Raise Your Visibility & Value: How Do I Get My Company to Pay for My Industry Association Membership?

An important mindset for you, your boss, and your organization is that your membership in an industry association is work-related. This is not an extracurricular activity. The benefits to you and your organization, as we reviewed in prior posts, are compelling and numerous.

Once you convince your boss that your membership and your attendance is work-related, you want to have your organization pay for your membership or registration fees. Ideally, your boss has budgeted money for industry memberships and meeting registrations. If not, help your boss become proactive by allocating dollars during the budget planning cycle for professional development and industry memberships. The fastest way to close a conversation regarding your organization paying your fees is that there is no money budgeted.

Raise Your Visibility & Value: Blending Organization and Industry Visibility

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.

Raise Your Visibility & Value: Engage with Industry Associations

In addition to raising your visibility within your organization, it is more important than ever to raise your visibility outside of your organization as well.

Your desire to attend an industry association meeting probably feels like a dream. Your ability to attend industry meetings during your workday, after your workday ends, or on the weekend is compromised in the following ways:

  • Lack of energy. You are so exhausted by the demands of your job that the thought of getting excited and energized for an industry activity, especially after your workday ends, is beyond your capacity. By the time the clock strikes 6:00 pm, you are physically tired and mentally tapped-out.
  • Lack of time. You have too much to do! So many of your colleagues are depending on you to do your job that the idea of taking time away from work seems impossible. How can you find time when your calendar is double- or triple-booked? Your fear of the volume of work waiting for you when you return from being away for the office is a major disincentive.
  • Lack of information. You are so deep into the activities, tasks, and requirements of your job that you are not even aware of industry activities that are going on around you. You are more focused on joining a conference call or getting to a conference room than you are on attending an industry conference. Even if you wanted to attend an industry event, you would not know where to start.
  • Lack of support. Even if you register for an industry meeting or event, your attendance is at risk due to last minute “issues” at your organization. An urgent phone call from your boss politely asking you to alter your plans is more likely than you attending the industry event. Or, your boss believes that engaging with your industry is something you do after the workday ends or on the weekend. If you do attend an industry event, you are distracted due to an onslaught of emails and phone calls from work. While it is nice to be needed by your colleagues, you wonder why your colleagues can’t seem to get along without you, even for just one day.

You are not alone. In today’s fast-paced and fast-changing organizations, it is hard to find the time, energy, and support to attend industry events. However, your professional success rests with the degree to which you raise your visibility in your organization and industry.

 

What is Meant by Professional Transparency in Your Organization?

Networking while employed and performance appraisals are becoming increasingly ineffective due to the explosive growth in professional transparency. As recently as seven years ago, unless the subject of your search was your favorite movie star, rock star, or politician, your ability to find details about another individual was challenging. This was not due to your faulty research skills – information about an average individual simply did not exist publicly. In fact, information about others was so absent in the not-too-distant past, the thought of seeking out personal or professional details regarding another person would not have even occurred to you.

Today, individuals you have never met, from anywhere on the globe, are instantly finding out more about you than any other time in human history. Whether they are at their desk in a towering glass office building, sequestered in their basement at their suburban home, or lounging at their favorite cappuccino bar, they can instantly access volumes of information about you with only a few keystrokes. Fortunately, some of this information is beneficial to your profile. Unfortunately, some of this information you would prefer to keep private.

Recently, I attended a social media presentation that was hosted by the president of a regional marketing organization. To show the power of Google, one of his colleagues googled the president’s name as the president was speaking, and a lot of information appeared behind him on a screen. Unfortunately, one of the items on the screen was a link to a court document detailing his recent divorce. Although it was in clear view to the audience, this leader never turned around to see the link and his colleague never said a word. I doubt that this is information he would have chosen as a backdrop during his presentation!

At the same time, you are able to tell people about yourself with greater ease than ever before. If you go back a few short years, before Facebook and Google, the ways to share information about your accomplishments and background were limited to a resume. Your primary strategy was face-to-face, one-by-one conversations with others. Transparency was low. With technology like Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, and YouTube, you have the ability to increase your personal and professional transparency and instantly share information about yourself with millions of people.

At the same time, organizations across the globe are seeking ways to increase employee transparency. Technology is providing organizations the ability to build internal platforms (ala Facebook and LinkedIn) that allow their employees to build a profile and share information about themselves that are critical to the business. Employees can post a picture, and list their competencies, certifications, degrees, sample projects, work history, and interests. Internal decision makers, hiring managers, and colleagues can subsequently mine for talent internally before looking externally.

What is Meant by the Pace of Change in Your Organization?

Networking and performance appraisals are becoming increasingly ineffective for employed business professionals due to the pace or how quickly you are expected to change.

You are being asked to do more with less, and do more, faster. Listen to Virginia Rometty, the Chief Executive Officer for IBM. The headline of a Wall Street Journal article published in April 2013 boldly declares “IBM’s Chief to Employees: Think Fast, Move Faster.” With so many changes occurring within your industry and your markets, your organization needs you to change faster.

Reporting structures announced today are effective next Monday. The enterprise-wide telecom platform upgrade announced next Tuesday feels as though it is going live tomorrow. A high-tech company that began operations two years ago suddenly has a multi-million or -billion dollar valuation. The social media darling Instagram was launched in October 2010 and was sold in April 2012 to Facebook for one billion dollars. It took forty-two years for television to have 50 million users. The iPod? Just three years

What Happened to the Art of the Introduction?

Let’s face it. At some point in the development of our society, we lost the ability to introduce ourselves to one another. I was not alive when this loss occurred, so I do not have firsthand knowledge of when this happened. I am not a sociologist, so I do not have the research fundraising skills to figure out why this occurred. I am not suggesting that our ancestors excelled at introducing themselves and that this ability mysteriously eroded over time. It does seem, however, that the attention we pay on introducing ourselves to one another peaked at some point in the past. Perhaps you can imagine the following “moments of introduction” throughout history.

Circa 1,000,000 B.C.

Grog: “Ugga.”
Sura: “Yug.”

Circa 1910

Gregory: “Good afternoon. My name is Gregory Van Pelt. It is a pleasure to meet you. Lovely day, is it not?”
Suzanne: “Good afternoon, Mr. Van Pelt. My name is Suzanne Rockefeller. The pleasure is all mine, I am sure. It is quite the lovely day.”

Circa 2015

Greg: “What up.”
Sue: “Yo.”

What happened? Is it the head-spinning advances in technology, growing networks of global economies, and changing workplace demographics that we discussed in the introduction of this book? While I do not know the answer, I do know that the degradation in your ability to introduce yourself is causing you to miss an opportunity to make a strong first impression. You are more likely to say good morning to Siri than to a colleague. John Clancy, President of Radius Worldwide, a global software services company, understands the importance of a strong first impression. John has held a number of senior leadership roles throughout his career and has met hundreds of new colleagues, investors, and customers along the way. “I can’t stress enough the importance of the first few seconds you have when meeting a new person. With a strong introduction, you have the opportunity to create a connection that provides you a surplus of goodwill. No one wants to start a relationship in a deficit, which takes even more effort to turnaround. Making a good first impression is critical to laying a strong foundation for future interaction.”

Why Don’t We Introduce Ourselves Well?

Regardless of your comfort level or skill, you are probably one or more of the following when you introduce yourself to a new colleague:

Inconsistent. Sometimes you introduce yourself to others effectively and sometimes you do not.
Uncomfortable. You find introducing yourself to be uncomfortable; you either introduce yourself quickly or you avoid introducing yourself altogether.
Inattentive. You pay little attention while you are introducing yourself – it is over before you even realize it.
Underskilled. You do not know how to introduce yourself effectively.
Underinvested. You do not value the importance of a strong introduction, and you have not thought about building your skill for introducing yourself to others.

Whether you are inconsistent, inattentive, or underinvested, introducing yourself effectively is one of the foundations for raising your visibility and value in your organization and industry. If there is one behavior I could change that would help me feel this book is a wild success, it would be shifting your mindset regarding introducing yourself – shifting from the belief that introducing yourself is unimportant to the belief that introducing yourself is a critical behavior to embrace in today’s fast-paced and frenetic organizations.

Which Visibility Accelerator Needs the Most Attention?

As you work to raise your visibility in your organization and industry, certain activities and behaviors are more productive and will accelerate your efforts. These “accelerators” are like putting rocket fuel in a Honda Civic. When you “step on the gas,” you will enhance your presence and reputation faster than ever before. And these activities and behaviors can be easily integrated into your already busy workday.

Which of the following visibility accelerators needs the most attention on your end?

Introduce yourself – the degree in which you introduce yourself to new colleagues and make a great first impression.

Be accessible – The degree in which colleagues can reach you and benefit from the interaction.

Be responsive – The degree in which you get back to your colleagues and foster progress.

Interact with others – The degree in which you engage one-to-one with colleagues in your organization and industry.

Participate with a purpose – The degree in which you engage in one-to-many activities with colleagues in your organization and industry.

Engage with industry associations – The degree in which you interact and participate with colleagues outside of your organization.

Manage your reputation – How your colleagues think or speak about you when you are not present.

Value is the New Corporate Currency!

The head-spinning advances in technology, endless bottom-line financial pressures, and growing networks of global economies demand a need for superior performance and sustainable efficiencies. Organizations aspire to motivate their employees to do better, be more productive, and get more engaged. Leaders seek ways to create a common language behind which organizational goals and activities can align. What can replace the void that is being creating by the slow demise of performance management systems?

The answer is value creation. The language being used to define success is slowly and quietly shifting from performance to value. If you listen, you can hear “value creation” everywhere. I’ve been listening. I hear recruiters talk about the importance of creating value. As one recruiter said at a panel I attended, “Don’t tell me what you did. Tell me the value you created for your employer. Tell me how you made a difference.” I hear entrepreneurs talk about ensuring the products and services they aspire to bring to market create value in ways that don’t currently exist. At my Apple iPhone orientation, an Apple employee enthusiastically espoused that “the thousands of apps that you will now have access to will add value to your life.” The good performance of the iPhone was assumed – it was the value of the apps that excited him.

How does value exist within your organization? Has a conversation about value begun? Does your organization realize it has overinvested in performance management and underinvested in value creation? Whatever your situation, value is the new corporate currency. It is the vehicle upon which the exchange between individual contributions and organizational rewards is occurring. Slowly and quietly, numerical and bell curve-based performance management systems are being shipped to the scrap heap as business leaders seek robust and meaningful ways to increase individual contributions.

Measuring the value that you create for your organization is gaining your boss’ attention. Why? Value requires a foundation of good performance, ties your performance to business objectives and financial metrics, and creates a new way to motivate and align you in ways that are more rewarding for everyone involved.

How to be on Time

Being on time is an important part of my public profile. Whether as a corporate employee or an independent consultant, I have always believed there are a million ways to be early and yet, if you are late, you are late. Of the hundreds of meetings that I’ve attended as an independent consultant over the past seven years, you can count the number of times I have been late on one hand, regardless of where the meeting is being held.

When leaving for a scheduled appointment, there are a few assumptions that I make. The first is that I always want to arrive at my location at least 15 minutes early. This allows me time to park or check in with the security desk. I always bring other work to do in case I arrive more than 15 minutes before a scheduled appointment. Secondly, I always assume that some unexpected issue is waiting on the highway. After all, you are joining a traffic system where thousands of other people are making their way as well – who knows what can happen? Whether it is ongoing congestion, a person changing a flat tire on their car, or road work, there always seems to be some sort of situation encouraging a slowdown. Lastly, I take weather into account. Snow and rain complicate roadways and slow traffic down considerably.

To be on time, here are four things I take into consideration:

What is the time of day? – Traffic patterns can vary greatly by the time of day. When traveling on routes 128, 93 or 95, the clearest part of the day seems to be after 10:00am and before 2:00pm. Before and after these times is exposed to rush hour congestion. So, if I have an appointment before 10:00am or after 2:00pm, I always add at least 30 minutes on my travel schedule.

How far away is it? – The longer your trip, the greater the likelihood that a problem can arise. For locations greater than 30 minutes away, I always add 15 minutes on my travel schedule.

How familiar am I with where I am going? – How many times have you been sure you know where you are going, only to realize how lost you are once you are near? This seems to happen to me often. For first time location visits, I always add 15 minutes on my travel schedule in case I need to conduct a turnaround or stop and ask for directions. (Yes, I am a male and I do ask for directions!)

How’s the weather? – If it is snowing or raining out, I always add 15 minutes to my travel schedule.

For example, if I have a meeting in downtown Boston, at a new location, on a snowy day, and that starts at 9:00am, I always leave my house in Wakefield by 7:15am. (On a Sunday morning, this is about a 20 minute drive). This provides me an hour to navigate congestion during the rush hour on a snowy day, locate where I am going, and additional time to find parking and make it through a security check-in. If I arrive earlier than planned, I always have client work on which to focus. I can grab a cup of coffee and plan the rest of my workday. Most importantly, I can breathe easily that I am on time for my appointment.

Try this strategy – it works! Watch next week for my blog as we will explore ways in which you can raise your visibility and value in your organization and industry.