Excerpt 5: Balancing Corporate & Personal Brands

The following is the fifth excerpt from "Walking the Wire: Striking a Balance Between Corporate and Personal Brands" as presented by Mike McDougall, APR at the Ragan Communications / Southwest Airlines conference in October 2011. 

Tip #5: Train and Coach

Who has an employee handbook? How about a social media policy? Great. Show me where personal brands are addressed.

OK, it's unlikely that you codified personal branding in your corporate materials. You may want to, but even then it will have little effect on what happens among your associates. On the other hand, training and coaching will make an immediate impact.

Have regular discussions with individuals and groups about what’s working well, and where challenges are arising with personal brands. Set up a brown bag lunch discussion or work it into one-on-one professional development sessions. Remember that you're not attempting to cut off personal brands at their knees, but to ensure that there's a symbiotic relationship between them and the organization's brand.

Of course, don’t limit this to your backyard – look to competitors and outside your industry to see how others are succeeding or failing.

Even the world's best players need coaching -- just make judicious use of the whistle!

To read additional insights from Mike McDougall's discussion, bookmark The Schism or follow our Twitter feed (@McDougallTC). For a copy of the presentation slides, contact us at info@McDougallTC.com.