Your career is like a boat at sea. It doesn't sail itself.

If only it did, eh!

Life would be so much easier. But unfortunately, your career will not sail itself - certainly not if you want it to move forwards.

And the big thing it takes many of us far too long to realise is: Neither does anyone else's

You know that person who seems to get opportunities just appear for them?

They made it happen.

Those senior leaders who talk about being tapped on the shoulder for a fabulous role?

They made it happen! (and should blooming well say so to help other people!)

The team mate congratulated publicly for that great piece of work - the kind of thing you do every week but get no attention for?

They made it happen.

Why them and not you? What do they do?

It's not a magic process, even if it might feel like it sometimes. They just learned early on how to make themselves and their work visible. And that is how they sail their career.

In theory, it's easy. Just tell your manager what you do. Break your work down into the action steps you took and tell them what you did. Use the STAR format to make it easier. It's not just for interviews!

S - Situation (what was going on, where were you, what was the problem)

T - Target (where did you need to get to, the desired or needed outcome)

A - Action (what did YOU do)

R - Result (the outcome, ideally quantified. )

eg, the example I often use is for when a manager is asking about how project X is going. You could answer 'it's all fine and on track'. But that tells your manager nothing!

Or you could say...

'I noticed this week that Jean in Reg Affairs hadn't been included in the last review email on project X. With an upcoming milestone, we really needed her input so we didn't have a delay. So I put some time in with her, we went through the plans and her feedback is now incorporated, meaning we will hit the milestone and won't suffer a 3 month delay, so the project is still on track'

They both say the project is fine, but in the second example, the manager knows that is only because of your actions!

The things that get in the way of visibility

There are a couple of things that can get in the way for us though. The theory is great but the practice.... a bit harder

'I don't want people to think I am THAT woman'

We all know THAT woman. The one seen as boastful or always bigging herself up. No one likes THAT woman. And so no one wants to be seen as like that... as we've all been raised not to show off. To wait to be noticed.

Thing is, the beauty of the STAR format is that it is simply stating facts. It is not boastful. It isn't making a judgment on how well you did something. It simple states the facts of what you did.

That ain't boasting!

And maybe take a moment to think about THAT woman. Is she boasting? Or is she simply stating facts? Maybe she doesn't deserve that judgment and the only reason we judge her is because we wish we were brave enough to talk about ourselves too...

And stopping judging might make it easier to do it too, by removing the assumption that others will judge.

But I just do my job...

Yes you do. And if things don't go wrong, then it's because of things you do. Because, for most people, that IS their job. To prevent things going wrong.

It's still worth sharing, to illustrate what could happen if you weren't there. Because that is your value. What could happen without you. And if you don't tell them, no one knows it could have gone wrong. They just assume you had it easy!

I don't know what I have done

This often comes with being in your role a while -that unconscious competence means you don't even have to think about what you do that makes a difference. But what you do DOES make a difference. So don't underestimate or diminish that.

How to bring it more to mind?

• try looking back at the meetings from this week. What was discussed and what did you say?
• what phone calls or emails did you answer? What difference did that make?
• make a plan to take along 2 success stories to your next manager 1:1. What could they be?

This is how to start with your voyage of visibility, the first steps to take charge of sailing that boat of your career. Next you need to consider the direction you want to sail it.

If you would like some support with any of this, then do drop me a message, I would be happy to talk!