Five Ways to Create Visibility In a Remote Workplace

A critical element to creating the career you want is VISIBILITY.  In our current climate, visibility looks different than being seen and heard in the office.  It’s up to us to turn this challenge into an opportunity.  So let’s do it!  During this critical time, set yourself apart in ways that, quite honestly, few others will.  Below are Five Ways to Create Visibility and keep forging your career ahead.    

Seek and Share New Knowledge

No need to wait for training to come to you. Go to it (virtually or otherwise) and take notes on what you found to be interesting and relevant.  Then, schedule your own meeting to pass along the new findings to your team and possibly beyond.  Lead with the WIIFM principle by answering the question everyone wants answered before attending a meeting, ‘What’s In It For Me?’ by sharing key points and how this information adds value to their roles. 

Post-meeting, send a summary email, properly crediting the source, to those who were able to attend and those that weren’t. 

Highlight Others

An effective way to create visibility for yourself is by highlighting someone else’s accomplishment.  This may seem counter-intuitive, but recall that empowered women, empower women!  So here’s your chance.  Did a colleague just close a big deal or receive incredible feedback from a customer?  Share her success story and invite others to congratulate her!  “I want to highlight Jenna’s accomplishment!  Please join me in congratulating her on securing the Davidson Account!  She worked hard and I want to recognize her efforts.”

Or did a friend just win an award, start a new job or get elected as an officer to a trade association?  Share her news and congratulate her via LinkedIn.  Focus on the good and spread it around to increase positivity, while simultaneously driving our own visibility.  Everybody wins and the Sherohood strengthens even more! 

Strengthen Your Network

Now more than ever is the time to schedule a one-on-one meeting with your boss, potential future bosses, and others to help strengthen your network.  In the absence of seeing people in the office or running into others at happy hours and networking events, set yourself apart by taking the initiative. 

What to discuss?  Your latest projects, their latest projects, areas where they could use help.  Are there resources THEY need to enhance their own performance as well as the company’s?  Perhaps your skills could bridge gaps they desperately need to fill. 

Speak Up and Turn Your Camera ON

With Zoom-a-palooza continuing for the foreseeable future, hold yourself accountable by turning on your camera.  With no camera, a mute button and speaker phone, it’s pretty easy to lose focus as we simultaneously respond to emails, work on something else, heck, even unload the dishwasher during these work at home/live at work times. 

Instead, prioritize meetings where you have opportunities to participate. Turn your camera on and set a goal to contribute at least once with a comment or question, demonstrating that you’re paying attention while simultaneously showcasing that you are intelligent, innovative and a team player.  The meeting planner will appreciate it and you will get noticed! 

Volunteer for/Create High Visibility Opportunities

Internally, is there a weekly meeting where everyone is required to participate?  How can you insert yourself and add life to it?  Is there a safety meeting where you could add an interesting statistic or provide a fun fact?  Is there a market report, where you could present a new angle?  Is there a sales meeting, where you could highlight a competitor and generate a conversation to create a new competitive advantage?

Externally, is there a trade association or industry group that is hosting virtual events?  Get involved!  Consider taking on a leadership role. 

Creating visibility does not have to be complex but it does need to be prioritized and performed with consistency.  What ideas can you add to the list?  How will you create visibility today? 

Originally published Aug 13, 2020