How To Be More Visible At Work – A Recipe For Success

For most of us whether we are in high flying jobs or not there are people who naturally shine and take the glory and those who don’t

Being noticed for your efforts is often reward itself but when you feel overlooked and unseen it can make you feel undervalued.

To really become more visible, really noticed at work you need to step out of the shadows and into the light. This means shouldering more tasks, taking on projects, meeting new people, being friendly and social. It also means interacting more with your boss and presenting yourself in the most positive way you can.

Project work

Yes taking on extra work can get you noticed but don’t just take on anything and everything or you will become the dumping ground where everyone will expect you to do all the jobs everyone hates.

Projects that are important to your company can raise your visibility. More so if you do well and deliver the project in time and on budget (hard!)

Projects are more likely to involve other teams so getting the chance to work with others outside your area can be a great way to get your face known elsewhere.

Networking

Take the time where possible to engage with other people outside your direct team. You may not have any projects on the go but it doesn’t mean you still can’t show your face in other departments and network.

Ask questions about the roles in the other areas. Be interested and listen more than you speak. People feel more affinity to listeners than speakers as listening gives the impression you are more interested in them.

You can selectively flatter too, with the odd comment here and there but keep it professional. If you know something they have done offer a few kind words about that. People like praise even from their peers.

Positive attitude

This often get’s you noticed more purely because most people are fairly happy at work, but not ecstatic. Showing a little more positivity than others can make you stand out.

People like positive people as they usually work harder, offer good advice and generally try to be helpful. With this attitude you may find people start to seek you out as you are a pleasant guy to work with and your positive spin on everything makes the job feel easier.

Having a positive attitude will also affect your work directly too. Studies have shown that positive people are up to 20% more productive than unhappy ones. If you want to increase your output by 20% then you will be noticed.

Represent your team

Heading up your team and taking charge is a great way to be noticed as long as you don’t mind the extra work.

Being a team leader can often be the worst of both worlds as you are not quite a manager so you have to keep working in the trenches and you are not quite a worker so you have to attend a lot of management meetings.

That being said leading a team is the first step onto the management ladder and it’s often noted that successfully managing a team and your personal workload successfully can indicate you have what it takes to climb the ladder.

Meet regularly with your boss – Ask what you can do to be a better worker

This can be crucial to getting recognition and notice. If your boos does not know how motivated you are then you need to get in their face and make it known.

It doesn’t mean kissing up to them either. It means you want them to take an interest in you as you are asking them in essence to give you an ongoing set of mini appraisals.

While appraisals are something many people dread they are an excellent way of letting you know where your strengths and weaknesses are. If you do this often during the year rather than at the end you can make corrections and lift your game where needed.

You are also intimating that you care about your role in the company and you are willing to listen to advice or criticism to allow you to improve.

Be vocal in meetings

You will often hear people complain that the boss doesn’t even know their name and then when there is a meeting they scurry to the back of the room and slide down in their chair to avoid scrutiny. Crazy!

The best way to become visible is to interact in meetings. Be constructive, offer your input. Be willing to be seen.

Quite often, in the case of large companies there may be over 100 people in the meeting. Luckily for you most of them will be hiding, giving you the chance to shine.

Try to keep the meeting focused and on point and avoid speaking just for the sake of it. Only offer something when it’s appropriate to do so or you risk being seen in a negative light rather than a favorable one.

Be the “go-to” guy

Every company has one, I’ve been one before a few times. There’s always one guy that you can count on to get something done. Usually this comes from being interested in the job and often doing the job for a while.

As the go-to guy people will often ask you for favors or help and this can really boost your visibility but it does come at a price and that is extra workload.

If you want to be this guy then you have to establish ground rules for your coworkers, namely unless critical your own work comes first, if you have too much work then you may not be able to help and their work does not take precedence over yours (unless critical and approved by higher ups)

Should you ever decide you work elsewhere, as the go-to guy you will be guaranteed to get a list of recommendations and references as long as your arm.

Enhance your skills – be an asset

This one is important if your job is highly skill based but your training often comes at a high cost and with company budgets always being squeezed there’s no guarantee you will get the training you need.

You can always self-study. These days there are hundreds if not thousands of opportunities to enhance your skillset often at a low cost or even free thanks to the internet.

Having a variety of useful skills both technical and soft skills will make you an asset in your company and assets are usually valued and looked after.

In conclusion:

There are many ways you can become visible in your place of employment. It will take surprisingly little effort and the fruits of your labor will be that much sweeter for you having made that choice. The choice to shine.