Your professional success rests with the degree to which you raise your visibility in your organization and industry. You could spend all of your time being visible within your organization at the expense of industry visibility. However, when you are only visible in your industry, you miss opportunities for professional development and opportunities to build richer relationships with industry colleagues. Over time, you feel less connected, less active, and less relevant. Or, you could spend all of your time being visible within your industry at the expense of organization visibility. However, when you are invisible in your organization, you miss opportunities for advancement, and your voice is not sought out to help shape decisions and strategies. Over time, you feel less recognized, less engaged, and less relevant.
Maximum visibility resides in a combination of organization and industry visibility.
The blend of organization and industry visibility differs from person to person. Whether the time you spend raising your visibility in your organization and industry is divided 50%/50% or 90%/10%, the percentage of time you spend cultivating your organization and industry visibility is significantly less important than cultivating both.
If you are like most of my clients, you spend little time raising your visibility in your organization and industry, and your invisibility comes back to haunt you. One day, you arrive at work to find out that a colleague was promoted to a position you coveted. Another day, you come back from lunch, and your boss unexpectedly stops by, closes your door, and tells you that your position has been eliminated. Many of my clients were invisible in their organization and industry, and never attempted to raise their visibility until their lost their job. If you are waiting until you need to engage with your industry versus engaging now, it is already too late.
