to develop your own personal brand narrative.

So a couple of weeks ago I ran a session for an organisation that helps senior leaders find their next executive role. It's usually people who have, unfortunately, been made redundant, uh, on the receiving end of an organizational restructure. But sometimes it's people who just want a new experience. They're looking for that next role. So they were looking for some practical ways that leaders could develop compelling stories that showcase their leadership strengths. And this is where I stepped in and look, I've been where they are. I was made redundant at the end of 2020 from my executive corporate affairs role in a financial services company. But in my case, I was more than happy to take that redundancy and run away as far as I could from a full-time corporate job and never go back again. But I know that's not the case for everyone. Some people really love being part of bigger organizations, leading big projects and big teams. Some people don't want the responsibility of freelancing and consulting or running their own businesses, which I totally get as well. It is not easy. But either way, you need to be able to tell your story if you want to secure your next big gig or your next client.

So today I'm going to take you through a three-step process to develop your own brand narrative story, or to help you develop a story for someone you might be supporting in some way. Maybe it's your own leader. Maybe it's one of your clients, or maybe it's even a friend or a family member who's just struggling to build out their own narrative and show up on LinkedIn and show up to prospective employers the right way. So this one's for them.

Okay, so before we even get into the process, I think it's worth thinking about why having a brand narrative is so important and what it actually is. So let's start with why. A brand narrative or a personal brand narrative story helps to set you up for success with your communication with prospective employers and clients. How does it do that? I like to think of it as the three Cs. They are clarity; so putting the work into developing your narrative helps you clarify what value you offer and what you stand for. When you are clear yourself on those things, you are clear with other people about those things, and in communication, clarity is pretty important as we all know.

The second C is consistency. So once you have a story that you tell consistently, then you're able to build your personal brand. That's your reputation, that's what you want to be known for. And the third C is connection. So with a compelling story, you can connect with other human beings and you can build relationships based on respect for your value. Those relationships are crucial throughout all stages of career, not just when you are seeking a new job. So to reiterate, the three key reasons why you should bother developing a brand narrative are clarity, consistency, and connection. But what even is a personal brand narrative? Well, I define it as a powerful strategic narrative that demonstrates the value you offer and who you are, especially if you are a leader. It's a story that will help people make decisions about whether or not they will work with you or follow your lead. I know whenever I've hired somebody, I've always looked at the value they've added to wherever they've worked previously. I don't wanna see a list of tasks that they've done. I don't wanna see that listed out in their resume. I want to know what you did that added value to that organization or the customers or the people that you served. That's your story.

So we know what it is and why it's important. Now, onto the how. How do you develop your own personal brand story? Now, as I said at the top of the episode, it's a three-step process. Step one, develop your own narrative brand.That's all about your reputation, your values, and your strengths. Step two is to develop your value statement. That's talking about who you provide value to and how you do it. This is like your elevator pitch. We'll come back to that. Step three is develop your story bank. This is examples of your value and your brand in action. So let's start with step one, developing your personal leadership brand. Forbes has a great article that I'll link in the show notes that talks about the seven critical pillars of personal brand. Let's go through them real quick.

The first one is purpose. So this is your why. Why you do what you do, why you wake up every day, why you go to work.The second thing is value. So what's important to you as an employer, as a leader in the way you live, the way, the way you work? The third is brand clarity. So this is your reputation, how you want to be perceived by others.The fourth crosses over with that, and that is authenticity. So that is about consistently being the truest version of yourself. So your brand should be authentic.The fifth is strengths. What problems do you help others to solve? What you love doing, what your leadership strengths are. If you are a leader, Number six is energy. What energy and mood you bring into the room that helps you and the team achieve what you want to achieve? And the final thing is legacy. So this is: what is the legacy you want to leave when you leave that sector, that organization, or retire? How are you building towards it now?

So in today's episode, let's focus on three of those seven pillars and we'll focus on values, brand clarity, and strengths. So to help you develop your personal brand, I would start with picking three words that describe your values as a worker, as an employer, as an expert, as a leader. These are the words that represent your character and what people can expect of you in any role, in any way that they interact with you. So for me, for example, as a leader, I value creativity, honesty and learning. Creativity to me is a mindset, not a skill, so not artistic ability where you take innovative approaches to solving problems or challenges or trying old things in a new way. Honesty. I really value that because I really hate bullshit. I hate when people do not own their mistakes. So that's a big one for me. And learning - I know, I don't know everything, and I know my team doesn't either. So I really value learning, getting new ideas, meeting new people with new perspectives, all those sorts of things.

So when you're starting to develop your brand, think about what values you will stand behind. I have put together a mini workbook on this, and I'll link to that in the show notes as well, which you can grab, and I've thrown in a list of words to help you get started with choosing the right way to describe your values.So have a look out for that in the show notes. In terms of your brand clarity, again, a good way to do this is to pick three adjectives that describe what reputation you want. So reputation is how people think about you before and after you enter a room. So how might people describe you as an expert, a colleague, a friend, a leader as a human, when you are being your most authentic self.

So these brand elements are important because they're going to become your brand pillars, which will guide your stories later on. So for example, for me, I might choose approachable, optimistic, and innovative. So at least off the top of my head, that's what I would want my reputation to be. And again, in that mini workbook, I've included a huge list of adjectives to get you started. So that's values and brand. The final pillar we'll delve into today is strengths. When you are thinking about describing your strengths, think about what problems you help others solve. What do you love doing? What are your areas of expertise, and how could you describe your strengths as a leader? If you are a leader or you want to be one. Sometimes it's easier to ask other people that you've worked with. If you're struggling to come up with strengths, I guarantee you have them. But maybe ask some other people that you've worked with before about how they would describe your strengths.

Again, go to the mini workbook and I've included a list of leadership strengths to get your thinking started there. Now your strengths are important because they are part of the evidence for why people should hire you. So it's really important that you're able to clarify these. You need to be able to easily demonstrate them and talk about them when the opportunity arises. So that's step one. You've clarified and developed your personal leadership brand, so you've gotten three brand pillars and you've got three values that you're standing behind.

Step two is then putting that together in a brand value statement. So this is where we take all of that work we just did and start to distill it down into one cohesive statement. We start with three questions. The first is one of the most important questions in any communication. Who, who do you help? So for example, is it leaders? Do you help team members? Do you help customers, shareholders, business owners? Who do you help? Then the next question is, well, what do you help them achieve? So what's the value that you add or what do they achieve as a result of your actions? And the third question is, how do you do it? This is where you talk about your strengths and expertise.

So for example, I might say I help leaders and team members improve their relationships and performance by building practical communication skills. It's short. It's meant to be, but it's really simple, right? It's easy for me to remember. Easy to say. So your statement will be, I help who to achieve what by insert my strengths here.Then you can start to get a bit more granular, talking about what you're known for, what you value, your purpose, et cetera. So again, if you grab a copy of that mini workbook, you'll see how that all plays out. But for now, that simple statement of who you help to do what and how is a really great starting point. Essentially, that's your LinkedIn intro. So if you can nail that, boom, you're on a really good ticket. So once you have nailed that down, it is time for step three, which is to develop your story bank.

So this is where you'll take those three brand pillars that we talked about back in step one and start to just jot down examples of how those brand pillars look like and feel like in real life. So, for example, if one of my brand pillars is creativity, some of my examples could be how I've developed a one page strategy on a page format for all comms strategies that improves resonance with senior leaders. If one of my brand pillars is learning, I can put in examples of how I've taken the time to attend a conference or hire a business coach, and what I've learned from them that's added value elsewhere. So jot down as many relevant examples as you can think of under each of those three pillars. They're going to be great to call upon in a job interview, but also just wonderful content for your channels. So now you've got those pillars down and those story examples, it's time to flesh them out. And we're going to start by thinking really deeply about your target audience because while you might have great stories to tell, great stories only land if they're relevant, which means we have to tailor them to meet the people,that we're talking to, where they're at.

So when you are thinking about how to tailor your stories for your target audiences in this instance, here's some questions to answer. So number one, who are they? Who is your target audience? So be as specific as possible here. So for example, Is it CEOs of top 100 companies in the mining and engineering sector, or is it chief HR officers looking after digital and technology change projects at nonprofits? Being specific is going to help you really tailor. The second question is, okay, so what do they value in a leader or in a person who does what you do? So think about your own experience, and if you know anyone who is connected to your target audience, maybe just ask them for their thoughts on, you know, what these people value. But for example, some organizations might value innovative and creative thinking while others are more interested in a steady hand. So if you know that you can choose the right story and tailor it the right way. You can also make some decisions about whether you actually want to work for that organization anyway.

So the third question is, what's important to their business right now?Find out what the key priorities and organizational strategy are. You can look on their websites, they're usually listed in annual reports, all those sorts of things. What is their vision for the future and why is that important to them right now? So again, you want to tell stories that align with those priorities and their vision. And finally, and this is really important, how can you help them? What would make you an undeniable asset? How can you show alignment with their values and demonstrate how you can help them achieve their priorities? So, once you're clear on your target audience and the alignment to them, and their values and their vision, et cetera. Then you can start to flesh out these stories. I like to use a five-step framework here that I've developed. It's called RISMA because that's the acronym, and I couldn't think of anything smarter than that.

So the first one is the R, which is Result. We're actually going to start the story by starting at the end of the story. So what was the result of this story? The value you added? Or the positive impact that you had. That's the headline. So we don't want to bury it. We wanna have that right up top. What value did you add? What positive impact that did you have? The second part of the framework is the issue. So what was the problem you were trying to solve or the situation that you were faced with? Why was it a problem that needed to be solved right then and there? The third one is solution. So what solution did you come up with and how did you come up with it? And then the fourth piece is method. So how did you develop the solution or bring it to life? Is there something interesting or different about that methodology perhaps, or how does it showcase your strengths and your leadership skills? And then the fifth is alignment. How does this story align with the person or the organization you're talking to?How is it relevant?

So, We'll just go over that framework one more time. It's RISMA:

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Result, Issue, Solution, Method, and Alignment.

So for example, let's say I'm applying for a leadership position with an organization like Canva.They want to expand their reach physically and in terms of the number of customers, and they're constantly expanding their product range. So we can assume that they like innovative thinking and people who are good at adapting to change. Now, let's imagine they're looking for somebody to help lead a lot of this change internally. Bring people along in the fast-paced environment, keep up engagement in the process, all those sorts of things. Your story might start with the result of a time that you've led significant change. So you could say something like, when I was at X Company, I was able to deliver an organization-wide digital transformation that not only improved our service to customers but also improved our engagement with employees. So that's the result.

Then we talk about the issue that you were faced with or the problem that you needed to solve. So, for example, in this hypothetical scenario, the problem might have been that customers were leaving in droves because the organization's tech was so bad. But the huge tech change required was going to mean a big shift in ways of working, and the skills required and engagement were already low. Then you talk about the solution that you came up with, how you brought it to life, and importantly how it aligns with Canva. So at this point, you could say something like, So I see a lot of parallels between what you're trying to achieve and how I've delivered change in the past. I'm really excited by your vision and it aligns really nicely with my values of creativity and innovation as well. So while you've got a great story, you still need to point out somewhat subtly how it relates back to them. A few really big tips here with your stories. Number one, keep it super short. One or two sentences per step in the framework. Number two, be authentic. Tell it as you would to someone who you've just met at a barbecue. Use words you would normally use every day. And number three, obviously avoid jargon. We want people to understand you. And if you are applying for roles or you are, are talking to a client in a different sector to what you're used to, you need to make sure they can understand your story.

So it is time for your episode recap. Number one, having a cohesive and clear leadership story helps you show up the way you want to be perceived and helps people make decisions about whether or not they want to work with you. Number two, the three-step process to developing your leadership story is one, develop your personal brand. Number two, develop your brand value statement, and number three, develop your bank of stories. Number three with your brand value statement. This is your elevator pitch, so keep it simple and focus on who you help, what value you add, and how you do it. Number four, when you are developing your story bank, make sure the examples align with your brand pillars so you're reinforcing your brand and reputation. And number five, when crafting these stories, make sure you focus on the result and how it aligns with your target audience.

Now, I said at the top of the episode a couple of times, I have a full mini workbook that you can use to help you through this process. Hooray. So to access it, either check the links in the show notes, or you can head to heymel comms.training/freebies, and you'll find the link to download it all for free. I know we covered a lot of ground in this episode, but that mini workbook will give you more detail and time to think through this stuff and come up with some great leadership stories and some great personal anecdotes that will help showcase your values.

And as per usual, if you're finding this content useful and interesting, please do me a massive favour and rate and review the show. I do this all the time for the podcast I listen to because A, I really love them and I want them to know how much it's appreciated and also how much it helps to ensure important and useful content gets out into the world. So in the meantime, thanks again for tuning in. I will see you all again next week for a fresh episode of Less Chatter, More Matter. Bye for now.