There are absolutely advantages to being more visible at work. But the question is, how can you do it in a way that draws positive attention to you without seeming like you’re bragging or like you’re trying to hard? How can you create a brand for yourself that enables you to really get noticed in the right ways?
What I want to highlight to you is the importance of getting involved in professional associations in your community or in your industry.
It’s not at all uncommon, especially if you have been at a company for a while, to get taken a little bit for granted. One of the best ways to mitigate against this is to make sure that you are building a brand outside the organization.
When people inside your organization are reminded by external people that you are known, connected in outside networks, and that you are doing good work, it refreshes their memory about your value. Being involved in initiatives outside your company is a great way of creating a positive echo chamber that ensures you don’t get forgotten.
To take this idea further, it’s great to join a club, meet people and network, but it’s far better to lead a club. Making yourself visible by taking on a leadership role is especially valuable because you then go from networking and meeting people, to a form of social proof.
If you’ve been chosen or elected as a leader by your peers (even if the selection process was not that competitive) it looks good. Being able to say, “I’m the membership chair of the ABC organization”, or “I’m the VP of XYZ association” shows that you have stature in your community. And while being the president is great, don’t overlook that there are a lot of valuable, connected roles out there, like membership chair, treasurer, or secretary.
If you’re willing to put in the time and the work, these positions have real professional benefits, and can even put you on the path to becoming the president of the organization.
It’s a lot better to go deep into one or two organizations rather than wide on 10 different organizations. It will begin to pay real professional dividends for you.
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Dorie Clark is an adjunct professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the author of Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. magazine. A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, the New York Times described her as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.”
A frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, she consults and speaks for clients including Google, Microsoft, and the World Bank. She is also a producer of a multiple Grammy-award-winning jazz album.
