You are exceptionally competent and doing a great job. And so are a lot of other people.
You work hard and go the extra mile. So do a lot of other people.
You make important contributions to the business. Other people, ditto.
So how do you make sure that your achievements and contributions are recognized by the right people in order to maximize your potential for career progression? Because if you don’t find a way to toot your own horn, your strong performance may get lost in the orchestra of other horns blaring loudly.
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Those words by Emerson are lovely, but they don’t tell the whole story. Because what you do doesn’t “speak loudly” unless the right people know what you are doing. And it is up to you to make sure they know.
But many of us are inherently uncomfortable with the idea of self-promotion. We get annoyed by others who are obviously promoting themselves and their work (or taking credit for the work of others) to the people who have the most influence over career progression.
Don’t you hate it when someone in a meeting answers emails on her iPad the whole time, not contributing in any way, but when a senior leader walks into the room she suddenly has lots of ideas and opinions? And when the senior leader is clearly impressed with one of her thoughts, doesn’t that just burn your britches?
OK sure, but what did you do about it? Did you step up and share your own ideas? Did you find a way to highlight yourself (without being so obvious about it of course) or did you sit silently stewing over the unfairness of it all?
Blatant self-promotion feels unnatural for most of us. And bragging is considered poor form in virtually every culture on the planet. Most of us would prefer that the quality of our work would speak for itself.
But in today’s hyper-competitive world, where no one wants to get caught up in the next round of layoffs, and everyone is competing for the few promotion opportunities available, it is not enough to just do good work. You have to go out of your way to make sure the right people KNOW your good work.
At the most basic level, we need to tell our bosses (and anyone else with influence over our career progress) what we’re doing and the results we’ve produced. This has nothing to do with bragging or bluster. Just the facts.
A surprising percentage of supervisors (more than 60% according to recent surveys) really don’t know the specifics of what their people are working on, and the ultimate impact of those activities. So here are a few specific strategies you can employ to ensure that the right people are aware of your contributions to the business.
Recognize informal self-promotion opportunities
Often the most effective self-promotion opportunities are not formal presentations or meetings, but the informal day-to-day interactions. When your boss or someone else of influence asks you, “What’s up?” or “How are things going?” for most people the typical response is “Not much” or “Pretty good.”
Instead take the opportunity to say something like:
“Things are going well. We’re pretty excited about the progress on ____________.”
-or-
“Good. A lot of focus on the _________ project right now. And we’re making good progress.”
-or-
“We’re focused on ________ right now. Do you have time for a quick question? We could use your perspective on _________.”
Use these informal moments to express your enthusiasm for the work and give a brief update regarding your latest priority or project. If it makes sense for the situation, ask the person for their perspective on some specific aspect of the project.
DON’T just ask them what they think of your work. That’s too obvious. Instead identify some aspect of the work which would GENUINELY benefit from that person’s perspective. This isn’t just playing the self-promotion game, this is authentically engaging with a leader to get his or her perspective, knowing that this also helps to keep you on the “radar” of a busy leader.
Help others
If your work projects and assignments are tightly controlled by your boss, then of course your personal productivity and ability to meet/beat deadlines is important. If you are able to work more quickly than expected and have extra capacity, here’s a way to ensure that you maximize the self-promotion impact of your personal productivity. You could say to your boss:
“I just wanted to let you know that I finished the _____ project ahead of schedule, so I have some extra capacity. Do you know of anyone who could use my help?”
Note that part of the key here isn’t just being helpful and generous to your coworkers, but making sure that your boss knows about your extra effort, and also appreciates that the effort is focused on areas that he or she has recommended.
Even if you have a more independent work environment, before deciding to help someone on a project you should mention it to your boss. Something like:
“I’m planning to help Donna on the Mayfair project, but I wanted to run it past you first just in case there are other projects that you think should be a higher priority, or need a little extra help.”
Again these should be GENUINE questions because you really do want the feedback, but you are also ensuring that the boss is aware of your “extra” activity. It isn’t enough to just be generous with your time and energy. You have to make sure the right people know about it.
Promote others
If you go out of your way to generously highlight the good work of others, there is a natural reciprocation that often occurs. They will feel compelled to return the favor at some point.
However occasionally you will recognize that someone in the work environment is nothing but a “recognition vampire.” They suck up all possible recognition and give nothing in return. Once you recognize these people, never again give them even a tiny drop of your recognition blood.
If there is a project for which you have done significant work and made a genuinely positive contribution, go out of your way to mention the efforts of others on the project. Again this need to be in the form of genuine appreciation. But the natural impact will be to also have others highlight your own contributions.
Be subtle and thoughtful
The subtle art of effective self-promotion depends upon others not perceiving you as a self-promoter. This can be challenging but again, don’t fall into the trap of just passively hoping that your good work will speak for itself.