How do I stay top of mind and provide value when I’m working from home? It’s a great question. Not being physically present with your team and leaders means you have to be more intentional about putting yourself out there, promoting your achievements and sharing what your team is doing with the rest of the company.
But there’s a fine balance to be achieved between working more and focusing on relevancy in a way that feels authentic and genuine.
While you might prefer to keep a low profile while working form home, it is really in your best interest to increase your visibility as much as possible so that you’ll have: better opportunities, a boost to your effectiveness as a leader, stronger relationships and more influence, the recognition you deserve, added value to the company and be able to feel more fulfilled.
Here are 9 ways to stay visible and make sure this happens:
- Get on video – Out of sight, out of mind!
Leverage video by making short recordings of projects your team is working on and share them with others. Using the free tool Loom, is a great way to do this. Creating short videos of projects and circulating them among senior leadership goes a long way in raising visibility of your team and your credibility as a leader.
- Define what your team does, then let everyone know.
Put together a team charter that you can distribute to others. Include your team’s purpose, members and their roles. Outline what type of tasks are within your scope. List out requests and questions you can assist with, showing how you provide value to the rest of the organization.
- Schedule cross-departmental meetings.
When you’re working remotely, over-communicating is essential. Especially when collaborating with others across your organization. Regularly touch base with other departments you work with, use the time for brainstorming, as a working session or simply to get on the same page.
- Toot other peoples’ horns, including your own.
Take the time to acknowledge your team for their good work during meetings, in emails and over chat. Share stories about how your team solved problems or overcame roadblocks, which puts your leadership on display and positions your team in its best light, while also providing useful information to others. Don’t hesitate to share your own accomplishments, either. Just keep the emphasis on the effort you put in and connect it to how this success impacts others or makes their jobs easier.
- Consider a weekly-update newsletter.
Put together a report each Friday summarizing your team’s progress and send to managers and senior leaders. Frame it in terms of accomplishments and results, rather than a laundry list of tasks.
- Ask your boss to be an ally.
Make a direct appeal to your boss, soliciting their support.
Mention that raising your visibility is an important goal for you (and outline why it’s important for the team). Discuss how they can play a part in socializing your team’s accomplishments among other departments and higher-ups.
- Volunteer to sit in.
Likewise, ask your manager if there are meetings they’d like you to sit in on or take over. This can be a great opportunity to raise your profile and expose yourself to stakeholders or projects that you wouldn’t have access to otherwise. Plus, you’re doing your boss a solid by taking work off their plate.
- Make an effort to proactively reach out.
Each week, set a “soft touch” goal to connect with a few colleagues. Just a quick check-in to ask how they’re doing, how you can support or consider sending a helpful resource.
- Be responsive, within boundaries.
Let others know, through your actions, that they can count on you. Make yourself available for impromptu meetings and chats. Just don’t go overboard and neglect all boundaries.
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