You live and work in an increasingly transparent world, yet you find yourself less visible within your organization. You live and work in a time where the ways you can connect with one another are endless, yet you feel less connected with your colleagues. It seems counter intuitive, doesn’t it?
When you think about it, this experience should not be too surprising. You can connect with colleagues in so many ways that don’t require your physical presence; connecting by actually being physically present seems so “yesterday.” Emails, texts, tweets, updates, voice messages, and statuses seem like the preferred way to connect in fast-paced and frenetic work environments. Who has time to leave their office? Why go to the office when you can accomplish so much from your car? Why get in your car if you have the ability to work from your home? What’s next? – Avatars that represent you on video calls while you catch a few extra minutes of sleep? You can just feel your visibility being slowly sucked away by a virtual vacuum.
In the Raise Your Visibility & Value model:
Visible is “being seen and known within your organization and industry in ways that advance your career.”
Little Time Spent Raising Visibility
You don’t realize it as it is happening and you spend little time working to raise your visibility at your workplace. When I ask colleagues, clients, and workshop participants to think about why so little time is spent raising their visibility, I commonly hear one of the following responses:
- “I don’t have the time.”
- “I don’t need to.”
- “It’s too hard.”
This heads-down mentality is prevalent in organizations across the globe. Busy business professionals rationalize, even during times of great upheaval and change, that they don’t have the time or don’t need to raise their visibility. They believe that keeping a low profile equates to high stability.
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Have you listened to Ed’s new podcast called Be Brave @ Work? It’s all about saying what needs to be said and doing what needs to be done. Listen here!
Ed’s book Raise Your Visibility & Value: Uncover the Lost Art of Connecting on the Job is available here!
