Feedback, Reputation Signals, and Maintaining Your Brand Over Time

Why Brand Maintenance Matters as Your Role Changes

Your personal brand is not a one-time statement; it is a living set of expectations other people hold about how you work, what you deliver, and where you add the most value. As your responsibilities evolve (new manager, new domain, larger scope, different market conditions), your brand can drift in two ways: (1) you keep being known for an old strength that no longer matches your goals, or (2) your work changes but your reputation signals don’t update, so people keep staffing and introducing you based on outdated assumptions.

Brand maintenance is the ongoing practice of collecting evidence about how you are perceived, comparing it to what you want next, and making small adjustments to your positioning statement and proof list so that your reputation keeps pace with your career direction.

Gathering Feedback That Actually Improves Your Brand

Generic feedback (“doing great”) doesn’t help you refine your positioning. You need feedback that is specific, behavior-based, and tied to outcomes. Use three channels: targeted questions to managers/peers, project retrospectives, and recommendation requests.

1) Targeted Questions for Managers

Ask for feedback in a way that makes it easy to answer and hard to be vague. Use a short set of questions and request examples.

• Impact and outcomes: “In the last 90 days, where did my work most improve team outcomes? Can you point to a specific decision, deliverable, or metric?”
• Reliability under pressure: “When timelines were tight, what did I do that helped (or hurt) execution?”
• Decision-making: “Where do you want me to make more decisions independently, and where do you want tighter alignment?”
• Scope and next level: “If I were operating one level higher, what would you expect to see more of? What would you expect to see less of?”
• Brand words: “If you introduced me to a senior stakeholder, what 2–3 phrases would you use to describe how I add value?”

Step-by-step:

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• Schedule a 20–30 minute check-in dedicated to growth (separate from status updates).
• Send the questions in advance and ask for 1–2 concrete examples per answer.
• During the meeting, capture exact phrases used (these often become your reputation signals).
• End with one experiment: “What should I do differently over the next month to strengthen X?”

2) Targeted Questions for Peers and Cross-Functional Partners

Peers see your collaboration style and the “friction points” that managers may not observe. Ask questions that reveal how you are experienced in day-to-day work.

• “What do I do that makes working with me easier? What do I do that makes it harder?”
• “When you think of me, what types of problems do you immediately associate with me?”
• “Where do you see me under-using my strengths?”
• “If you could change one thing about how I communicate or coordinate, what would it be?”
• “What’s one moment in the last project where I created clarity (or confusion)?”

Step-by-step:

• Select 4–6 people who represent different viewpoints (peer, partner team, stakeholder, someone junior who receives your work).
• Use a lightweight format: a 10-minute chat or a short message with 3 questions.
• Ask for examples and context (“What was happening? What was the impact?”).
• Look for patterns across responses rather than overreacting to one comment.

3) Project Retrospectives as Brand Data

Retrospectives are not only for process improvement; they are a structured way to learn what people rely on you for and what they wish you did differently. If your team doesn’t run retrospectives, you can run a mini-retro after major milestones.

Mini-retro agenda (30 minutes):

• Start / Stop / Continue focused on collaboration and delivery.
• Moments of truth: “Where did we win or lose time? What decisions mattered most?”
• Role clarity: “Where was ownership unclear? Where did it work well?”

Brand-focused prompts to add:

• “What did you count on me for in this project?”
• “Where did I create the most leverage for the team?”
• “Where did my approach slow things down or create rework?”

4) Recommendation Requests That Produce Useful Proof

Recommendations are most valuable when they describe specific outcomes and how you achieved them. Make it easy for the recommender by giving them a menu of prompts and reminding them of the context.

Recommendation request template (adapt as needed):

Hi [Name]—I’m updating my portfolio and collecting a few recommendations tied to specific work. Would you be comfortable writing a short recommendation about our work on [project]? If helpful, here are a few angles you could use (choose any): 1) the outcome we achieved and my role, 2) how I work with stakeholders, 3) a moment where I solved a hard problem, 4) what you’d staff me on again. I can also send a quick summary of the project and results to make it easy.

Step-by-step:

• Choose recommenders who can speak to the direction you want next (not only what you did years ago).
• Provide a 5-bullet project recap: goal, constraints, your role, key actions, measurable outcomes.
• Ask them to include one concrete example and one “would hire/work with again because…” line.
• Store the text in your proof library even if it’s not posted publicly.

Interpreting Reputation Signals (What People Do, Not What They Say)

Feedback is explicit; reputation signals are implicit. They show up in how people behave around you. These signals are often more predictive of your real brand than formal reviews.

Signal 1: What People Ask You For

Track the requests you receive for two weeks. Categorize them to see what you are “known for” in practice.

• Expertise requests: “Can you review this plan?” “Can you sanity-check this approach?”
• Execution requests: “Can you take ownership of this deliverable?”
• Relationship requests: “Can you talk to that stakeholder?” “Can you align the teams?”
• Firefighting requests: “Can you fix this issue quickly?”

Interpretation: If you want to be known for strategic leadership but most requests are firefighting, your brand is currently “reliable fixer.” That may be valuable, but it can trap you in reactive work unless you intentionally shift the mix.

Signal 2: How You’re Introduced

Introductions reveal your headline brand. Capture the exact words people use in meetings, emails, and cross-team contexts.

• “This is Alex—our go-to for…” (What follows is your perceived specialty.)
• “Alex helped us when…” (This highlights your signature contribution.)
• “Alex is leading…” (This signals scope and authority.)

Interpretation: If introductions consistently emphasize a narrow skill you want to outgrow, you need new proof and new narratives that justify broader scope.

Signal 3: What You’re Staffed On (and What You’re Not)

Staffing decisions are reputation in action. Notice patterns:

• You’re staffed on high-ambiguity work vs. well-defined execution.
• You’re pulled into early planning vs. late-stage delivery.
• You’re assigned to sensitive stakeholders vs. internal-only work.
• You’re asked to lead cross-functional coordination vs. solo contributions.

Interpretation: Staffing reflects trust. If you want to move toward leadership but keep getting individual execution tasks, it may indicate a gap in perceived readiness (or simply a lack of visible proof). Your quarterly update process should address this.

A Simple Reputation Signal Log

Quarterly Brand Adjustment Process (Positioning Statement + Proof List)

Use a quarterly cadence to keep your brand aligned with your career goals and the market’s needs. The goal is not to reinvent yourself every quarter; it is to make small, evidence-based adjustments.

Inputs You Need (15–30 minutes to gather)

• Feedback highlights: 3–5 repeated themes from manager/peer input.
• Reputation signals: top request types, common introduction phrases, staffing patterns.
• Outcomes captured: measurable results, decisions influenced, risks reduced, time saved.
• Market needs: what your organization is prioritizing next quarter (initiatives, constraints, metrics).
• Career direction: the scope you want next (bigger projects, leadership, specialization, domain shift).

Step-by-Step Quarterly Review (60–90 minutes)

1. Audit the current positioning statement. Write it at the top of a page. Underline the parts that are still true and the parts that feel outdated given your current role and goals.

2. Compare “desired” vs. “observed.” Create two columns: what you want to be known for next, and what signals show you’re known for now. Identify the biggest gap (choose one primary gap per quarter).

3. Choose one strategic emphasis for the quarter. Examples: “earlier-stage ownership,” “stakeholder leadership,” “systems thinking,” “mentoring,” “risk management,” “customer outcomes.”

4. Update the positioning statement with minimal edits. Keep the core stable; adjust the emphasis. A good test: would a colleague recognize you in it, and does it point to your next scope?

5. Refresh the proof list. Replace older proof with the most recent, most relevant evidence. Aim for 6–10 proof items total, with at least 2 tied to the new emphasis.

6. Define 2–3 “proof-building” actions. These are concrete behaviors or deliverables that will generate new evidence (e.g., lead a discovery workshop, write a decision memo, mentor a teammate through a complex task, propose a measurable improvement).

7. Socialize the shift subtly. In 1:1s and planning meetings, volunteer for work that matches the new emphasis and use language consistent with the updated positioning (without making it a speech).

Example: Adjusting Without Reinventing

Observed signals: People ask you to “clean up” projects late, you’re introduced as “the person who gets it done,” and you’re staffed on execution-heavy work.

Next goal: Be trusted for early-stage planning and cross-functional leadership.

Quarterly adjustment:

• Positioning tweak: shift emphasis from “execution” to “clarity and alignment that drives outcomes.”
• Proof list additions: a planning artifact you led (roadmap, decision memo), a stakeholder alignment win, a measurable reduction in rework due to clearer requirements.
• Proof-building actions: co-lead discovery on one initiative; run a pre-mortem to surface risks; publish a one-page decision framework for the team.

Maintenance Plan: Keep Your Brand Current Without Big Effort

Maintenance works when it is lightweight and continuous. Use three routines: profile refresh, portfolio updates, and capturing outcomes/testimonials as work happens.

Profile Refresh Checklist (Monthly or Quarterly)

• Headline/summary reflects your current emphasis and scope (not last year’s).
• Top 3–5 skills or focus areas match what you want to be staffed on next.
• Recent role description includes outcomes (metrics, scale, impact), not just responsibilities.
• Featured items (if applicable) showcase the newest, most relevant proof.
• Recommendations/testimonials reflect your current direction (add 1–2 per year, targeted).
• Remove or de-emphasize outdated keywords that attract the wrong requests.

Portfolio Update Routine (Quarterly)

Your portfolio can be a formal site, a private document, or a set of sanitized case studies. The key is to update it in small increments.

• Add 1 new case study per quarter (or refresh an existing one).
• Use a consistent structure: problem, constraints, your role, actions, outcome, what you’d do differently.
• Include artifacts when possible (diagrams, plans, before/after metrics) with sensitive details removed.
• Tag each item to a capability you want associated with you (e.g., “stakeholder alignment,” “risk reduction,” “scaling operations”).

Capture Outcomes and Testimonials as Work Happens (Weekly Habit)

Most professionals lose proof because they wait until performance review season. Instead, capture evidence in real time.

Weekly 10-minute proof capture:

• Outcomes: What changed because of my work this week? (time saved, revenue protected, errors reduced, cycle time improved, decisions unblocked)
• Scope: What did I lead, influence, or coordinate across teams?
• Signals: What did people ask me for? How did they describe my contribution?
• Artifacts: What did I create that demonstrates my thinking? (memo, plan, analysis, framework)

Micro-testimonials (capture, then request permission later): When someone sends praise in chat/email, copy the exact sentence into your proof library with date and context. If you want to use it externally, ask for permission and sanitize details.

Putting It Together: A Simple Operating Cadence