3 Simple Techniques to Boost Workplace Visibility

During one of our recent office coffee breaks, I had a candid conversation with a few team members about workplace visibility. Most admitted they feel uncomfortable or don’t know how to make their contributions known.

I wasn’t surprised at all.

Many professionals feel their work should attract the required visibility. Some avoid showcasing their accomplishments because they don’t want to appear boastful. Others lack the skills to market their skills properly.

However, your career is your responsibility. Knowing how to market your skills and highlight achievements is a huge factor in professional success.

The key is to learn to do it in a way that feels authentic.

Here are three simple techniques for workplace visibility that you can practice to overcome hesitation and build your presence.

* Turn Small Talk Into Strategic Talk
* Focus On Value Adds, Not Hours Worked
* Don't Assume; Document & Share Explicitly

Turn Small Talk Into Strategic Talk

I love Lorraine K. Lee’s above advice on LinkedIn — Use small talk to your benefit.

We always make small talk—while walking past a colleague in the office, over the water cooler, and even on calls while working remotely. Use these opportunities to subtly highlight your work.

You can also use your introductions to your advantage. Most people introduce themselves by sharing their name and which team or company they work for.

Instead, spin the introduction to promote your work. Focus on how your work contributes to your team or the organizational vision.

For example, I can introduce myself by saying, "I am Lokajit. I work in the Services domain."

Instead, I can flip it to, "I am Lokajit. My team enables our company to provide accurate customer service by maintaining the second largest transactional database and building highly responsive services that provide accurate asset and entitlement information to 60+ business-critical applications."

You can immediately notice how the second version is much more powerful. Peppering the details with numbers makes the intro highly impactful. I learned this trick from my coach and numerous presentations to our leaders.

You can also customize the intro to your audience, making the stats and offerings relevant to them.

I can understand if you find talking or building a similar introduction challenging. It feels a bit like bragging, and most of us are uncomfortable with patting our own backs.

But you need to be your advocate. Also, remember this — when you make your intro relevant to your audience, you are helping them discover how you can help.

Finding a one- or two-liner can be tricky. You need to put some effort into building the proper introduction. Craft it once, and you can use it for a long time until you move to a different function/role.

While preparing the intro, try to phrase it in the ‘Why — How’ format.

Your leaders, stakeholders, or counterparts focus on why they should know about you or what you offer. Unless it benefits them, they don’t care what you do or how you achieve it. No matter how monumental your technical deliveries are, if they don’t help the stakeholders somehow, they are useless to them.

Here is another example of how I would introduce one of our industry award-winning teams.

Do you see how the format conveys the message?

Focus On Value Adds, Not Hours Worked

Most professionals believe working long hours increases visibility. That’s true to some extent. You do get seen if you continuously work late.

However, that does not mean you are adding value. Neither such visibility directly correlates with career growth.

My manager once told the team, “If you finish your assignment early, go watch a movie if you feel like it. No need to hang around in the office.”

The gist is that you work to provide value to your stakeholders.

A smart leader knows the number of hours spent in front of the laptop or in the office is not proportional to the value added. Staying online late into the night or sending emails at midnight does not impress them.

So, focus on the value you offer through your work. Stop wasting your time doing things that do not contribute to your growth.

This does not mean if someone is working long hours, they are not capable. Some employees love working. They always add value. We will keep the exceptions aside for now. :)

Don’t Assume; Document & Share Explicitly

When I ask my team members what the key highlights of their last quarter were, they struggle to summarize. With some effort, they often come up with a list that misses key deliveries they accomplished early in the quarter.

I am sure many of you struggle with the same issue. Try for yourself now. Pause and think about all your achievements in the last three months.

Do you remember everything you did in the first one or two months? And if you do, does the work still feel as critical as when you delivered it?

Most likely not.

It is not unusual. Most of us either forget or tend to downplay our efforts over time.

Many sincere employees love to put their heads down and get the job done. They prefer to grind throughout their careers, adding value. But, they struggle when it comes to summarizing their impact.

Take charge of your career growth by starting to document your deliveries. Write down everything you did and its impact as soon as you finish. Don’t try to evaluate the task’s importance at this point.

At the end of the quarter, review the list and filter out the key deliveries. You can ask your mentor or manager to help with this as they understand the impact better on a larger scale.

Having a senior review your work makes them feel they are your ally. They would be happy to act as your advocate within the organization.

Getting your manager's help has the benefit of them getting a view of all that you have delivered. Otherwise, you can also explicitly share the key accomplishments once you have the list. The list can be your reference during the annual review or when you get an opportunity to present in front of higher-ups.

You must be thinking — Isn’t getting my work highlighted at the right level the responsibility of my manager?

Yes. You are correct.

Your leader also has the responsibility to promote your work.

But don’t assume they know all that you do. They may or may not. A manager has a ton of duties to perform (contrary to popular belief ;)). Take charge of your career by providing them with the content and letting them spin your achievements appropriately to help you grow.

Final Thoughts on Techniques for Workplace Visibility

I would stress again — your career is your responsibility. It depends on how well you perform and communicate your contributions to the organization.

Don’t leave your success to chance. Use the techniques to let the right people know the value you bring.

Initially, you might feel uncomfortable taking the steps mentioned. Eventually, you will get good at them as you practice and soon see the result in your professional growth.

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