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Be seen and recognised for your work

Consider the phrase ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ and apply it to the workplace. Do you think that you are seen and recognised duly for your contribution? Do you keep quiet whilst everyone around you takes the credit for your work?

Sometimes it may seem that other people are able to climb the career ladder more easily than you, and you wonder to yourself “what am I doing wrong?” You’re doing great work, which is only the first step to being seen, but perhaps you could brush-up on your self-promotion skills. It’s time to start working on how you’re going to stand out from the crowd and get noticed.

Obviously you want to be noticed for the right reasons, so we’re not suggesting that you start demanding to be noticed like a toddler having a tantrum! Plan wisely and you’ll see a shift in perception from your managers as you become more proactive with your career.

This article 7 Ways To Get Noticed At Work, outlines some helpful tips on how you can start to stand out from the crowd:

  1. Take initiative – put your hand up for projects that you would previously have overlooked.
  2. Build rapport, everywhere – brush up on your networking skills and think about how to build relationships upwards (along with across and down).
  3. Participate in the office’s extracurricular activities – it’s not always going to be something you love doing but getting involved increases networking opportunities.
  4. Do business development – bring new opportunities into the business regardless of your role.
  5. Speak up – start sharing your thoughts in meetings.
  6. Never gossip – it won’t help people to trust or respect you.

It’s really important that you start to talk about the great work that you’re doing, this may seem boastful but it’s the only way that people will recognise your contribution (especially those that don’t work directly with you). Sometimes you will find that others will take the credit for your work, but there are ways in which you can ensure that your work is at least presented as a team effort. This article Not Getting Recognized For Your Work? How To Take Credit, outlines some ideas that will help if you constantly find yourself in this situation:

  • Go public – share your ideas in a public forum so they can then be formalised with the group, everyone will know that the idea was yours in the first place.
  • Keep a few tricks up your sleeve – do some extra research or come up with some questions that you can pull out when presenting projects when someone else is leading.
  • Know when to let it go – this is really important to remember, as you’re not always going to be given the credit, so avoid disappointment by picking your battles!

Another exercise that we have mentioned before which you should consider is journaling your successes, this helps you to formalise your achievements for use at the appropriate time (at your performance review for example). This article Getting Noticed: Staying “Visible” at Work, suggests that you also keep a file of compliments that you receive from colleagues and clients.

This is reinforced in this fantastic video by the Lean In community (this is definitely worth 5 minutes of your time to watch). What Works for Women at Work Part 1: Prove It Again outlines research findings by Joan C. Williams, Distinguished professor of law at the University of California, Hastings College of Law and co-author of What Works for Women at Work: Four Patterns Working Women Need to Know. One area that the findings cover is ‘Prove it again’, which identifies that women have to provide more evidence of competence in order to be seen as equally competent as men.

If you feel that you don’t know how to get more recognition at work then consider a coaching program with one of our experienced career coaches. We can assist you with goal setting, changing behaviours and building confidence. Call us today!

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