Increase Your Visibility
by Connie Glaser
Best-selling author and keynote speaker Connie
Glaser is one of the country's leading experts on gender communication and women
in leadership . Exploring communication differences
between men and women, Connie offers corporate seminars on effective communications
and overcoming barriers to leadership.
Women often don't recognize the importance of increasing their visibility
at work. They think if they do a good job, they'll be recognized and rewarded
for their efforts.
But the workplace reality remains: It's not only what you do that counts,
but who knows what you do.
Ronna Lichtenberg, author of Work Would Be Great If It Weren't for the People,
believes that one of the best ways to increase your visibility at work is
to set your face time by your boss's clock.
"Years ago, I realized that my boss's boss stayed late on Friday afternoons,
waiting out the rush hour. Everyone else bailed out early, but I stayed.
The big boss and I ended up having regular Friday chats. Over time, I got
to share with him ideas he wouldn't have had time to listen to during regular
business hours. After a dozen Fridays, I got the resources I needed to put
some of those ideas in place -- including responsibility for another department."
Human resources consultant Virginia Means shares a similar story.
"When I was just coming up in the business world, I met a very successful
CEO of the hospital system I worked for. After he had observed some of my
work, he asked me to take on several projects while the company opened some
additional hospitals in the community. During this time, he really took me
under his wing. For example, while working on the projects, I would sometimes
get frustrated with situations -- most often because people seemed to be
dragging their feet on decisions and things weren't moving fast enough for
me. And I would often go to him for counsel."
These counseling sessions most often occurred "before the roosters
woke," Means says, "as we were both morning people. In fact, that
seemed to be the time that he was most open to dialog and giving advice.
He was too busy with conference calls and meetings in the heat of the day
and too exhausted after 6 o’clock."
Another way to increase your visibility? Schmooze in the office.
"Women are such dedicated, hard-working implementers that they work
nose-to-the-grindstone without crossing the boundaries," says Jean Otte,
founder and president of Women Unlimited Inc. "This means they miss
out on learning about other parts of the business or having those in other
parts of the business know about their skills. As a results, women sometimes
don't understand the big picture the way the men do, because men take the
time to make those strategic alliances."
Many women also mistakenly believe that if they work hard, they'll be rewarded,
Tote adds. "But they're finding out that it's not just what you know;
it's who you know. If you're brilliant and no one knows, what good does it
do?"
Otte shares the story of a senior-level vice president who was left without
a job after a recent merger of two major corporations -- despite the fact
that she was one of the hardest working executives at the company. The reason
for her loss? "This woman stayed within her unit to such an extent that
people from the rest of the company really didn't know her," says Otte. "So,
she was passed over for a job in the merged organization."
The lesson here? Schmooze -- or you could lose.
Reprinted from "What Queen Esther Knew: Business Strategies from a
Biblical Sage" by Connie Glaser and Barbara Smalley. Copyright 2003
by Connie Glaser. Permission granted by Rodale Inc., Emmaus, Pa. 18098.
