Original article by Forbes
Consistency is essential for successful personal branding, and the same is true for your work environment. After all, your workspace is an extension of your brand. Whether you are working in the office or at home, or in a hybrid combination of both spaces, the more you can do to create a consistent experience for yourself and for those you’re interacting with, the more focused you’ll be. And that’s a boon in our fragmented new world of work. Be intentional about what adorns your desk and office walls—and even the air you breathe. Set the mood to reinforce your brand traits and signal a positive experience every time you enter work mode. Use this important professional real estate as a way to create a comfortable working environment that keeps your brain connected to your goals.
Here are the main ingredients:
Wall Color. Your walls can let people know what you’re passionate about and what inspires you—and that can foster some good relationship-building discussions. The color of your walls and what you choose to put on them can affect your emotions and how people engage with you. Behr suggests grays, beiges and browns. Gray “feels balanced, does not distract and easily coordinates with other office furniture or colorful accessories.” When the need to focus is essential, neutrals create a non-distracting background. Warm shades of brown, taupe or sand keep walls from feeling ho-hum dreary. Best of all, these background tones won’t interfere with the splash of branding colors (including your company’s specific Pantone color) that you include in smaller doses.
Goals. Thanks to a part of your brain called the reticular activating system (RAS), you possess a bundle of neurons that can nudge you towards your goals. Among its many important functions, your RAS filters what makes it into your conscious mind—and that’s especially important in a hybrid work environment, where you’re continually having to shift while absorbing an overwhelming volume of additional bits of information and stimuli. If you’re clear about your brand traits and how they relate to your goals, you can play a role in consciously adjusting some of your RAS filters. Write down your goals and keep them clearly visible on your office wall or computer screen saver. Pare it down to no more than three goals. Every time you glance at those words, you’re reminding your RAS to notice and prioritize the actions and information that will help you fulfill those ambitions.
Zoom Background. What’s directly behind you in your office can obviously have a major impact on those around you, because it will be seen in the countless meetings you attend each day, but remember that you will be staring at it in Zoom too, because you’ll look at your own video feed throughout the day. Choose a background that lets people know a little about you while reinforcing your values in your own mind. Include your passions. Consider adding some literal growth—in the form of a potted plant. According to a study cited in ZDNET, having plants in your background makes you seem more intelligent, trustworthy, approachable and professional. Of course, if you have the opposite of a green thumb, that’s not going to be an authentic symbol for you (and brown leaves and empty branches may not send the most positive message).
Corporate Branding. If you’re working for a company and want to demonstrate your loyalty or be reminded of what you like about the organization you work for—maybe their commitment to DEI or your favorite company value—you can include words or images that capture that. You can also use what’s on your walls to show your loyalty to the company by using logos, the official tagline or a historical photo from the early days of the firm. Celebrate the fact that you’re part of a team that you genuinely respect.
A Scent. According to Discovery, scents bypass the thalamus and go straight to the brain's smell center, known as the olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb is directly connected to the amygdala and hippocampus, which might explain why the smell of something can so immediately trigger a detailed memory or even intense emotion. Corporate hotels know that scent is the most powerful sense when it comes to memory, and it’s great for setting the mood. Westin uses white tea. Omni uses lemongrass. Marriott’s EDITION hotels have a custom Le Labo scent that’s made with fig, bay leaves, bergamot, cedar wood, black tea leaves, vetiver, and musk. You can create a candle with a custom scent that reflects your interests at Scent Lab. Of course, any scent you add to your work-from-home office will be lost to those you connect with via online meetings, but it’s a good reminder for you, and when you’re at the corporate office you can keep a personal sample on hand that won’t affect allergy-prone colleagues.
You can add to the list so that your consistent work environment is truly customized for you, maybe even including a few elements that are known only to you (such as a playlist in your headphones or a specially flavored water that keeps you hydrated all day). Sometimes, curating your surroundings to reflect your personal brand is an afterthought, or not a thought at all. But being thoughtful about your workspace can speak volumes—to others and to yourself—without your having to say a word.