Did you know that your team at work already has a team brand? What do you think it might be? Would you like to know how others actually perceive your team?
When people think of your team, they almost certainly have an immediate reaction. It might be fantastic – you might be the ‘reliable’ team or the ‘star performers’ everyone turns to. Perhaps you’re the specialists everyone knows have exceptional IT expertise, or the team people approach when they need help crafting compelling presentations.
However, your brand could also reflect something less flattering. Maybe you’re known as the team that’s always chatting, or worse, the ‘unreliable’ or ‘underperforming’ group. If that’s the case, don’t despair – brands can absolutely be transformed with the right approach.
And if you work remotely and wonder whether this still applies… absolutely yes. Remote teams definitely have brands too. While building recognition in virtual environments requires more intentional effort, the principles and impact remain just as powerful.
Why Your Team Brand Matters
Here’s the crucial point: as the team leader, you must take control of your brand. Your collective reputation is what gives your team power within the organisation. It’s what makes senior executives take notice, gets your team assigned the most exciting and lucrative projects, and determines whether you receive the resources needed to excel.
The stark reality is this: teams with positive recognition avoid restructuring and don’t lose their star performers to reassignment. Meanwhile, teams with negative or mediocre reputations often languish at the bottom of organisational priorities with fewer resources and limited opportunities for advancement. Let’s be honest – brand perception within the workplace also drives promotions, salary increases, and bonus allocations for team members.
Modern workplaces have become increasingly reliant on cross-functional collaboration and flatter hierarchies. The teams that stand out positively are the ones that thrive. Research shows that teams with strong brand identity receive significantly more strategic project assignments and achieve better performance outcomes compared to teams without clear positioning1.
Discovering Your Current Reality
Before you can improve your reputation, you need to understand how you’re currently perceived within the organisation. This requires honest assessment and genuine feedback gathering.
Start by asking yourself some uncomfortable questions. What do people say about your team when you’re not in the room? Which projects does leadership assign to your team, and more importantly, which do they avoid giving you? How do other departments describe your capabilities and reliability? What reputation has your team built through recent project outcomes?
The most valuable insights often come from informal conversations with colleagues in other departments. You’re looking for honest perspectives on your current standing – not what you hope people think, but what they actually think.
Building Your Ideal Brand Identity
Now it’s time to think strategically. How do you want your team to be recognised? Here’s the critical insight: when developing your goals, remove yourself from the equation as much as possible. This isn’t about personal glory or making the team reflect individual achievements – it’s about building a collective reputation that elevates everyone.
Consider what organisational niche your team should fill. Look at the existing skills within your team that could be developed to establish you as specialists in valuable areas. What expertise gaps exist in your organisation that your team could fill? Which of your team’s current strengths could be amplified to create genuine differentiation? What types of projects energise your team and align with organisational priorities?
For teams in IT, pharmaceutical, and life sciences sectors, positioning often centres on technical excellence, regulatory expertise, innovation capability, or cross-functional collaboration skills. Think about where your team can genuinely excel and become the go-to experts.
Getting Your Team On Board
Team branding only succeeds with full team engagement and ownership. You’ll achieve genuine commitment to this initiative only when you communicate the vision clearly and involve team members in shaping the identity.
Start by discovering current perceptions. Find out what team members think their reputation is now, then explore what they’d like to be known for as a collective team. This often reveals interesting insights into individual motivations and aspirations that you might not otherwise discover.
Ask about their specialist skills and improvement aspirations. How can they develop new capabilities whilst maintaining the expertise they already have? And crucially, don’t be shy about communicating the benefits. If you know that positive team branding leads to better projects, bonuses, and promotions, make sure they understand that too. When team members see the direct connection between collective reputation and individual advancement, engagement naturally follows.
This collaborative approach builds the foundation for authentic brand development. You’re not imposing a vision from above – you’re creating something together that everyone feels ownership over.
Making It Work in Virtual Teams
Virtual team branding requires adapted approaches that work effectively in digital-first environments. The fundamental principles remain the same, but execution must account for reduced face-to-face interaction and limited organic visibility.
Physical distance creates challenges that require intentional solutions. Unlike traditional office environments where reputation builds through casual interactions and spontaneous recognition, remote teams must be significantly more strategic about how they develop and communicate their identity. You need a comprehensive plan covering how, when, and through which channels you’ll build your team’s reputation.
Video conferencing platforms become essential for maintaining visual presence and relationship building. Team collaboration channels need careful management to showcase culture and capabilities. Project management systems offer opportunities to demonstrate delivery excellence. Every interaction becomes a potential touchpoint that contributes to or detracts from your collective reputation.
Remote teams must also be more proactive about creating visibility within their organisations. This means systematic approaches to communication rather than relying on serendipitous recognition. Regular project updates that highlight team achievements, cross-departmental collaboration that exposes others to your expertise, and internal knowledge sharing through presentations or documentation all become critical activities.
The teams that succeed in virtual environments are those that treat brand building as a deliberate, ongoing practice rather than something that happens naturally. It requires more effort, certainly, but the rewards are equally powerful. Many remote teams actually develop stronger brands because they’re forced to be more intentional about their reputation-building efforts.
Taking Action on Your Team Brand
Building a powerful team brand isn’t just about perception – it’s about creating genuine value that drives organisational success and career advancement. Whether your team works remotely or in traditional office environments, intentional brand building creates competitive advantage.
The process starts with honest assessment of where you stand today. Then comes the strategic thinking about where you want to be and what skills you need to develop to get there. Next is the critical work of engaging your team and building collective commitment to the vision. For virtual teams, this includes developing systematic approaches to visibility and communication.
As a team leader, you have the power to shape how your team is perceived and valued within your organisation. The teams that proactively build strong reputations are the ones that receive the best projects, resources, and recognition. Don’t let your brand develop by default. Take control and build something remarkable.
Do the work now, and enjoy that moment when people start to notice that your team has a reputation worth talking about – one that becomes a role model to others in the organisation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Team Branding
Building Something Worth Talking About
Your team’s reputation isn’t something that happens to you – it’s something you can actively shape and develop. Whether you’re starting from a strong position or working to transform a less positive perception, the principles remain the same: understand where you stand, define where you want to be, engage your team in the journey, and take consistent action to build genuine capabilities that support your desired reputation.
For remote teams, this work requires extra intentionality around communication and visibility, but the fundamentals don’t change. Every interaction, every project delivery, every cross-functional collaboration contributes to how your team is perceived and valued within your organisation.
The teams that succeed are those that treat brand building as an ongoing practice rather than a one-time project. They understand that reputation is earned through consistent performance, strategic positioning, and authentic expertise. And they recognise that when team branding works well, everyone benefits – from increased project opportunities and resources to individual career advancement and recognition.
As a leader, you have the opportunity to build something remarkable. Start today, stay consistent, and watch as your team’s reputation becomes one of your organisation’s most valuable assets.