If you want to advance your career, you need to stand out from the crowd and showcase your value to your employer. But how do you do that without being seen as a show-off or a brown-noser? Here are some effective ways to increase your visibility within your company and get noticed for the right reasons.
The first step to increasing your visibility is to know what you are good at and what you can offer to your company. What are your unique skills, talents, and experiences that make you an asset to your team and your organization? How do you contribute to the company's goals, vision, and culture? Once you have a clear idea of your strengths, you can leverage them to demonstrate your expertise, solve problems, and add value.
It's important to know your strengths and use them effectively as you are on boarded.Early demostration of what you are capable of, earns you a good reputation, with your team and colleagues.They will trust you and value your inputs. Be inclusive in your decision making, don't underestimate the colleagues you found before you were onboarded, they carry a lot of institutional memory that can be very useful to position you strategically. Organize personal branding workshops and talks, to coach fellow colleagues. Be a supportive and empathic leader, consult your team and present professionalism to your executive team and the board Demostrate a matured EQ. Don't be a victim of listening to a one sided story, when colleagues are troubled.
The second step to increasing your visibility is to communicate your achievements to the relevant people in your company. This does not mean bragging or boasting, but rather sharing your successes and learnings in a humble and professional way. You can do this by sending regular updates to your manager, highlighting your accomplishments in performance reviews, and showcasing your projects and results in meetings and presentations. You can also use social media, newsletters, or blogs to share your insights and stories with a wider audience.
This is a delicate balance. You want to highlight your achievements without appearing arrogant. One way to do this is to recognize and shine a light on your coworkers and team that helped you achieve your goals. And, if you have good sponsors, they will do the bragging for you.
The third step to increasing your visibility is to build your network within and outside your company. Networking is not only about making contacts, but also about building relationships, trust, and reputation. You can network by attending events, joining committees, volunteering for initiatives, and reaching out to mentors, peers, and leaders. You can also network by collaborating with other teams, departments, or partners, and offering your support, feedback, or advice. By networking, you can expand your influence, learn from others, and create opportunities.
The fourth step to increasing your visibility is to seek feedback and growth from your manager, colleagues, and customers. Feedback is essential for improving your performance, identifying your areas of improvement, and discovering your potential. You can seek feedback by asking for it regularly, listening to it openly, and acting on it promptly. You can also seek growth by taking on new challenges, learning new skills, and pursuing professional development. By seeking feedback and growth, you can show your willingness to learn, adapt, and excel.
It's actually not that embarrassing to seek feedback from your manager and colleagues. Despite the periodic review within the company, you can also create a habit to collect feedback and evaluation on yourself from them. Doing this not only helps you learn your strength and weakness, but also strengthens your relationship with your colleagues and make you an outstanding and growing individual.
I make it my mission to both seek feedback and offer feedback. No one can improve themselves without the required knowledge. For instance, my feedback from a colleague recently was "Take time for yourself. Don't get burned out." My feedback to a colleague might be "You're showing some difficulty with pulling these reports. Let me show you a trick."
The fifth step to increasing your visibility is to be proactive and innovative in your work. Being proactive means taking initiative, anticipating needs, and delivering results. Being innovative means finding new ways, creating new solutions, and generating new value. You can be proactive and innovative by proposing new ideas, leading new projects, or implementing new processes. You can also be proactive and innovative by embracing change, taking risks, and experimenting with new approaches. By being proactive and innovative, you can show your leadership, creativity, and impact.
The sixth step to increasing your visibility is to be positive and professional in your attitude and behavior. Being positive means being optimistic, enthusiastic, and supportive. Being professional means being respectful, courteous, and ethical. You can be positive and professional by expressing gratitude, giving recognition, and offering help. You can also be positive and professional by following the rules, meeting the expectations, and resolving the conflicts. By being positive and professional, you can show your character, culture, and credibility.
In today's highly competitive business environment, it takes more than hard work to get ahead. To increase the visibility in the workplace, you need to- speak up in the meetings, strengthen your relationship with your line manager, ask for high- visibility projects, participate in L&D opportunities, demonstrate your expertise, and grow your network.
From my experience as a teacher, the way that I've made myself more visible in the different schools I worked in was by going above and beyond the scope of my work. Outside of my daily teaching duties, I was also involved in extracurricular activities with students such as serving an assistant coach for the school's intramural basketball team and being the middle school math representative for the school's instructional leadership team. When you extend yourself beyond what's required of you in the classroom and produce positive results that contribute to your school's success, that alone will make more people notice you, including your school leaders.