Latest / The Promotion Memo with Fexingo: Getting Visibility, Sponsors, and Executive Presence / How an Employee Got Promoted by Building an Internal Wiki
Transcript
- Lucas: So we talk a lot on this show about getting visible without being pushy. And one of the most underrated ways to do that is to build an internal wiki. Luna: An internal wiki? Like a company-wide knowledge base? Lucas: Exactly. And I've got a specific case. A senior analyst at a mid-sized logistics firm — let's call her Maria. After a departmental restructuring, her team had no documented standard operating procedures. New hires were floundering, and even senior people were wasting time asking the same questions over and over. Luna: Okay, that sounds familiar. So what did she do? Lucas: She spent two months building out a comprehensive wiki. Not just a few pages — she interviewed stakeholders, mapped every process, added screenshots, flowcharts, even a troubleshooting FAQ. Then she socialized it across teams. The result? Her team estimated it saved them about 150 hours per quarter in reduced questions and faster onboarding. Luna: That's a huge time savings. And I bet the VP noticed. Lucas: She got a sponsor in the VP of Operations, who started pulling her into cross-functional meetings. Within six months, she was promoted to a manager role — even though she hadn't asked for a promotion. Luna: So the wiki was the vehicle for visibility. But the strategy is in the execution. Let's break it down. Lucas: Right. Phase one: identify the knowledge gap. Maria noticed that after the restructuring, no one had a single source of truth. People were relying on tribal knowledge. Luna: And that's a common pain point. But most people just complain about it. Lucas: Exactly. Instead of complaining, she framed it as a project. She sent a one-pager to her manager saying, 'Here's the problem, here's the proposed solution, here's the estimated time commitment.' She got a green light. Luna: So she got buy-in before she started. That's smart. Lucas: Phase two: build with input. She didn't lock herself in a room for two months and then dump the wiki on everyone. She interviewed ten key people across three teams, asked them what they needed, and iterated as she went. Luna: That also builds ownership. When people contribute to the content, they feel invested in its success. Lucas: Exactly. She also made sure to credit contributors in the wiki — 'This section reviewed by Sarah in Customer Ops.' That created goodwill and made people more likely to share it. Luna: So she's building social capital while building the resource. I love that. Lucas: Phase three: market the resource. She didn't just send one email and hope people used it. She did a lunch and learn demo, created a one-page cheat sheet, and added a link to the wiki in every new hire onboarding checklist. Luna: That's the part most people skip. They build something great but nobody knows it exists. Lucas: Right. And here's the key: she tracked usage. After a month, she reported to her VP that the wiki had been accessed over 200 times, and that onboarding time for new hires had dropped by 40 percent. Luna: So she had data to back up her impact. That's a compelling story for a promotion conversation. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the beauty of this approach. For quiet employees who don't like self-promotion, creating a high-value resource that people actually use is a form of earned visibility. Luna: You're not saying 'look at me,' you're saying 'look at this thing I made that helps everyone.' It's much more natural. Lucas: And it works across industries. I've seen similar stories in tech, healthcare, even a marketing agency where someone built a playbook for client onboarding. Luna: So the template is: find a knowledge gap, get buy-in, build with input, and then actively promote the resource. And track everything. Lucas: One more nuance: choose a gap that's visible to leadership. Maria's wiki touched on a pain point the VP already knew about — the inefficiency after restructuring. That made it easier for her work to be seen as strategic rather than just helpful. Luna: Right. You want to solve a problem that your boss's boss cares about. Lucas: If today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support. You can buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, we don't do sponsors, so every episode like this exists because listeners chip in. It really helps keep the show going. Lucas: And we appreciate it. Now, back to the wiki. Another thing Maria did that I think is worth highlighting: she made the wiki iterative. Luna: What do you mean? Lucas: She set up a quarterly review cycle, where each team would update their sections. That turned it from a one-time project into an ongoing responsibility — and a reason for her to stay visible. Luna: So she didn't just create it and walk away. She owned it long-term. Lucas: Exactly. And when the VP saw that she was maintaining and improving the resource months later, it reinforced that she was a process thinker. Luna: That's the kind of thing that gets you tapped for bigger projects. Lucas: Right. So if you're looking for a visibility play that feels authentic, consider building an internal wiki. Start with a specific pain point, get input, and track the impact. Luna: And if you've done something like this, we'd love to hear about it. Lucas: Next episode, we'll talk about a different approach: how one employee got promoted by starting a lunch and learn series. Luna: That's a good one. See you next time.