I can remember that I had questions in meetings, but I stayed quiet.
I can see now that I wanted to avoid judgment, didn’t want to be wrong or waste other people’s time and I made the assumption that the attendees probably already knew the answer and I didn’t. I would hold on to my questions and ask someone after the meeting had ended. I was avoiding visibility.
How often has this type of situation happened to you? What prevents you from asking your question? It was frustrating to me that inevitably someone else would ask the question that I had and I would get mad at myself for not being bolder. That fear in my brain was powerful enough to take over and paralyze me. I couldn’t come up with the right questions or phrase them in a way that would sound good. The perfectionist in me didn’t want to be wrong, so I didn’t even try, and then I could stay safe. Again, I was avoiding visibility.
As I learned the importance of visibility, I shifted how I thought about these meetings and proactively prepared for them.
What questions might need to be asked? What questions could I have ready to go when I want to ask one? How can I contribute to this conversation in a bigger way? How can I give my team an opportunity to contribute if I speak up and ask for their input? How can I leverage questions that other people are asking?
If I didn’t speak up others may make bad business decisions and I couldn’t have that happen, so things started to change for me. I realized that I had the responsibility to speak up even if what I said wasn’t perfect. I had to think bigger and realize that this was about the company and our business, not me.
A shift has to start internally first to become more visible. You have to believe that speaking up is important for you to do, focus on how you will take action, and be consistent. Embrace visibility in a way that works for you and your confidence will grow immensely. This is how you become the leader you were meant to be.
How are you doing in meetings to create visibility for yourself and/or your team? What actions could you take to increase it? If you want to set up some time to chat about your specific situation, here is the link: Let’s Chat!