Fourteen Strategies to Create Visibility


If you are honoring your values and playing to your strengths, you are also working to do what you love. The following strategy recommendations will help you comfortably gain recognition inside your office, regardless of your starting point.

  1. Get organized. Create a file that contains your r sum , letters of acknowledgment or thanks from internal and external clients, your performance appraisals, and notes of classes or seminars you have taken. Create a special financial section, including pay stubs, benefits statements, and information on comparable salaries in your field. (See Chapter 15 for suggested online sites to research this information.)

  2. Keep track. Use your daily planner, electronic or on paper, to keep track of what you have accomplished each day. You will be able to review your productivity and accomplishments daily and weekly, and you will have a clear record for your next performance review (or to update your r sum ).

  3. Read. What journals or magazines does your boss read that you do not? What other publications are available in your field? Find at least one new source of information, read it, and discuss it with your boss.

  4. Make your boss your biggest fan. Since your manager’s success is tied to your success, work with your manager to understand how your work affects his or her goals, then work to meet and exceed those goals. Do not be shy here, either: Ask your manager to help publicize your successes.

  5. Contribute to the meeting agenda. Add a topic to the team meeting agenda, and prepare to speak about it. You could plan to share information on a project or idea you have been working on, or to gather information for a future project or initiative. In either case, you will need only a few minutes to make a big impact and get people to see you and your ideas.

  6. Write a project update report. Do not wait to be asked; when you have progress to recount, write an unsolicited update. There is no need to be boastful; this update can be sent to your boss and to appropriate peers or colleagues as a short, accurate description of your progress and next steps. Then follow up!

  7. Develop allies. This internal version of networking can include developing relationships with people in other departments or asking a more senior person to be your mentor.

  8. Observe role models. Watch what others do to gain visibility in an ethical, productive way. Watching the visibility strategies used by others (and their avoidance behavior) will give you a sense of what works and what does not. You will also be able to assess what creative tactics are most comfortable for you.

  9. Help others be noticed. This is based on the theory of abundance rather than scarcity. Here is how it works: When you focus on what you lack (“I need the visibility; he doesn’t”), you create an atmosphere of not having enough (scarcity), but when you focus on what you have (“Your good work is making us all look good”), you will actually end up with more (abundance). When you help others to get noticed, you will find that those people will help you in return. Try noticing someone doing a good job, and tell that person so. See how practicing abundance has its own rewards.

  10. Volunteer for task force and committee work. A great way to be seen, and to stay on top of new initiatives, is to volunteer to participate in planning sessions or meetings for social or work-related events.

Moving On Up

In your plan to move up to the executive level, you will have to create a positive image outside of your office as well as inside.

  1. Join an outside professional organization. Go to conferences; speak up in discussions; have people notice your ideas. Choose your venue carefully; emphasize those groups where you are likely to meet people from different levels in your industry. Join a group whose charter and work is valued by your employer, and use the connections you make and the information you learn to let people know of your work with that group: “At the Commonwealth Club meeting last night, we discussed hosting an Economic Trends Summit. I’m collecting names of volunteers who would like to work on the planning committee.” You are instantly seen as an informed, informal representative of your company, and that translates into leadership.

  2. Write articles. Trade magazines, company newsletters, and local newspapers appreciate timely, original essays, articles, and letters to the editor. Most trade magazines (and other magazines and newspapers) have a “writer’s guidelines” section on their web site directed toward people who are interested in submitting articles—some even have recommendations for future articles. Write an article about your industry, your area of expertise, or a recent experience; once it is published, send it or information on where it appeared to appropriate and interested people in your target audience.

  3. Arrange for speaking engagements. Look for organizations that accept outside speakers—networking meetings, trade shows, and local chapters of larger organizations appreciate articulate and informed outside speakers.

  4. Apply for board membership or do committee work for nonprofits. This is another way to gain outside exposure, develop new relationships with people outside of your current organization, and exercise additional leadership skills. Use the Internet to search for organizations that need your talent on their board or on a specialized committee within a board.




How to Shine at Work
How to Shine at Work
ISBN: 0071408657
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 132

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