Crossing Silos
by Diana Ryall

In any large organisation one of the most important components for your success is to be able to build bridges across to other functional areas. Don't be lulled into the mistaken beliefs that excellent success in your area will be rewarded fully, your manager will ensure all your great work is well known and that new opportunities elsewhere in the organization will be forthcoming. Let's look at these in more detail. If you focus solely on the job at hand you are unable to see what is happening in the organization and it may well be that your great work may be seen to have been delivered by others rather than you. You need to develop a network of others around the organization who are aware of your work, your skills and your aspirations. These are the people who can ensure that what you do is seen!

In this day and age your manager is probably too busy and has too many direct reports. If you continue to do great work and don't talk about your future aspirations it is natural that they will assume you are happy doing what you are doing, breath a huge sigh of relief and leave you to do your work. Seriously, what is the advantage to them to look for other opportunities for you around the organization?

As you continue to do your work, the organization is bound to be evolving - growth, contracting, finding new opportunities or seeing a need to restructure. This means that your role is unlikely to remain unchanged. In order to be tuned into these changes you need to gain information about your organization from not only your manager and others in your group but further afield in the organization otherwise you will probably not be aware of what is happening and you will likely not be considered in any changes.

So take the challenge - don't be invisible, make links into other areas of the organization, offer to be involved in cross-functional projects and be prepared to promote your work to others!

Be visible, get noticed, get opportunities!

« Back to News & Resources