Enriching our employer brand by developing the voices that make our business

In part this was a recognition that it would be healthy to move the business away from a single ‘brand Bella’ and instead celebrate the diverse talents, perspectives, and personalities that make up our incredible team.

We’re a small, senior team operating across core functions, each individual an expert in their field with genuinely interesting perspectives and opinions worth sharing. 

This journey is, of course, personal to us and our unique makeup of team and culture. However, for anyone considering supporting their team to build their reputations, here are the steps we’ve taken to encourage our team to step into more visible roles.

An encouragement, not a directive 

Firstly, we set an intention to gently encourage our team to build their personal brands and profiles. This was not a mandate but an opportunity for those interested in increasing their visibility.

Acknowledging new, uncharted territory 

It was important to recognise that personal brand building was a nerve-wracking endeavour for many, as public writing, expressing opinions, and putting oneself out there is not an easy task, especially when it’s not your primary job.

Kicking off with a collective exercise 

We started with an exercise where each person wrote about our company’s essence – “Beautifully Effective” – and what it means to them, resulting in a series of unique articles reflecting the authors’ personal takes on the concept. 

Flexing their writing muscles and the discomfort of extracting and crafting thoughts can be challenging, but we allowed people to find inspiration at their own pace, combined with occasional hard deadlines.

Followed by a more individual endeavour 

With some confidence built, and learning made, following the “Beautifully Effective” campaign, we moved to more individual topics of thought leadership. This resulted in a variation of rich, insightful, and beautifully personal articles on subjects like flexible working, tips for improving presentation skills, or the latest new CSS features.

With results rippling out to other areas 

Beyond writing, we noticed a gentle shift in mindset – more confidence, willingness to network and speak, and empowerment to step outside comfort zones.

Doing it together has been the winning approach 

While uncomfortable at first (and still uncomfortable for some!), encouraging people to stretch themselves brings growth. It’s important to recognise that we’re in this together as a team, inspired by each other’s achievements and learning collectively.

The outside world has noticed this shift in our communications, and we’ve received numerous compliments on our content.

An empowered team is a happy team

When people can see that their voice is important and valued – not just internally but externally too – there’s an enormous sense of pride in contribution.

And an increasing sense of confidence

We’re proud of the growing confidence and feedback, and proud to watch our team find their voices.

As we continue this personal branding journey, we aim to empower our team to shine as individuals and collectively, aligning with our focus on people-positive businesses that value the impact of their employer brand.

Much of our work centres around people-positive businesses who value the impact their employer brand can make, and we’re no different. This personal branding journey will continue as we empower our team to shine as individuals and collectively. 

If you’re looking to strengthen your brand, employer brand or employee value proposition, we can help.

Get in touch with the team to learn more about our employee branding services, we’d love to hear from you.