Climbing the career ladder isn’t just about doing good work, it’s also about making sure the right people notice it. But how do you get on the radar of senior leadership without stepping on your manager’s toes? Keep reading to explore practical ways to raise your visibility, build genuine relationships across your organization, and showcase your value in a way that benefits both you and your team.
“One of the keys to good leadership is good followership.”
James Cameron, film director, screenwriter, and producer
It’s no secret that one of the fastest ways to the top is to impress the people who are already there. Whether you’re asking for a raise, applying for a promotion or hoping to jump into a role on a different team, it pays to know people beyond the ones you typically work with and for. Even better if those people are decision-makers in positions of power.
But there’s an obvious speed bump: if you seem to be showboating or going out of your way to rub shoulders with the senior leadership, your immediate boss is liable to feel undermined or bypassed.
So how do you get upper management to notice you? And, perhaps more importantly, how do you do it without making your boss feel overstepped? Here are some straightforward steps to take and things to keep in mind as you expand your in-house network.
Be Visible
This is going to sound painfully obvious, but the best way to get noticed is to be noticeable. Be around, be seen. This includes showing up to the basics, like major company meetings and day-to-day work stuff, but think about less standard opportunities as well. Does your company participate in community service? Are there official or unofficial happy hours you could attend? A casual get-together, office party or bigger event, such as attending a sporting event as a team? Each of these is an opportunity to make your mark on the memories of the people who matter. You’re demonstrating a commitment to more than just the 9-5 workday, and you’re creating an image as a real-life human being with interests and a personality. If you want to be more than an unnamed cog in the machine, this is a good place to start.
Of course, your time is valuable, and you should take care of yourself. But there are times when it’s worth it to do a little more, especially if it means landing you within your boss’s boss’s orbit. At the very least, your senior leadership should be able to recognize you—even better if they know your name and think of you as both a team player and a vital, vibrant part of company culture. It’s a little thing, but it’s a little thing that matters when it comes to hiring from within: it’s the difference between being a known quantity and just some person on the team.
Be Personable
I’m not sure if this is something I should be proud of, but I can’t escape the truth: every promotion I’ve ever gotten has been, at least in part, due to the fact that I worked really hard at getting people to like me. Does that sound desperate? That’s fine. What I mean is that, when I’m at work, I’m on. I think of being friendly, polite and engaging as a professional duty. It’s just part of the job description.
There’s a certain kind of person who treats work and their fellow employees as though they’re doing everyone a favor by being there, and I’ve never been able to fathom that. I’m all for work-life balance, and I firmly agree in treating a job like what it is: a job. But when you’re at work, you have a role to play. If you’re interested in progressing upwards in your career, then it is paramount that you be someone with whom others find it easy to interact. More than that, you need to be friendly, warm and game for the next thing.
Remember, we’re talking about getting noticed, and most people don’t think solely in terms of bottom lines, hours worked or projects completed. They also think, “Do I enjoy being around this person? Do others? And has this person shown interest in anything beyond their lane of work?”
Expand Your Reach
If you want to get noticed by the higher-ups, another good strategy is to aim beyond them to the work sector at large. Find ways to prove that you’re an expert in your field, whether it’s by attending conferences, writing articles, speaking on panels or using your skills in service of those in need.
Think, too, about how you can expand your reach within the company. Is there a chance to volunteer for something beyond your usual scope of influence? Does a different team need a helping hand for a project? Is there some not-so-fun task that needs picking up? Be the one to do it. Not every time, and not every day, but enough to make people associate you with hard work and help. When anyone says to themselves, “We need someone who will . . .” you should be the one who comes to mind.
The strategy here is simple: rather than insisting on being a start on the rise, build outwards. Create a network of people who have benefitted from your help and expertise. Proving your excellence in an expansive and varied field goes a long way in areas like name recognition and familiarity; when others feel saturated by your (helpful, useful, invaluable) influence, you’ll be very hard to ignore.
Do Great Things, and Do Them Well
Okay, this one is obvious, too, but at the end of the day, it’s the foundation for everything else. You can be a kind, sociable person with a large footprint and still not get anywhere if you aren’t absolutely exceptional in the day-to-day things. Whatever the reason that the higher-ups are driven to take a closer look at you, it’s in your best interest to make sure they like what they find there: expert workmanship, faithful completion of projects on time and under budget, sterling annual reviews – you get the picture. Just make darn sure that when you do get noticed by your senior management, it’s not for shoddy or unfinished work.
The great thing about these steps is that doing them won’t make it seem like you’re going over anyone’s head: they’re just best practices, and in fact, they make your immediate superiors look good, too. They pay off is two-fold in that your star shines brighter and your team excels. So, what are you waiting for?
Andrew Forrester is a writer whose work has appeared in Parents Magazine, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and elsewhere. Andrew also teaches English and creative writing in Austin, Texas, and has a Ph.D. in English literature from Southern Methodist University.
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