How to Increase Your Visibility in Your Organization without Self-Promoting
Emerging leaders need visibility, and, in this blog, I’ll share how to increase your visibility in your organization without self-promoting. Promoting products is easy when you believe in the product and you’re a natural salesperson. But what do you do when you are the product? There is a fine line between promoting yourself as the right job candidate and self-promoting where others notice. Also, what do you do when you don’t enjoy selling?
The key is to increase your visibility in a positive way and with the right approach. To start, you must believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself and have the self-confidence to know that you are valuable, no one will. Below are some strategies you can implement to be noticed in your organization without others thinking you’re self-promoting.
Raise money for a cause your organization supports
Community Financial Institutions are all about community and thus their name. Therefore, they have many events they support which gives you a variety of opportunities to get involved. As I shared in my blog How to Lead When You’re Not in Leadership, I took the initiative to lead a fundraising event for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and I won the contest for the most money raised. This event gave me visibility in the organization and an opportunity to meet the owners of the institution.
Be active in social media by posting and commenting on articles related to your industry.
Social media has its pros and cons. It takes time to post and be involved. But at the same time, if you do it right and post educational and informative content, people will react positively. LinkedIn is the preferred social media platform if you want to increase your professional visibility as well as your organization’s visibility. Ensure you are familiar with your organization’s social media policies, so you know how to be involved correctly.
Become the expert at a new product.
When I was at the first bank I worked at, the online banking product came out and our bank was the first one in the Twin Cities to offer it. I saw an amazing opportunity to become an expert on the product. I approached my manager with the idea of the job, wrote the job description, and updated my resume to present myself as the best candidate for the position. As a result, they approved the new position, and I became the “online banking expert” at the bank. When people talked about online banking, my name was always brought up. New products are an excellent opportunity to obtain expertise and lead the way.
Participate in networking opportunities where you will meet your company’s senior leadership.
Not everybody likes networking. But networking is a necessary activity if you want to meet other professionals and future advocates to help you grow in your career. You can find opportunities to network outside your organization with individuals in your field. There are also internal company networking events that you must take advantage of and attend as much as possible.
It is in these more relaxed gatherings that you meet senior leaders and they get to know you. Many of the conversations revolve around family and special interests you may share with others. Take these opportunities to expand your network of connections as well as to create lifetime friendships along the way.
Be authentic and be genuinely interested in getting to know your coworkers
As you work with peers and coworkers in the office (or virtually), you have a chance to genuinely care about others. People know when you are not sincere in your approach or your intentions. Therefore, make the most of these opportunities and get to know the people you work with, not because you have to, but because you want to. You will see the results—people will see you as an authentic leader.
I hope these strategies provided ideas on how to increase your visibility in your organization without self-promoting. As an emerging leader, you must be visible to the leadership, so they promote you to new roles leading others. If the leaders don’t know you, they can’t open doors of opportunities for you. There is the right way to become visible without calling negative attention to yourself and without upsetting your coworkers. In fact, when you implement these strategies, others will want to follow your lead.