Last week, GWNET held its first knowledge-transfer webinar for participants of the People-Centred Accelerator Mentoring Programme, on the topic of Personal Development & Branding. We were delighted to welcome key speaker Barbara Fischer-Aupperle, coach, mentor and founder of bfaCoaching and also a founding partner of GWNET. Barbara holds an Executive Master in Business Engineering (EMBE) from the HSG University St. Gallen, Switzerland and has over 30 years’ experience in the Hydropower sector.
It’s all about perception! 7% of what others perceive about us is made up of what we say, 38% by how we say it, and 55% by non-verbal communication like posture, gestures, and even dressing. With this in mind, it is crucial for us to be conscious of our non-verbal communication, and ensure that it supports our verbal statements. Our gestures, expressions and posture are powerful!
Moreover, it is vital for us to develop our identity and differentiate ourselves (i.e. our personal brand) in order to stand out and increase our visibility.
During this webinar, Barbara led participants through different areas to watch out for when presenting, including consciously using body language to communicate messages, as well as the different ways we can practice and develop presentation skills. Furthermore, she raised discussions on developing an authentic personal brand, in order to stand out from the crowd.
Key insights from the presentation and subsequent Q&A session included:
- Our own intuition and sensitivity is a strong tool and enables us to learn our own (sub) conscious behaviour as well as understand the behaviour of others
- To develop yourself, learn from others and get feedback from those around you
- You cannot NOT communicate!
- Strive for authenticity rather than perfection! Perfection has no desire nor does it create one from others.
If you are interested in knowing more about GWNET’s mentoring programmes, read more here.
