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It is important to think about and identify your reasons to engage with your industry. Engaging with your industry without a compelling reason will not be sufficient to muster the energy, support, and time needed to do so. You can engage with your industry for a variety of reasons including the following:
There are a number of reasons to engage with industry associations in your effort to raise your visibility. As Chief Executive Officer of NEHRA, the largest human resources association in the Northeast with over 2,000 members, Tracy Burns knows firsthand how industry association engagement can raise your visibility, positively impacting you and your career. “It is very clear to me that the key differentiator for professional success today is building relationships with colleagues you meet through industry associations,” says Tracy. “I have seen dozens of highly-qualified human resources professionals who don’t know what is going on in the industry, don’t stay current on best practices, and, quite frankly, don’t know their colleagues.
I took a different route. By engaging with industry associations early in my career, I benefited in endless ways. Through my relationships with colleagues, I’ve been connected to job, teaching, and speaking opportunities, introduced to my master’s program, and provided invaluable professional advice – on and off the record! By engaging with industry associations, I always felt that I had career options.”
It is important to think about and identify your reasons to engage with your industry. Engaging with your industry without a compelling reason will not be sufficient to muster the energy, support, and time needed to do so. You can engage with your industry for a variety of reasons including the following:
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
As you work to raise your visibility in your organization and industry, visibility is comprised of presence (the tangible ways that individuals connect with you) and reputation (the intangible ways that individuals connect with you). Similarly, accessibility has tangible and intangible characteristics.
Intangible Accessibility
Do you create a welcoming atmosphere that reflects your desire to be accessible? When your colleagues comes to see you, is your behavior creating or hindering access? Here are some ways to create a welcoming atmosphere that inspires access.
Your office or workstation chair is facing the door. This way, you are able to see colleagues as they enter your office or workstation. When your back is facing the entrance to your office or workstation, you are subliminally sending the message “Don’t interrupt me.”
You stand and welcome colleagues to your office or workstation. To minimize the perception that your colleagues are interrupting you, demonstrate that your colleagues are not bothering you by physically welcoming them to the conversation.
You ask your colleague how you can help them. Even though your colleagues have come to see you, take the lead. When you answer your phone, you are the first one to say something like “Hi. This is Carl.” When you respond to a knock on your door, you are the first one to say something like “Hello. Can I help you?” Colleagues entering your office or workstation should be treated in the same way. Welcome colleagues to your office by taking the first step.
Do your interactions with colleagues inspire them to reach out to you again? Once you have welcomed your colleagues into the conversation, is your behavior helping or hindering the goal of the reason your colleagues came to see you in the first place? Here are some ways to inspire your colleagues to reach out to you in the future.
You have the answer at that moment. This is the simplest way to ensure your colleagues benefit from the interaction with you. You have an answer to their need and you can provide the answer at that moment.
You have the answer, yet you are not available at the moment. Just because someone is attempting to ask you a question or ask for help does not mean you have to respond at that moment. Your fast-paced and frenzied work organizations do not leave a lot of free time for unanticipated interruptions. If you are not available at the moment a colleague comes to see you, yet you can help her, let your colleague know that you are busy as the moment and schedule a time to reconnect.
You don’t have an answer, but you will get an answer for them. You may be the best person to help your colleagues, yet you don’t know the answer. Let your colleagues know you can help them but you will need time to get the answer. Schedule a time to reconnect.
You don’t have an answer and direct them to someone who does. You don’t have to know everything! If you are not the best person to help your colleagues, don’t just send them away without benefiting from their interaction with you. Identify another colleague who can assist them further.
As you work to raise your visibility in your organization and industry, visibility is comprised of presence (the tangible ways that individuals connect with you) and reputation (the intangible ways that individuals connect with you). Similarly, accessibility has tangible and intangible characteristics.
Tangible Accessibility
Ensure your colleagues know where your office or workstation is located. Some corporate offices are like labyrinths and finding your office may not be as easy as it sounds. Concurrently, some corporate offices have “cubicle farms” – dozens and dozens of similarly looking workstations that abut one another. Your colleagues could go insane trying to find your location. Rather than confirm that mental health is covered under your organization’s insurance plan, make sure that your colleagues know where your office or workstation is located.
Ensure your colleagues know the hours that you work. In today’s busy and fast-paced organizations, you may have non-standard schedules, either to fit the needs of the business or to respond to personal needs. You may work Tuesday through Saturday, or work a ½ day on Wednesdays, or Fridays off. Regardless of your schedule, make sure that your colleagues know your days and hours of work.
Ensure your colleagues know your contact information. Sometimes your colleagues are unable to access you as your colleagues simply do not have your email address, office phone number extension, or cellphone number. Many corporate switchboards are now automated; and if your colleagues do not know your extension number or how to spell your name in the “dial-by-name” directory, finding you can become frustrating. Make sure that your colleagues have your contact information for easy access to you.
Ensure your colleagues know when you are not accessible. As important as it is to create access, it is equally important to ensure that your colleagues know when you are not accessible. You may be out of the office at a meeting, traveling, ill, or, on a rare occasion, enjoying a personal day. Make sure that your colleagues know when you are not available, whom your colleagues can contact during your absence, and when you will return to your office. For example, you can create the following “out-of-office” email that your colleagues will automatically receive until you are back in the office.
“I am currently out of the office, returning next Thursday, January 22nd. If your need is urgent, please contact Susan Jones at 555-555-5555. If you are able to wait, I will begin returning emails when I return to the office. Thank you in advance for your patience.”
My next blog will focus on intangible accessibility. Stay tuned for more!