Today I want to talk about visibility within your career. Specifically, why it matters, why we need to proactively manage our visibility within our job and our company and what to do when you feel like it’s become an issue for you.

As I researched the topic this week, I noticed that there’s a lot of different definitions out there. But in my business, I define visibility within your career as the need to be “broadly recognized for your skills, ideas and accomplishments.” 

Now, you might be thinking “why do I need to be broadly recognized? Isn’t it enough that my boss sees my value?”

And the short answer is, no. Regardless of the size of the company you work in it takes more than one person – your boss – to see your value. And this also affects entrepreneurs. For them it’s about how they show up with their employees, clients and even within the business communities they’re part of. 

It’s really about proactively managing your personal brand. How you want others to view you. And that’s not something you want to leave to chance.

The truth is if you want to keep moving forward in your career, if you want to be the first one, they think of with new assignments or next level opportunities, it’s going to take more than your direct manager to recognize and see your worth. 

It’s the same for entrepreneurs. If you want your employees to follow you, if you want to be at the top of the list for the next great speaking engagement within your community, if you want to be a leader within your niche, you can’t just leave it to change. You have to be visible.

The way I see it, visibility in business comes down to two things – both of which are tied to your personal brand or how you want to be thought of.

The first is something I call leading out loud. This is about having the confidence and self-belief to speak up. To believe in yourself and in your ideas so much that you lean in. You share your ideas and concerns, you’re not afraid to express an opposing opinion. You volunteer for hard or high-profile assignments. Basically, you put yourself out there. 

The second, is about what I like to call 360-degree personal brand management. This is about being smart about managing your brand with the important stakeholders who need to have a positive opinion of you so that you can get the things you want. And this isn’t about being a shameless self-promoter, but it is about taking smart, proactive steps to ensure that the people who you want and need to be aware of you, are. And that you’re controlling your own narrative and not relying on others to do that for you. An important part of it.

So, you might be thinking that professional visibility is just a problem for introverts. I can assure you, it’s not. I know many natural introverts who are amazing at both leading out loud and 360-degree brand management. 

The truth is having a visibility problem can become an issue for anyone at any stage of their career – no matter how extroverted you might be. I think it comes from a lack of confidence or a feeling of uncertainty and that can happen to any of us if we land in a less than ideal work situation.  

For more, give the episode a listen.

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