Are you familiar with the book called ‘Propaganda’ by Edward Bernays. If you are not, I suggest you read it, regardless of where you work, what you do and what you hope to achieve. Why? Because you need to manage your own PR in the workplace to make sure you do everything in your field of control to develop as a professional.
Managing your own PR means doing the work to understand what your values are, how these align with your behaviours and actions, what this means to professional integrity and how you can use your understanding to navigate workplace dynamics.
Managing your own image in the workplace has never been more important. It is a skill that many, especially those new to the workforce, fail to recognise and cultivate. This blog post delves into why and how you should manage your personal PR right from the start of your career, ensuring you achieve your goals, do the right thing, and uphold your values.
Understanding your professional image
Your professional image is the perception others have of you based on your actions, communications, and presentation. This includes everything from your work ethic and achievements to your online presence and interpersonal skills. Managing this image is aligned to personal branding, where you consciously seek to influence how you are perceived, steering your career trajectory accordingly and staying as true to yourself as possible. This is important to ensure people know where they stand with you. It also shows that you have taken responsibility for who you are and what you want out of your job. It moves you away mentally and emotionally from being a passive employee to one who is proactive and clear about what your priorities are and how they align with those of your employer. This is also important to help you decide which employer to work for – if there is a mismatch between your values and those of your employer, it can cause stress and disrupt professional relationships.
Beginning your career with a strong sense of your professional image is about laying a solid foundation for future growth, opening doors to opportunities, and helping you navigate the complexities of workplace dynamics. An effectively managed image aligns with your career aspirations, making it easier to achieve your professional goals. It also means you can assess how far off or close to your aspirations you are, and what you need to do in terms of professional development, to position yourself to achieve what you can. This recognises the dynamic power relationship between yourself and your employer – it is about negotiation, but in any negotiation you can only be in a position of strength if you know where you stand and what you are willing to do, and what you are willing to compromise on, and what you will walk away from.
Balancing authenticity and professionalism
One of the biggest challenges in managing your professional image is balancing authenticity with professionalism. It’s important to be yourself, as authenticity fosters trust and relatability. However, understanding the norms and expectations of your professional environment is crucial. This balance ensures that while you stay true to your core values, you also respect the professional standards of your workplace. It is important that you consider this routinely. Environments tend to influence how people see themselves and how they behave – by being clear about what authenticity means to you and what level of it you are willing to bring to the workplace, you can protect yourself from unwarranted issues and damage to your sense of self. It is a fallacy to think you can bring your ‘whole self’ to work. You can’t. Think. When do you ever demonstrate your ‘whole self’ or share your ‘whole self’. We share different aspects of ourselves depending on who the person or situation is. The workplace is dynamic and filled with diversity, it is about compromise, negotiation and influence. It is about making spaces for everyone, which sometimes means you can’t be the same person you are at home or with your friends and family.
Strategies for effective image management
Effective image management requires a proactive approach. Here are a few strategies: put in time to develop your communication skills and keep them updated to include cross-cultural communication for example; if you are online ensure you consider how your professional image looks; network with intention; commit to continous learning; learn about what it means to be inclusive and how that relates to others in your workplace and what it means for you. How would you manage your situation if you were perceived as being rude to someone when that was not your intention? This is where your management of PR for yourself comes in. By thinking about situations where you could be misunderstood for example, you can hypothesise what your response might be and you can think more clearly about what your workplace is actually like, beyond the rhetoric of company statements. This is important to ensure you are in tune with the reality of daily work in your company. A useful exercise is to make a list of your expectations about the workplace and then see if it matches with reality.
It is inevitable to face situations that challenge your values. The key is to navigate these challenges without compromising your integrity. This might involve setting clear boundaries, learning to say ‘no’, and finding creative solutions that align with your values and professional goals.
Conclusion
Managing your professional image from the outset of your career is not just about making a good impression. It is about creating a persona that reflects your professional aspirations, values, and integrity. And as with any good PR, your persona will need to be different depending on the situation you find yourself in. For example, your persona when sharing discussions with your close team, is going to be different to your persona when talking to the head of the department. By taking control of your own PR, you pave the way for a greater sense of control, clearer boundaries and a better understanding of who you are and what you can achieve. Start today, and remember, it’s never too late to reshape your professional image for the better.
King Advisory 
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