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Let's talk about: The brand called YOU!

Kiy Watts • November 20, 2022

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Every brand has its own birth story. There are lots of interesting stories of brands navigating through ups, downs, loss, and success sometimes despite adversity. There are stories of brands starting out with one mission and pivoting to something different. Our personal brands are not much different as we also experience ups, downs, loss, success and pivots.


It was 20 something years ago, when I was introduced to the business of branding. During that time, I experienced my first change in hotel ownership (and brand in this situation). I was a young professional, so I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised, when the corporate HR and Marketing teams, personally came to introduce us to who they were, what they believed in, what the brand promise was. It was a big rally and they did their best to sell us on the new brand by championing (yelling, lol) to “be the brand.” Be the brand still rings in my ears! 


At the time, I was in Sales and Marketing and a business major in undergrad, so I was fascinated by it all! It made total sense to me, in a customer centric business, your people are a key element to bringing the brand to life! Ironically, years later, I would find my way to an HR role, where I consulted with hotels on how to leverage their team members to bring their brand to life! 


Over the years, I have been fortunate to work with several companies to develop their employer brand, most recently at the Atlanta Hawks in the creation of True to You. I approach employer branding using an organic framework and process. I start with understanding what’s important to the organization and team members, what beliefs systems are in place, how work gets done, how they work with each other, and how people navigate professionally. Lastly, I find out where they want to go, what they aspire to be, because every brand has an opportunity to grow, just like us! 


Let’s pivot the discussion to personal branding which is also synonymous with professional branding. This blog is called the brand called YOU, but we can learn a lot about branding and marketing ourselves, from experiences in our own organizations.


To be clear, everyone has a personal brand, whether you are consciously growing it, or just doing what you think is best for your career. We all have things we are known for, what people remember about us after we depart, all of that is ultimately the makings of our personal brand. 


Your personal brand is shaped by the collection of experiences and interactions, others have with you. What I have realized, your brand will never be perfect, be for everyone, and will experience the same ups and downs like a business. 


Over the years, I have seen several iterations of the “3Ps of branding,” but I really like  Purpose, People and Personality for this discussion. 


Here are 3 simple steps you can take to jump start or revisit your personal brand:

  1. Purpose: do the work to identify your personal mission, purpose, lifetime values, and career goals/aspirations. You have to know who you are and what is important to you. This will serve as your personal compass, as you make important decisions and navigate life. 
  2. People: build a solid network of professionals who genuinely care and support you as a person. This becomes the “Executive Committee,'' everyone talks about. This is typically a group of professional allies collected over the years, who you can go to for advice and coaching, free of judgment, but generous in honesty and care. I find these are the people I admire most, personally and professionally. 
  3. Personality: be authentic, it’s far too exhausting trying to emulate someone else and people can see straight through that. You can admire others, but Be YOU!


No matter your profession, years of experience, or title, you should be tending to your personal brand. Like a business brand, you will have defining moments, where you will be required to re-evaluate. When you have one of those moments, it's a good time to ask if your brand is delivering on its purpose. 


We are human, we evolve, our views change, and our experiences shape us. It’s perfectly normal to pivot, re-define and grow. 


Speaking of brands, do you remember I had my brand day with Nick Nelson, I’m excited to be building my own business brand! I will be announcing the launch of Gravitas Lane HR Consulting very soon! Gravitas Lane will partner with organizations to architect HR framework, develop HR teams, and provide Leadership coaching.


In the meantime, stay connected with me here on LinkedIn!

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Let’s talk about: The FIXER

By Kiy Watts • December 15, 2022
Years ago, when I was dating my now husband, he called me the fixer like Olivia Pope. He said anytime there was a challenge, I would find a solution and fix it. At the time, I took it as a compliment. In my family, if someone has a problem, I’m the one they call for the answer. As I reflect, that characteristic followed me into my career. I saw it as helping and taking care of my people. Honestly, I have always pride myself on being a helpful resource to others. Makes sense I landed in a profession focused on helping people. As I put in work professionally, this was great for my career. I became the go-to person for all things, I was the utility player on the team. A real Taysom Hill for my Saints fans out there! However, as I transitioned into Leadership roles, what I discovered was the thin line between being a fixer and unknowingly creating a stifling work environment. It was tough figuring out the balance between fixing and taking over. I can admit, there were times I was taking over when I should have been leading. Lived experiences, good intentions and comfort were the reasons. The good intention was wanting to help the team be successful and the comfort was this was where I felt most valuable. However, over time, I learned me “fixing” was hurting the team and myself with a trickle-down effect to the organization. I've mentioned my love for reading, but I find many leadership books to read very academic, which is a turn off for my attention span. However, one of my favorite leadership books, the Coaching Habit by 📚 Michael Bungay Stanier, is an easy read and he inserts a bit of humor. The first time I read it in 2 days. If you haven’t heard of it, check it out. From the Coaching Habit, I learned, I’m a rescuer and my advice monster is “save-it.” As a rescuer, the moment I hear, “how do I,” “what should I do,” “can you,” I’m immediately springing into action. Michael Bungay Stanier, describes the rescuer as constantly leaping to solve problems, jumping to offer advice, taking over responsibilities others should rightfully keep for themselves. Hmm, sounds about right! I had a Leader to tell me, you are in the middle of everything (and it was meant as a compliment). I knew I was and felt the heaviness of being in the middle of it all, I was tired, frustrated, and felt unproductive. I thought there was value in being the fixer or rescuer as described in the Coaching Habit, but as I looked back at certain situations, I learned it limits creativity, critical thinking, growth, removes accountability, and creates a woe is me mentality for the team. I recall a situation where a member of my team came to me with a problem. I immediately sprung into to action (Kiy to the rescue), I didn’t even know the real issue! I was excited to help, offering up solutions, shared examples from the past, only to be told by the team member, I could do it how I wanted it. Say what now?!?!? In the moment I was like excuse me?? The exchange was via email so maybe something was lost in translation. I later realized my mistake; the team member didn’t want me to fix the issue, but I took over and in the process removed their autonomy and creativity. In the process frustrating both of us. Yes, the "do it how you want it" comment was out of pocket, but I saw passed the response and adjusted my behavior to not jump as a fixer, every time someone had a problem. A few weeks ago, my now husband called me a fixer again, but this time I corrected him. I explained why I wasn’t a fixer and how that was problematic in the work environment and doesn't provide a place for anyone to grow and thrive. As a student of Leadership, I know there isn’t a shortage of principles and advice available to us, but there is no one size fits all approach. I find leading from the heart works for me. I can still show I care and be there for my team without ending up defaulting to the fixer. Here are 4 lessons I’ve learned to avoid falling into the trap of being the “fixer”: 1. Understand what your title brings to the discussion As a Leader, recognize your title comes with a perceived amount of power, even if you see yourself as a part of the team. In conversations with your team, you may think you are giving a recommendation or brainstorming, but it can be taken as gospel or mandate. Though not intentional, it can cut off creativity, ownership, and collaboration. You can temper that by saying less, listening more and asking questions. In The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay Stanier calls it being a lazy manager. Save the advice and draw out the answers through asking questions. 2. Set clear expectations and let people run We hire people with great skills and talents, as a Leader, it’s our job to let them run and contribute at the top of their license. That won’t happen if you are being a helicopter Leader. Being clear of goals, roles and aligning the work and business needs is a motivator and satisfier. Setting clear expectations is like giving an address to a destination. Today we technology through navigation systems which will give us at least 3 routes to reach our destination. As a Leader, your role is to provide the address and let the team reach the destination how they best see fit. The team should articulate to you which route they are taking and keep you up to date through regular check ins. 3. Provide support by removing barriers to success (including you) While the team heads toward the destination, your role is to regularly check in, ask the right questions, share necessary updates, and provide support by removing barriers. Barriers can show up as lack of resources or training, internal and external relationships, organizational processes and structures, and even you. As the Leader, you can support the team with closing gaps around resources, training, and processes. Support can look like allowing the team to identify potential solutions and/or workarounds to these issues in order to keep momentum. This will grow your team into Leaders and minimize these issues in the future. Certain issues around internal or external relationships and structures may require some involvement by you, but include the team where appropriate. Ask them how they would approach to the situation and bring them along for the journey. Recognize when you are being the barrier to progress. Allow your team to solve issues without taking over. Roadblocks can be discouraging, but keep the team aligned to the mission at hand. 4. Celebrate success When the team is on track and making progress toward the destination, take time to encourage more of those behaviors and performance. Incorporate the use of project management tools. These tools are useful to not only keep the project moving, but also easily identify wins. Some team members like public recognition while others don’t. Be sure you are pulling the right lever for each person to ensure you are meeting their needs. As projects are completed, in addition to postmortem discussions, include an element of celebration. If all the team is pushing out work and not celebrating, disengagement can set in and works becomes repetitive and boring. Next time, you feel the urge to fix a problem or rescue a team member or even a peer, slow down and remember being a fixer doesn’t leave room for growth, diversity of perspectives, critical thinking and accountability. Long term, it can drain, frustrate and disengage the team. Imagine what the opposite can do! Gravitas Lane with Kiy Watts #secretsofanHRExec

Let’s Talk About: Mastering the Fundamentals

By Kiy Watts • November 20, 2022
I recently had a Leader say they aren’t seeing the value coming from HR. Ouch, a dagger straight to my heart! Instead of becoming defensive, I asked a few clarifying questions and went into reflection. By the end of the conversation, I thanked the Leader for the feedback and we ended on the same page. Most HR/People functions are working hard to sustain or build a positive, robust employee experience. Everyone is focused on a “people first” culture because it’s become a commercial advantage. *Insert TV commercials showcasing employee value propositions!* It’s no wonder why my inbox is bombarded with marketing claims to have the silver bullet for hiring, onboarding, turnover, DEI, learning and development, remote work, people analytics, well-being, and it goes on and on. I’m not knocking the hustle because we do need help! The same day the Leader made the comment, I had call with an Account Manager from Culture Amp, and he said: “People don’t want more choices, they want to feel confident in the choices they have.” I wrote it down because it caught my attention, googled it and Scott Galloway’s quote came up: “Choice is a tax on your time and attention. Consumers don’t want more choice, they want confidence in the choices presented.” The context of the quote is through a sales and marketing lens, but it can easily be translated into the employee experience. I asked myself this question, from an HR perspective, have we truly mastered and given time to the fundamentals before adding something new to the mix? Have we built confidence in the organization around our core offerings? If I’m being honest, the answer is no. We have chased shiny pennies because we have been made to believe more is better instead of focusing on mastering and building confidence in the fundamentals. A few months ago, I chatted with another HR Leader, who recently launched 6 new employee resource groups (ERG) in their organization. His intentions were in the right place, but things became overwhelming and created unexpected tasks for an already overworked HR team, who now has responsibility to act on the feedback from the 6 groups. In hindsight, he acknowledged it would have been best to launch 3 groups to build confidence and rapport with team members. He said he would have gone slow to go fast. That's a great example of less choices and more confidence. As we see budgets tighten, I think it’s time HR put the mirror up to our faces, and honestly answer the question. Are we chasing shiny pennies or building confidence around the fundamentals, which cement our reputation, drive employee experience, and ultimately add to the success of the organization? So, before we chase shiny pennies and add more, let’s ask if what we have, has been mastered.
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