Latest / Enhance.training / Be More Visible At Work – Practical Senior Leadership Visibility Tips
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: Be more visible at work.
- 0:02SPEAKER_00: Making yourself more visible takes courage and confidence.
- 0:06SPEAKER_00: After all, what happens when you make mistakes?
- 0:08SPEAKER_00: Become more visible and you'll get promoted faster, be more influential, have more impact, be respected by leadership and get more interesting work.
- 0:19SPEAKER_00: If you are serious about your career, about doing the best job you can, about creating the most impact possible, then you need to work at building your visibility.
- 0:29SPEAKER_00: The bigger the organization in which you work, the more important proactive visibility building becomes.
- 0:36SPEAKER_00: I personally hated the idea of proactively trying to increase my visibility.
- 0:41SPEAKER_00: That changed pretty quickly when I was denied promotion because a number of senior managers didn't know me well enough.
- 0:49SPEAKER_00: It was a painful way to learn how important visibility is to your career prospects.
- 0:55SPEAKER_00: I am sharing practical senior leadership visibility tips to improve your profile with bosses and leadership team members.
- 1:03SPEAKER_00: For you to be more visible at work, we are covering today.
- 1:07SPEAKER_00: Firstly, why the most visible people get promoted the fastest.
- 1:11SPEAKER_00: Secondly, focus your work on what is valued the most by leaders.
- 1:16SPEAKER_00: Third, aim to help solve leaders' problems.
- 1:19SPEAKER_00: Fourth, how to educate leaders on results you deliver.
- 1:23SPEAKER_00: Fifth, ways to build valuable relationships with leaders.
- 1:26SPEAKER_00: And then sixth, 10 actions and tactics to increase your visibility with senior leadership.
- 1:32SPEAKER_00: Throughout I'll be sharing practical, actionable tips that I have been using for decades.
- 1:38SPEAKER_00: I've been promoted 13 times all the way up to board level, and many of those promotions were gained in top companies.
- 1:44SPEAKER_00: I know from personal experience what I share simply works.
- 1:48SPEAKER_00: For me and all the leaders and managers that I have coached to their own promotions.
- 1:54SPEAKER_00: Let's start with why the most visible managers and professionals get promoted the fastest.
- 2:00SPEAKER_00: Getting promoted is only partly about the skills and experience you have and the results you deliver.
- 2:06SPEAKER_00: Bosses promote those they know, like and trust.
- 2:10SPEAKER_00: I'll say that again.
- 2:11SPEAKER_00: Leaders promote those they know, like and trust.
- 2:15SPEAKER_00: If bosses and leaders don't know you, they can't like and trust you.
- 2:20SPEAKER_00: Being visible means bosses and leaders will get to know you quicker, hopefully like what you do and how you do it, and trust that you will deliver results again and again.
- 2:30SPEAKER_00: Likeability is also about how well you fit into the group that you will be promoted into.
- 2:36SPEAKER_00: Creating personal relationships with those above you influences this a lot.
- 2:41SPEAKER_00: To increase your visibility with senior leadership takes a set of communication and relationship building skills that most leaders view as essential to be a leader.
- 2:52SPEAKER_00: By making yourself more visible, you are demonstrating a part of your leadership potential.
- 2:57SPEAKER_00: Being a manager or leader is stepping into the spotlight.
- 3:01SPEAKER_00: Everyone that works under you is watching your every move, all day, every day.
- 3:07SPEAKER_00: If you don't perform in the spotlight, if you want to avoid the spotlight, management and leadership are probably not for you.
- 3:14SPEAKER_00: The higher you go, the more in the spotlight you become and the more people watch you.
- 3:19SPEAKER_00: Performing while in the spotlight is just another requirement for advancement.
- 3:24SPEAKER_00: Accepting increasing levels of visibility are a critical part of getting promotions and moving upwards through the management ranks.
- 3:32SPEAKER_00: So let's go through five different actions and approaches to increase your visibility with senior leadership.
- 3:38SPEAKER_00: The first practical senior leadership visibility tip is to focus your work on what is valued by leaders.
- 3:46SPEAKER_00: The more of your time that you can spend working on solving problems that your bosses and leaders care about, the more visibility you will get.
- 3:55SPEAKER_00: Here are five practical actions that you should take to achieve this.
- 3:59SPEAKER_00: Firstly, delegate work that leaders don't care about to outside of your team or to your team members, freeing up as much of your time and your team's time as practical.
- 4:09SPEAKER_00: Secondly, get your team focused on work that aligns with company strategy and directly helps deliver team and company goals.
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: Third, focus as much of your time as practical on solving your boss's problems and leadership team members' problems.
- 4:24SPEAKER_00: This is easier than you think.
- 4:26SPEAKER_00: We'll have more on this in a bit.
- 4:28SPEAKER_00: Fourth, get involved in projects and initiatives that leaders care about and view as important.
- 4:33SPEAKER_00: And fifth, increase the performance of your team so you are outperforming your peers as much as possible.
- 4:39SPEAKER_00: I appreciate this is not easy or quick to achieve.
- 4:43SPEAKER_00: Doing the work is only part of increasing your visibility.
- 4:46SPEAKER_00: You also need to communicate to peers, bosses, and the leadership team members the results that you have delivered and potentially how you have achieved what you have.
- 4:56SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles.
- 4:58SPEAKER_00: If you're new to this podcast, Enhance.training provides resources, courses, and coaching for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
- 5:10SPEAKER_00: For coaching to intelligently communicate your wins widely at work, to get more recognition, to increase your standing and influence at work and to get promoted quicker.
- 5:19SPEAKER_00: Visit us at enhance.training and select coaching or send me an email at support at enhance.training.
- 5:26SPEAKER_00: The second practical senior leadership visibility tip is to help solve leaders' problems.
- 5:33SPEAKER_00: The best way to find out what leaders' challenges and problems are is to ask them directly and to build relationships with people in their teams and ask them.
- 5:43SPEAKER_00: Find out what is being focused on and worked on in that leader's team.
- 5:48SPEAKER_00: Second, consider what projects and initiatives are being worked on.
- 5:52SPEAKER_00: And third, what is the leader talking about and looking at the most.
- 5:57SPEAKER_00: Just by asking questions and listening, you can find out a lot.
- 6:01SPEAKER_00: Another very useful tactic is to ask the leader's peers what problems and challenges are being faced by that leader.
- 6:08SPEAKER_00: A leader's competitors can be surprisingly revealing when you ask the right questions casually in conversation.
- 6:15SPEAKER_00: Find out what challenges are being faced by the leadership team and senior managers.
- 6:20SPEAKER_00: Then you can work out how you and your team can contribute to solving those problems faster, better, or more cheaply.
- 6:28SPEAKER_00: You don't have to lead.
- 6:30SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be the one who overcomes the challenges.
- 6:34SPEAKER_00: You only need to contribute.
- 6:36SPEAKER_00: Obviously, the more you contribute, the more you increase your visibility with senior leadership.
- 6:41SPEAKER_00: Contribute to solving bosses and leaders' problems to be noticed at work.
- 6:47SPEAKER_00: The third action to be more visible at work is to educate leaders on the results that you deliver.
- 6:53SPEAKER_00: Doing the work is not enough on its own.
- 6:56SPEAKER_00: You also have to educate, highlight, and communicate to your bosses and senior leadership team members how you contributed and how it has helped them.
- 7:05SPEAKER_00: Do not miss this vital step out, no matter how daunting it feels.
- 7:10SPEAKER_00: Don't approach this step with a I am wonderful message.
- 7:14SPEAKER_00: This generally lands badly.
- 7:17SPEAKER_00: Instead, talk about how your team stepped up.
- 7:20SPEAKER_00: Talk about how you're glad you were able to help them.
- 7:23SPEAKER_00: Give them updates on progress throughout the period you are helping and contributing.
- 7:27SPEAKER_00: Giving progress updates are a brilliant way to shout about what you're doing without the focus being on you.
- 7:34SPEAKER_00: Bosses want and need progress updates, so use them.
- 7:38SPEAKER_00: Always link the actions you and your team took to the results they produced.
- 7:43SPEAKER_00: Quantify these results wherever possible.
- 7:46SPEAKER_00: Talk in terms of profit, revenue or costs, or operational or sales metrics the person you are talking to cares most about.
- 7:54SPEAKER_00: Link the actions taken to how the problem was solved.
- 7:58SPEAKER_00: Always educate leaders to increase your visibility at work.
- 8:03SPEAKER_00: The fourth practical senior leadership visibility tip is to build valuable relationships with leaders.
- 8:10SPEAKER_00: Relationships matter.
- 8:11SPEAKER_00: Relationships help you be liked and trusted by bosses, which in turn increases your chances of getting promoted.
- 8:18SPEAKER_00: Build relationships on a personal and professional level.
- 8:22SPEAKER_00: The personal level is about what they do outside of work.
- 8:26SPEAKER_00: Yet everyone likes talking about themselves.
- 8:28SPEAKER_00: Ask them questions and listen.
- 8:30SPEAKER_00: Show interest and also share your own stories and interests with them as well.
- 8:35SPEAKER_00: You don't need to be best buddies.
- 8:37SPEAKER_00: You do need to build personal connections, trust and reliance.
- 8:42SPEAKER_00: A great way to start building relationships with bosses and leaders that you don't know yet is to contributing to solving their problems.
- 8:50SPEAKER_00: This might involve giving them updates on projects or initiatives that you are working on that impact their area.
- 8:56SPEAKER_00: Or it might be getting resources to them that they need.
- 9:00SPEAKER_00: Or it might be introducing them to individuals they don't know but need help from.
- 9:05SPEAKER_00: Be proactive, not reactive.
- 9:08SPEAKER_00: Take away some of their worries, fears, and their need to spend mental energy.
- 9:13SPEAKER_00: All of these help.
- 9:15SPEAKER_00: Small is a great place to start.
- 9:17SPEAKER_00: You don't need to change the world massively to be helpful and valuable to them.
- 9:22SPEAKER_00: Above all, show interest and be interested in your senior leaders on a personal level to be more visible with senior leaders.
- 9:31SPEAKER_00: The fifth action to be more visible at work is to use these ten tactics to increase your visibility.
- 9:38SPEAKER_00: Here are a list of actions and tactics that you should use to be more visible at work, especially to more senior managers and leadership team members.
- 9:46SPEAKER_00: Firstly, know exactly what is happening in your team at all times and focus as much of their work on achieving team and company goals as practical.
- 9:55SPEAKER_00: Secondly, speak up in meetings after preparing well and gathering good insights and recommendations.
- 10:01SPEAKER_00: Third, push to be involved in company-wide projects and initiatives.
- 10:06SPEAKER_00: Fourth, contribute to solving your bosses' problems and build a good productive relationship with them.
- 10:12SPEAKER_00: Fifth, proactively provide updates on team progress to bosses and leaders.
- 10:17SPEAKER_00: Sixth, build good relationships with bosses, senior managers and leaders.
- 10:22SPEAKER_00: Seventh, volunteer to give presentations in senior manager and board meetings.
- 10:27SPEAKER_00: Eighth, go to work social events, especially when senior managers are attending.
- 10:33SPEAKER_00: Ninth, work to help and support your peers and colleagues throughout the business.
- 10:38SPEAKER_00: And tenth, increase the performance of your team year on year.
- 10:42SPEAKER_00: The bigger the increase in performance, the bigger the increase in your visibility at work.
- 10:47SPEAKER_00: Be as proactive as sensible and have a clear plan of action to communicate with bosses, senior managers and leaders in your business.
- 10:55SPEAKER_00: It does take courage to push yourself into the spotlight and be more visible at work.
- 11:00SPEAKER_00: The first step is always the hardest.
- 11:03SPEAKER_00: Take action right now, even if it is just a small step.
- 11:07SPEAKER_00: Take action and create a habit.
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: Proactively working to be more visible at work should be just another part of your job as a manager and leader.
- 11:16SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, to be more visible at work takes effort and courage.
- 11:21SPEAKER_00: The first step is always the hardest.
- 11:23SPEAKER_00: Take action today.
- 11:25SPEAKER_00: Commit to taking at least one extra step to increase your visibility with senior leadership.
- 11:30SPEAKER_00: As a reminder, the senior leader visibility tips that we have covered today include firstly, focus your work on what is valued the most by leaders.
- 11:41SPEAKER_00: Secondly, aim to help solve leaders' problems.
- 11:44SPEAKER_00: Third, how to educate leaders on the results that you deliver.
- 11:48SPEAKER_00: Fourth, ways to build valuable relationships with leaders.
- 11:51SPEAKER_00: And then fifth, 10 actions and tactics to increase your visibility with senior leadership.
- 11:57SPEAKER_00: For coaching to intelligently communicate your wins widely at work, to get more recognition, to increase your standing and influence at work, and to get promoted quicker, visit us at enhance.training and select coaching or send me an email at supportenhance.training.
- 12:13SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on be more visible at work, practical senior leadership visibility tips, please email me at support at enhance.training and I'll get back to you.
- 12:24SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.