In what ways do you add zest to the world around you?

Have you ever thought about what happens when you leave a room?

Creating and maintaining a good first and last impression is key to setting the mood.

As part of the continuous personal development training at Wordbird the agency attended a half-day workshop hosted by Fruitful Conversations on increasing personal impact. One of the breakouts was a fun ‘Fast Feedback’ speed dating style session in which you had to write down 3 qualities that you want people in the room to experience in 20 minutes, Row A had to speak for 2 minutes on various topics e.g. What are you currently celebrating in life or work and why, Row B had to listen and joint down three words that came to mind and share with you. It was interesting to hear which of the same qualities they picked up and discover the new ones they felt from you.

Our personal impact relates to our personal brand. We learn to use what we already have to influence or convince those we interact with. Our brand is made up of many things – from the first impressions we give to tone of voice and body language.

We often judge people immediately, whether we intend to or not. The interactions we have can ‘uplift’ or ‘deplete’ the people around us. When thinking about your positive impact, consider the 1:5 ratio. For example, how much criticism vs appreciation do you radiate? Are you more defensive or open? Do you have 5x more positive interactions than negative?

Maya Angelou said ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel’.

Whether we are aware of it or not, our personal brand helps us raise the bar and stand out from a crowd. How are you positively impacting yourself and those around you?

Lade Abioye, Lead Project Manager and Sunshine Radiator