How To Get Noticed At Work
You’ve been working at your job for a while now, and you want to get noticed. You’re looking for ways to increase your visibility. You might want superiors to see your work, or perhaps you hope to get a promotion. Whatever the reason, gaining the right kind of attention at work can help you build career success. Visibility is important whether you are a leader or an entry-level employee. Being seen and heard is a must!
To get noticed at work, you will need to concentrate on standing out amongst your peers. This doesn’t mean being loud or pushing your way through; it means focusing on things you can do right now to get more recognition at work.
Below are three strategies you can implement today to get noticed at work.
1. Improve Your Communication
You will get noticed at work when you can clearly and effectively communicate your thoughts, ideas, feedback, and overall communications. Communication skills are not just about speaking skills; written and listening communication are also important.
There are several ways you can improve your communication skills to gain recognition at work.
- Practice – Communication is a skill you can learn, but it will take practice. Not everyone excels at every form of communication. For example, if you want to improve your writing skills, write out what you plan to send out and reread it to see how you can tighten it. Another tip is to become an active listener. This means making sure your body language, attention, and response are all focused on the person speaking. For example, suppose you are in a conversation. In that case, you will want to make sure you are making eye contact, avoiding any distractions such as looking at your phone or watch, and acknowledging the speaking person with a thoughtful response. Your speaking skills can improve with practice as well! If you are tasked with giving a presentation or leading a meeting, practice ahead of time. You can record yourself and listen for filler words, or run-on sentences. The more confident you are when you get in front of a group of people, the easier speaking will be.
- Take Courses – Improving is all about learning. If you want to actively improve your communication skills, taking different courses can help you learn strategies.
- Self-Assess – It is important for you to take a step back and self-assess your communication. This means looking at how you communicate, and consider it from an outsider’s point of view. For example, when you send an email, reread it to yourself. Think about what it says from the other person’s point of view. Does the email make sense? Are your thoughts easily understandable? Think about a time when the person you emailed asked for more clarity. Reread the email and see where you could improve. You can do the same type of assessment for listening and speaking. Suppose you recall a time when someone didn’t understand what you were saying or when someone didn’t feel like you heard them. Try to remember what was said and heard. The more you evaluate yourself, the stronger you will become at communications.
When your communication skills are at their highest level, you will get noticed at work.
2. Focus On Visibility
Gaining recognition and visibility are strongly linked. To get noticed, you have to put yourself in a position to be visible. This means volunteering for projects, speaking up during meetings, and building relationships. Visibility is what will set you apart from other people.
Focusing on visibility will help you get noticed at work. There are a few different ways you can make yourself visible.
- Volunteering For Projects – Projects are one of the easiest ways to gain attention at work. This is because people take notice when someone is doing something above and beyond their role. You don’t need to volunteer for every single project. However, strategically putting yourself out there will improve your visibility. For example, if there is a project no one wants to do, consider volunteering. Your superiors will take notice of your positive attitude towards a project they know no one wants to do. Or, you can also volunteer to help with a project outside of your department. You will learn additional skills, and you will also form relationships with the leadership in another department.
- Speaking Up – Speaking up at work, whether it be during a meeting, or even in casual conversations, is key to visibility. When you speak up, you show others within the company you are engaged, invested, and knowledgeable. For example, if you are in a meeting, decide to speak up within the first five minutes. You can ask a question, comment, or ask for clarity. Speaking up, even a little bit, will increase your visibility.
- Building Relationships – Building relationships is part of visibility. The reason for this is the more people who know you, the more you will be seen and heard. If no one at work knows you, what you do, or how you impact the company – you won’t be top of mind, especially when projects, opportunities, or promotions come along. Building relationships can help you find a mentor and advocate. Both of these people can positively impact your career path. It is pretty simple, the more people you know, the more people know you. And this means you will be more visible.
3. Credibility
Your credibility, or reputation, is what will get you noticed at work. Building credibility amongst your peers and superiors will help you gain recognition.
There are several ways you can build credibility.
- Work Quality – The quality of your work must be excellent if you want to build credibility. This is because if your work is excellent, your superiors will take notice. However, if you consistently have poor reviews, your credibility will hurt. You won’t be seen as someone reliable to get the job done, and get it done well. Make sure you are meeting the expectations set out for your role.
- Dress For Success – The old saying about dressing for the job you want and not the job you have is true! If you consistently show up looking like an executive, people within your organization will begin to think of you as an executive. This also includes what you wear on video. Yes, it does matter! For example, instead of showing up to a video call in your t-shirt, put on a blazer with a blouse or a tie. Your attire says a lot about how important you think your role is.
- Be Kind – Being kind will help you build a positive reputation. This means being well-mannered in your email correspondence. This can also apply to how you interject in meetings. For example, if you are in a meeting and you interrupt often, or cut people off while they are speaking, it lessens your credibility. People may perceive you as uncooperative.
- Go The Extra Mile – Everyone at work is busy doing the assigned tasks, but going the extra mile for others can help build your credibility. This means taking the opportunity to find out what may make someone’s job a little easier. For example, let’s say you are working on a project with a colleague. You are waiting for your colleague to send you a report to finish your portion. Unfortunately, your colleague just got tasked with something urgent. Your colleague won’t be able to get you the report until tomorrow. As long as it is within your capabilities to find the report, you can take the initiative so your colleague doesn’t have to stress. This doesn’t mean doing someone else’s job, it simply means finding something here and there to make another person’s life a little easier. It could even be grabbing coffee for your boss before their big meeting.
Building credibility within the workplace will help you gain recognition.
Gaining attention at work is something you can start doing today. Focus on improving your communication, building visibility, and creating credibility. When you do this, you will get noticed at work.
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