I thought I would share a small excerpt from my upcoming book, The Visibility Factor with you on Team Visibility. The book is for corporate leaders who work hard and think that should be enough to help them advance their careers. What they don’t realize is the importance of being in front of their management to show their capabilities and the value that they bring. Readers will learn about the importance of visibility, be able to create a customized visibility plan, prepare for obstacles they may encounter and become the leaders they were meant to be. Enjoy!
As you think about the visibility plan you will build, you want to include ideas and actions for yourself, but also think about how you will find ways to get exposure for your team if you have one. I had a responsibility to show up not only for myself, but also for my team. My lack of visibility hurt me, but also had unintended consequences for my team too. They weren’t in all the meetings with senior management to represent themselves, I was the one who was there. They deserved to be recognized and talked about so that others knew how great they were. If I didn’t share what they accomplished, then there could be career implications for them. They trusted me to lead them and support them. I had to learn how to do this for myself and then be able to teach them how to do it for themselves. It was time to push the birds out of the nest and teach them how to fly.
As I learned more about visibility and how to do it, I saw things in such a different light. It was almost like a fog had lifted and I could see everything that I couldn’t see before. I had them “sit at the table” and make presentations to senior management. They were scared to do that, but I reassured them that they had every right to be there. They had conversations that they would have never had in the past. They used their voices and let people know that they were confident and as important as anyone else at any other level.
I continued to promote what they accomplished and taught them how to create visibility for themselves. The changes that they made were amazing to watch. The simple things that we did to shift their perception helped one of them get into a role in the company that she wanted, all because she became visible and promoted herself to others.