Hi, and welcome to the Awfully Quiet Podcast. Now, I wanna come on today and talk a little bit about something that hopefully provides tangible tips to a situation that happens all too often in the workplace, especially for us quieter, introspective people. And it's all about these kind of situations where.

You're being asked to introduce yourself or where you're being asked to share a little bit about yourself, and you just feel your whole body phrase and your mind goes blank. It's like what happens to me in these situations is I'm almost feel like there's like this black canvas in front of my eyes and I have no idea who I am, what I do, and what to say.

And the kind of situations I talk about is whenever you are in. A new teams call or a new project team and you know, you go around the room, popcorn style, introducing yourselves or whenever you are being asked, so what do you do? Or tell me a little bit about yourself. And these situations can feel extremely nerve wracking.

And I think part of the reason why that is, is because we think that this is a moment where we need to perform. This is a moment where we have. Like, let's say 30 seconds to a minute to introduce ourselves, to leave a first impression, to leave a good impression, to say what we do, who we are, what we bring.

And it can feel like this performance where you're on the spot, you're in the spotlight. And whenever we feel like we're in the spotlight, us ourselves as a person, it can feel really, really awkward. Then we're not set up for success to actually succeed because there's, you just feel the pressure of the situation and you don't really know how to handle it and how to deal with it.

So I wanna offer you a little bit of a mindset shift when it comes to this, because it really is less about performing and it is more about positioning. What do I mean by this? What I mean by positioning is. You're not there to put a spotlight on yourself. You're not there to sell yourself. Don't even need to think about leaving a particularly good impression in that moment.

It's just about positioning who you are and the work that you bring to this team, to this context, to whatever situation you're in, and it's just really about helping them understand like the angle that you come from. What you are going going to be offering? What's the value that you bring? How can you help?

Like think less about it as something that shines a light on you and more about shining the light on the work that you bring. And I think this already helps relieve some of that tension and make sure you are coming from a position of, here is how I can. Here's the, the service that I'm going to be bringing.

Here's how I'm going to be of service for this group, for this project, for this team. And less about, you know, this is who I am. This is my job title. This is how great I am. And you know, nobody's going to remember that anyway. If you think about some of these situations where everybody introduces themselves, what happens to me is I will spend all of the time thinking about what I'm going to say because I will be so.

you know, put under pressure and I will spend a lot more time thinking about what I'm going to say and too little time actually listening to what other people are saying and how other people introduce themselves. And then what I am often left thinking. When those kind of introductions happen where everybody just says their job title, how long they've been with, you know, the company, or on a certain, in a certain part of the, the business or the function.

I often don't know what that means and what they actually bring. Obviously I have a little bit of an idea of like the, the job titles and what they will likely bring and do, but it's not something that you actually remember and take away with you. It's not really the takeaway. It is more so what they say, how they feel like their tone of voice, like this is what leaves the instant impression and not necessarily their job title or, you know, their years of experience that they bring.

So I feel like this is a great opportunity for you and for us to think about. What actually leaves a great first impression? What are some of the things that we can say or how can we reframe and how can you set yourself up well in these situations, even think about what are some of the things that you could potentially share about yourself that builds more common ground, that gives them something tangible that has, has them remember you for something.

But, what I wanna give you are three tangible sentence starters that you can borrow. In those situations where you would normally freeze, where your mind would go blank, where you would feel nervous about performing and saying something that's really smart and it leaves a great impression. And these are very simple things that you can always use and come back to.

I think in these situations when we are a little bit nervous, it really helps to have this little template in front of us or this little thing that we always say that is not overly prepared or over practiced.shouldn't feel unnatural, but just should give you some of that peace of mind of like, when a situation like this arrives, I know what I should do.

I know I can always grab one of these to, feel secure and to make it feel natural. So the first one is if somebody were to ask, you know, what do you do? Or you would be in the situation where you introduce yourself on a new call or to a new project team, you could start by saying, my focus right now is on dah yada.

Instead of just saying your job title. Like for me it would be, I am a brand manager for this brand. Yeah, the focus could be, my focus right now is on making sure that we deliver a campaign that brings to life these certain elements and has this objective and so on. And here is, you know what I'm focused on right now.

Here is the focus that I will be bringing into this team, onto this project. The second template that you could use is where I can help most is. It could be, you know, where I can help most is with the execution of this is with the brief of this is with my experience in this part of the business or this part of the campaign.

So the second one where I can help most is, and then the third one is, what you can expect from me is. And again, this is very similar to the first two, but just offers a slightly different angle. What you can expect from me is detail orientation across this or what you can expect from me is to. Be the brand advocate for this or to give you, you know, approvals or to make sure that we, execute this alongside our guidelines or whatever it is.

But it's just, it's slightly reframes and it's just a sentence that you would normally not hear in these types of situations, which gives you a little bit of an advantage in being remembered because. If you say something along the lines of, my focus right now is where I can help most is what you can expect from me is it really feels like you are thinking about, not yourself, but about the value you bring and you add to this team, to this project, to this situation that you're in.

And it is memorable and, and, and people are going to recognize that because it is not what most people do in these situations. It's slightly unconventional and it shows that you are in service of this team, that you think about what you bring, what you can offer, what you bring to the table, essentially.

And what I also like about these is that they are not overly salesy. They're not overly promotional. It's easily something that you can naturally say. Without feeling like you're pitching or without feeling like you know you're doing anything that you wouldn't normally say. So these are some of the ones that you could potentially borrow.

They're less about you as a person. They really are there to highlight your work, your style, and your approach. And then this is what really makes it memorable. And the second thing I would always say is, if you know that you're going to be in a situation like that, if you know that you're gonna have a call where you will likely have to introduce yourself, just take a minute or two before the meeting starts to potentially jot down what you wanna say to potentially think about.

Which one of these do I wanna grab? what do I wanna learn? What do I wanna say? Because what can also feel slightly nerve wracking about these situations is that we always think first we have to perform. We already covered that. But secondly is that we need to wing it. We need to be able to just, you know, talk about ourselves effortlessly, naturally, and it will come across beautifully and it's not always the case, and it's absolutely okay.

To prep a little bit in advance and to potentially practice saying this out loud, like even if you were to use a template like this, like my focus right now is where I can help most, is what you can expect from me is. Say them out loud to feel into whether they actually feel natural to you. You always wanna make sure that something that you say out loud doesn't feel forced, doesn't feel, doesn't feel like a template at the end of the day.

So if you wanted to use something else, use something else, but make sure that it feels like something you would actually say and something you would feel comfortable saying out loud and about yourself and your work. Now, if you think to yourself, you know what? I actually have no idea how I'm going to get there and what, what is the focus that I bring?

What is my style? What is my approach? It could also help you to ask yourself a couple of questions for self-reflection, to build your own version of what you're going to say or how you're going to introduce yourself. Because again, I always feel like. If we go above and beyond just our job titles and about what other people already know about us, it can add so much value.

And it really goes a long way to building that perception, that first impression, that reputation that you know of, of what you bring. And so there's a lot of power in that now. I have a couple of questions for you that you might just try. You can pick one of them, you can pick none of them, but I think it's just worth having a little bit of a reflection of what that looks like for you and what you will actually bring to the table, what your focus is.

The first one, and I love this one, is what kind of problems do people always come to me for? Like what are the kind of things that, what are the kind of questions I'm always being asked? What are the kind of. Challenges people bring to me or trust me with, because that tells you a lot about the focus that you have that helps you, tells you a lot about where you can help most, what you can expect from me.

So some of these things that people already come to you for, you could also frame it like that in the conversation, you know?my focus on this project is X. People often ask me this question, so you can come to me for, it's a great question to self-reflect and to have that think a couple of minutes before a meeting or before a conversation to just kind of get a little bit deeper into what people come to you for and what you actually want people coming to you for.

Because that is important as well. You could also ask yourself, what part of my work gives me energy? Like what is the thing that I want people to reach out to me for? If I, if I'm introducing myself to a new team, to this project group, what do I want? What is the role that I want to play? What gives me energy?

What. Do I need, from a development perspective, how can I learn and grow on this? So to actively weave that into your introduction is actually gold, and this is why it is so, so helpful to think about this a couple of minutes before, just jot down what are some of the things that I look forward to? What gives me energy?

And then the third one is, what do I want to be known for this year? Or what do I want to be known for in this project with this group of people? Like setting a little bit of an intention going in can really help not only set the scene when you introduce yourself or when you have those first couple of interactions, but also be super clear on like, what is your objective in this?

What would you like? People to think about you when you walk away from this. What is the kind of reputation that you wanna build? What is the impression you wanna leave? Not just in this first instance when you introduce yourself, but in the long term with this group on this project. I think this goes a long way to really shape this experience for yourself, to set this intention, because this is what is going to prime you going into this situation.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, it can often feel nerve wracking to be amongst strangers, to be with a new group of people who don't know you yet, and it can feel like, you know, you just wanna take a little bit of a step back. You wanna take some of the vibe and before you speak up, or before you, you know, say something about yourself.

But having these things, like reflecting on these things in advance and taking, making a couple of notes. It can actually help you speak up in the moment because you already know what you're going to say, and then it's just about saying it out loud, weaving it into the conversation. And so I feel like this is absolutely the way you go.

If you are somebody who struggles with like freezing in the moment, not finding the right words and feeling a little bit anxious when surrounded by people you don't often work with or that are strangers to you right now. And, what I, what else I wanna say is that these situations always take a little bit of practicing.

So. Not to put too much pressure on yourself when you approach these situations, like literally, this still happens to me today when I'm with a new group of people. Sometimes if I haven't prepared or if I've not self-reflected or if I don't have something available to me, right the second, I still struggle having to wing some of these situations and I am, you know, right there with you, but.

Always to like come back to this knowing that, you know, prepare yourself, practice, set an intention as to what you wanna bring, where your focus lies, what you want people coming to you for. And then it'll take away some of that pressure. It will relieve some of the tension. And then you can focus on finding the right words that feel natural to you, finding the right tone, finding your style and your approach.

And I feel like this at the end of the day, is what makes this whole impression, like showing up how you really feel showing up true to yourself. This is the deeper work here, and this is ultimately what's going to unlock, building that reputation. building positive word of mouth, building advocacy, having people walk away from this project group talking positively about you or remembering you for the impact that you brought.

It is all about that. And if you wanna go deeper on this. I wanna leave you with one final note because I wanted to keep today extremely tangible, like something that you can take away for this week and, yeah, not too much fluff around it, but if this feels like something that you wanna go deeper into or you feel like you need more support finding out.

Where your focus is, what your style is, what your personality is, what you bring. This is exactly what I have built Quiet Flex for. I have already talked about my new course a couple of weeks ago when I first announced it would come, but it is now actually live, and I will drop the link to the course into the show notes so that you can explore more.

But this is essentially all about. You doing that self-reflection and, and doing the work on finding out who you are, where you're headed, what you bring to the table, and then helping you articulate that in a way that feels like you, in a way that gives you the right words for the right situations, and be able to voice that in the workplace across various different.

You know, daily situations that may arise. It gives you the right fuel for introductions. It gives you the right words for written communication, like think your LinkedIn headline or your bio or wherever you need to introduce yourself, but also gives you. Some of that prep, some of those deeper questions and some of those templates for any kind of work situations, whether it is, small talk at the coffee machine, coffee with a senior leader, a career conversation, a one-to-one with your manager, a midyear or a year end conversation like it's going to allow you to have that, all those elements of you that you.

Potentially want to share in the workplace all across who you are, where you're headed, what you bring to the table, and articulate them in a way that gets you remembered, that positions you for the kind of opportunities that you want, and has people remember you for what you want to be known for now.

That's where I want to leave you for today. I hope that you could take something away from this. If you have any questions about these moments of, you know, feeling like you freeze, your mind goes blank, please drop them. Please share them with me, so maybe we can go a little deeper. But yeah, this is it for today.

Thank you for tuning in, and I'll see you next week.