Raising your profile

We all know that raising your profile is an important part of getting promoted at work, especially for the more senior roles. There are some people who are naturally good at it and there are many who struggle with it.

Perhaps it’s a cultural or values thing. I remember my parents teaching me that “you don’t have to boast to people about how good you are, you just have to show them”. As a parent myself these days, I think this saying has great merits – after all who wants a ‘cocky kid’. However, in the modern world of work, how relevant is it?

Recently, I’ve been coaching two clients, who work at different companies with different cultures, and both have been working on this issue of raising their profiles. As it’s a challenge faced by many, I thought I would share a summary of how they went about it, so that you can apply the strategies that you feel might work for you.

• Find role-models in your organisation who you feel are good at raising their profile and study them – model the bits that you like

• Volunteer yourself to work on projects outside of your role – don’t let ‘not having enough time’ stop you. You’ll be amazed how you’ll be supported, when you put your hand up

• Work-out how your stakeholders like to be communicated with – Do they like detail or just top-line (one thing is of sure you must give them the strong impression that you’re in control)?

• Always have something impactful and positive to say to stakeholders for the impromptu ‘watercooler’ moments – this is an opportunity to impress

• Find opportunities to converse with stakeholders – e.g sit next to them in meetings, at lunch etc. These are opportunities that most people avoid

• Get in the habit of making an impact in every meeting, especially when stakeholders are in attendance – preparation is key

• Share your team’s news and successes with rest of the company – it’s not directly about you but you’re delivering the message

So is the saying “you don’t have to boast to people about how good you are, you just have to show them” relevant at work today? Absolutely. What is clear is that it is all about the subtleties of good communication within the context of the your own values and the culture of the organisation you work for. It seems to me that many people struggle with self-promotion because of an inbuilt, or nurtured, values system that makes them feel uncomfortable and unnatural when talking about themselves. Both my clients had this but found their own ways to successfully raise their profiles and at the same time respect, and occasionally challenge, their own values and beliefs.

So what happens if self-promotion is done too overtly? In my opinion, in most organisations in Britain, if it is done too overtly, you are likely to be seen as the ‘cocky kid’ and damage your career rather than advance it. Arguably, in the US and mainland Europe, where communication is more direct and straight-forward, self-promotion is more overt to suit – causing the British to wince