You need to stay visible if you want your career to thrive

Are you secretly enjoying having to stay home more than usual?

Some of my clients are. One told me, smiling, how happy she is to spend her evenings alone with books. Another expressed relief at no longer feeling pressure to have dinner with her boss.

I get it.

You’re an introvert. You enjoy your own company and need plenty of time away from the world to feel your best.

The extraverted culture we live in makes it more difficult than it should be to live and work in ways that respect your need for solitude and quiet. Suddenly the world has changed and it’s easier to live your life in a way that feels good to you.

It’s brilliant not to feel pressure to network when you’d rather be curled up on the sofa with Netflix. It’s lovely to be away from the noise, interruptions and chitchat of the office.

If you choose to embrace and enjoy this moment, fair enough.

If you’re ambitious there’s danger lurking in getting too comfortable at home.

You need to be seen

If you’re serious about developing your career, visibility is essential.

It took me years to accept this – I used to believe my work would speak for itself. I wanted to be left alone to do the work and the idea of showcasing my achievements was extremely uncomfortable.

Getting great results will only get you so far. There comes a point when you have to proactively let people know who you are and what you’re capable of or risk being overlooked for promotion.

Pitfalls of working from home

Remote working makes it possible to disappear behind your keyboard. You run the risk of doing long-term damage to your career prospects if your colleagues rarely see you.

Here are four pitfalls of working from home to watch out for:

1.    Over-reliance on email

Introverts tend to find it easier to express ourselves in writing so it’s tempting to use email for everything. Email has its place, of course, but if you use it all the time you will not develop the ‘know, like and trust’ factor that stems from people seeing your face and hearing your voice. When two candidates are equally qualified for promotion who gets appointed? It’s the person most liked and trusted by the team.

2.    Avoiding video

Are you feeling exhausted by video calls? Perhaps one way you cope is by turning your camera off? If you combine that with your tendency to speak less, it’s entirely possible you’re spending all day in meetings without anyone noticing you’re there.

3.    Forgetting to check-in with colleagues

It’s easy to get caught up in a massive to-do list and forget to chat with colleagues. If you don’t invest time and energy in conversations, relationships will wither. Not a good career move.

4.    Not doing any networking

One of the benefits of staying home is not having to go to any of those big networking events you hate. Effective networking is about more than drinks parties. It’s about building new connections with people you find genuinely interesting and with whom you have mutual interests. You don’t need to attend events to develop relationships that will oil the wheels of career progression.

How to stay visible

How can you avoid these pitfalls?

1.    Rediscover the old-fashioned phone call

By all means continue to communicate in writing when it helps you get across what you might otherwise struggle to articulate. Choose to pick up the phone occasionally – a phone call provides a break from the screen as well as allowing others to feel they are connecting with a person, not a keyboard.

2.    Switch the camera on

It’s OK to choose ‘audio only’ sometimes but be strategic about when you go incognito. Let colleagues see your face regularly. If video calls make you self-conscious, use the ‘hide self view’ feature.

3.    Diarise ‘water cooler moments’

You might hate office banter but it cements relationships and you will miss out if you’re never part of it. Scheduling five minutes every day to connect with a colleague is an easy way to stay visible and connected. Pick up the phone or send a text – it’s more personal than email. Ask people how they are (and actively listen to the answer). Chat about something trivial. It doesn’t matter what you talk about – just make sure you are talking to people informally, not just in meetings.

4.    Network online

Experiment with introvert-friendly ways to network. Right now you are in a huge room full of professionals who want to grow their network – LinkedIn.

Online networking is perfect for introverts. Yes, you do still have to engage in the dreaded small talk because it’s the necessary starter that precedes the main course of meaningful relationships. But you can wave goodbye to tongue-tied moments – consider what you want to say before you type it. You don’t have to approach an intimidating group of strangers when you can send a direct message to someone you’d like to chat to, or comment on posts to introduce yourself.

What do you think?

Are you in danger of disappearing behind the keyboard and damaging your career prospects? Or are you happy to retreat and enjoy a rare introvert-friendly moment? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.

Book a free breakthrough session

If you’d like to explore how I could help you stay visible and develop your career I’d love to invite you to book a free breakthrough session with me. Over the course of about an hour, you will gain clarity about the challenges you face and what you need to do to turn them to your advantage in these strange times.

There’s no catch – if we’re a good match and I believe I can help I’ll tell you how we could work together with no expectation or obligation to hire me as your coach unless you decide you want to.

Click here to book your free session.