Looking like a Pro: Personal Branding for the Innovative Educator
Are you awesome? Of course you are. Most modern educators are pretty awesome. Educators are innovators, after all, continuously seeking new ways to teach and learn. But, a lot of us have personalities that do not necessarily showcase how we think and what we actually *want* to do. So, what do you want to in your classroom? That's all on you and the gods of administration, buster, but all the cool kids are personal branding themselves up like a boss. And what's in it for you? Why, you become a walking billboard for your awesomeness.
First off, personal branding. You may be saying, "Abbey, that sounds like just another one of those buzz words that get flung around faster than a monkey flinging poo." Well, buzz word it ain't, my friend. It is the now and future of being a professional in modern times Not to be discouraging here, but there are hundreds of articles on the meaningless of a higher education degrees, especially the bachelor's degree. Don't believe me? I have my BA in English to show you and my near-genius significant other has his fully completed PhD sitting in a box somewhere. Of course, you say, I was silly to major in something I was actually passionate about, but even people who major in stuff like computer science and other hard sciences are having difficulties finding jobs. Living with your parents until you're 36 is a wonderful prospect, but is there something people can do to maybe actually exist as contributing member of the modern world?
PERSONAL BRANDING
Yeah, baby, personal branding. What the heck does that even mean? Well, we've already established that you are awesome. Okay, you know this, I know this, your friends know this. But, how are your bosses going to know this? How do the parents' of the kids you teach know this? How do future employers know this? As in almost everything in modern life, people need to show and not tell. Remember the saying you should dress for the job you want, not the job you have? Well, it's sort of like that, except it's like you are a walking, talking, social media-ing advertisement for your professional self. For instance, I can tell you that I have a master's in library & information science, but I can show you that my passions are far-more reaching than just books by linking you to my professional website, Pinterest pages, this blog, my Slideshare presentations, & etc..
Marketing guru Seth Godin, who everyone should basically allow to run their lives, has some awesome tips for personal branding that are super easy and can be implemented with minimal interruption to your daily life. Here are 7 tips from Godin I have adjusted specifically for the educators in my life:
1) Just do it.
Got some whack-a-doodle idea that you think could possibly work in your classroom? Do it.
Think of something new halfway through the school year but you worry about interrupting the flow? Eh, kids are resilient. Just do it.
Have you been keeping lists and plans of a someday wish for your classroom that you would only do if . . .? Are your Pinterest boards full of creative things no one else in your school has ever done before? Dude, ain't nobody got no time for wishing. You got to do it!
Doing your crazy ideas is the first step to getting noticed, to being considered an innovator, to getting heard, to being looked up to by other teachers. Doing stuff, even things that don't pan out, is going to attract the right people - smart people looking for smart people like you.
2) Become *the* brand leader in your school.
There's got to be someone in your school that is always going to the admin with his and/or her crazy ideas. Dude, you could be that crazy idea person! You're not going to get fired for having a crazy idea. You're a) going to fo shiz get noticed and b) be seen as this cool person with wild ideas that could totally transform the classroom and school.
3) Persist
You've probably heard the word "no" a few times in your career, but if you know your idea is good and you think it's going to work, keep asking. Keep researching on *why* it's going to work. Find case studies, talk to other schools who do it, find teachers, write some articles, find the funding. You are an agent of change and the only way people are going to see your abilities is if you don't give up. Current and future employers value persistence, because it's a genuine character trait to not give up when things get tough.
4) Associate with winners
Okay, you probably know who are the "good" and "bad" influences at your school . . . and I'm not talking about the kiddos. There are teachers who want to teach and there are teachers who do their job and I'm positive you know the difference. And, you know what? So do administrators. When you surround yourself with positive innovators in your field, not only will administrators know, but future employers will be aware, as well. And, this should extend beyond the walls of the school. Join facebook groups for innovative teachers, go to a public library event for teachers and mingle, share your opinions on social media, start NETWORKING with like-minded people.
5) Do favours
Okay, I know. You are freakin' worked to the bone during the school year and how could you possibly fit anything else into your life? ZOMG. I'm not talking about donating a kidney, I'm talking about sending links to parents, sharing a fascinating article with your grade team, letting the admin know about some great & cool resource you found while searching the web (people also really like when you keep a hoard of sweets in your room). You're not going to get anything in return. That's the favour part. But, you are going to start building trust and becoming a leader in your school (see tip #2).
6) Connect
Network. Network. Network. Finding and maintaining a job is no longer about the credentials on your resume, it's about who you know. As educators, we're very lucky to have ample opportunities to get to know people and, seriously, most educators I have met are willing to go out-of-their way to fight for each other and help a bro out. There are tons of conferences, a ridiculous number of Facebook groups, lectures, online & IRL meet-ups, etc. that you can participate in. And, since education sort of blankets, well, every subject, you can literally just plop yourself into a professional situation and say, "Hey I'm a teacher, but I'm totes interested in what you're doing. Let me learn from you." People dig people being interested in them and people really like talking about themselves
7) Google Yourself
Sure, it *shouldn't* matter that you spent last Christmas wearing a pirate hat in a bathtub full of redbull, but those crazy employers might think a little differently of you once they spot that ironic mustache tattoo on your lower back. Maybe some things won't be so easy to erase, but certainly ensuring that your personal social media accounts are private is an easy fix to repairing your digital image. Things that aren't so easy to need to be pushed back a few pages on the search results, so the easiest way to avoid-but-not-delete is by starting some professional social media accounts (see tip #8) and, if it's bad, possibly start using your middle initial. If it's really bad, I'd suggest saving up for plastic surgery or completely shucking your identity for a new one in the wilds of Myanmar.
8) Social-flipping-media
Just, start doing it. You don't really need to interact with other people to have a social media prescence, so just doing your own thing is totally fine. Find one relevant article a day and tweet it. Start sharing your Pinterest pages with other educators. Send snapchats of the kids to their parents. Doing easy and simple social media things is not only going to strengthen you as an educator, but it's going to get you noticed. What's also super cool is that using social media for your own brand is going to make you want to share it with your students so they're going to get their first steps into the world of personal branding, because there is a whole lot of "thank god I wasn't a teenager when Facebook was around because I would not have friends or a job now" feelings from adults and kids need to learn not to be idiots online.
Abbey's suggestion:
Fail.
We teach the kids that it's okay to make mistakes, that failing is a part of life, but somehow we forget that when we become adults. I know, you could lose your job. Seriously, what is the probability of that? A stress coping mechanism recommended by a doctor of mine is to create lists of possible outcomes and then create a list from that of probable outcomes, then decide which from the list is the most probable. Getting fired for failing will probably not make the cut.
American novelist Walter Mosley has a great (and very short) speech over at BigThink that talks about how failure leads to success.
In the clip, Mosley says,
"It's a great disservice to expect someone to be perfect . . . The notion of perfection is never there. In art and in science it's failure that teaches you. Doing something right never teaches you. It’s only failure that you learn from."
Failing teaches us what a life of passivity cannot: grit (which, in all honestly, is an educational buzz word, but one that I don't have an inherent need to eye roll eye). In her 2013 TED talk, noted psychologist and educator Angela Lee Duckworth said people with grit are "much more likely to persevere when they fail, because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition." And, failure is not permanent, but how you handle failure is, leaving permanent faults or permanent bearings within yourself. Learning how to handle mistakes and grow is, in my opinion, the best form of personal branding there is.
References
Hyder, S. (2014, Aug. 18). 7 Things You Can Do To Build An Awesome Personal Brand. Retrieved August 24, 2016 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/shamahyder/2014/08/18/7-things-you-can-do-to-build-an-awesome-personal-brand/#3fb421112743.
Kistler, P. (2010, July 28). Seth Godin’s 7-Point Guide to Bootstrap Your Personal Brand. Retrieved August 24, 2016, from http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/seth-godins-7-point-guide-to-bootstrap-your-personal-brand/
