Increasing Your Visibility At Work

Hard work pays off, but if you’re looking to get far in your career, you need to make sure that work is getting the right attention. Learning how to increase your visibility at work will make sure your accomplishments get noticed by your bosses, helping you land promotions and leadership opportunities.

The rise of remote and hybrid work models may add additional challenges in getting noticed, but those obstacles can be overcome with a little effort. Join us as we uncover some of the best ways to increase your visibility in today’s work climate.

Be an active participant

The obvious first answer is that the more active and vocal you are during the work, the more visible you’ll be. By speaking up in meetings, volunteering, and even simply turning on your camera during Zoom meetings, you’ll be engaged and visible to your team.

“Use your company’s platform to share important updates in respective channels, discuss ideas and encourage others to brainstorm. Be the one to break the ice.” –Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

Soulcast Media CEO Jessica Chen says it only takes little extra work to speak up effectively in meetings. Before a meeting, make sure you understand the objective and what you can add to the conversation, and chime in when the moment is right. Just adding a little extra value to the meeting, only if you speak once, is enough to be noticed.

Partake in events

If you really want to take the next step. Go above and beyond where you can to get your presence out to many more people.

If your organization offers to chance to be part of an interdepartmental team, join a cross-department meeting, or have any sort of leadership opportunity, be one of the first to volunteer. This shows initiative, leadership, and ambition. It may be a little extra work, but if you’re looking to move up, it’s a good way to get noticed.

“Demonstrating a willingness to learn is another way to show initiative and boost your visibility at work. Improving your skills and qualifications can also lead to raises, promotions and other advancement opportunities.” –Caroline Castrillon, Forbes

Of course, not all opportunities like this need to be extra work. TalentBridge suggests going to conferences, charity events, and company parties when the opportunity arises. Even if you work remotely, your organization may offer remote happy hours or social periods you can join. By being at these social events and having casual conversations, you’ll be remembered.

Embrace social technology

If you work remotely, you’ll have to work a little harder to get noticed. But even if you meet in person, it’s still a good idea to get familiar with all technological tools at your disposal to maximize your communication potential and to become an expert others can rely on.

Jonathan Prichard of MattressInsider.com says to take advantage of collaborative software. Using a chat tool like Slack can increase your visibility while increasing others to do the same. Meanwhile, embracing project management tools can ensure everyone is involved and on the same page, leading to increased teamwork and productivity.

Maddyness suggests that becoming an expert on something is a great way to increase visibility, and mastering the technology your department uses is a great way. You don’t need to be a tech expert, either. If you master the ins and outs of Zoom, for example, you’ll be the go-to person for those in your department, and you can help new hires as well. You’ll carve a niche and be noticed.

Elevate others

Perhaps the best way to be seen in the workplace is to elevate everyone else around you. It’s good to make your bosses aware of your accomplishments, but it’s even better to help elevate your team and highlight their accomplishments.

Forbes’ Caroline Castrillon suggests sharing the spotlight by sharing your team’s accomplishments on any social tools your company uses and directly thanking people. This can build morale, enhance company culture, and put everyone in the spotlight together.

“Of course, be selective in your praise, but do go out of your way to recognize when others are doing a good job and that will make its way back to your work and your value added to the business. “-Matthew Capala, Alphametic

Harvard Business Review found that 51% of Gen Z workers feel unprepared to enter the workforce, and the pandemic also made work-related social skill use take a hit. Doing your best to offer help to those who may be struggling, including working with them on projects, highlighting their accomplishments, or simply thanking and appreciating their work can elevate their self-esteem and teach them how to communicate better at work. In the long run, this will highlight your empathy and leadership skills, but more importantly, you’ll be helping someone.

Wrap up

Increasing your visibility at work doesn’t mean asking, “Look at me!” Being actively engaged and enthused, making the most of communication tools, and helping others communicate and highlighting the work they’ve done will show you’re an actively engaged, helpful team member. These behaviors will also show that you’re a good coworker and can help build confidence as well!

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Captivate Your Audience With These Public Speaking Tips

Public speaking is a highly frightful concept for many adults, but it’s something most of us will have to do from time to time. Even in an increasingly digital world, knowing how to address a crowd is a valuable skill. Knowing how to captivate your audience will make your presentations, team meetings, and even performance reviews go much better.

You don’t need the charisma of a cult leader to be successful, but brushing up on your public speaking skills will lead to greater success in your career. Join us as we reveal insightful strategies to help improve your speaking skills!

Know the material

It’s always easiest to present when you know the topic well. Ideally, you’ll be giving a presentation about something you’re passionate or knowledgeable about, but this isn’t always the case. In those circumstances, you’ll need to take extra time to absorb the knowledge.

“Nothing leads to a nervous panic like not knowing your subject well. Confidence grows when you are sure what you’re saying is accurate and on topic.” –Mark Swartz, Monster

Take some extra time to fact-check and become very familiar with the content. You’ll feel more at ease in your delivery and better appear as an expert to your audience.

Know your audience

Knowing the material is one step to good preparation, but it’s equally important to know your audience. If you have a good understanding of your audience’s knowledge level, needs, and expectations, you’ll be better able to tailor your speech to them. A speech directed towards senior members will be much different than one with college students or members of your team you work with daily.

One of the common fears of public speaking is that the audience is judging you as an arbiter of fate, but this isn’t true. Nick Gold of Speakers Corner says to remember that your audience is on your side. Others in the room want you to do well so that they are entertained and can learn something from you.

Stay focused

Once you know what you’re writing about and who you’re speaking to, you’ll have a good idea of what information to include in your presentation.

Simplicity is key—don’t overwhelm your audience with too much information. Think about the main point you want your audience to embrace and include information that supports it. A good speech can be bogged down by too many details or poor structure.

TeamBuilding says that if you’re using presentation tools like PowerPoint, ensure you don’t overload your slides with text. These tools are meant to support, not to share every single note.

Practice

Even if you feel confident about your material, presenting that material is a different beast. That’s why you must practice with your material until it becomes second nature. This will also help you to further absorb the information to make you even more of an expert.

If you can, find someone to practice in front of, says Blake DeCola. This provides you with an outside source unfamiliar with the material so that you can make sure your points are hitting home, and they can provide valuable feedback. This is also a good chance to practice eye contact!

“There’s no better way than to watch recordings of yourself speaking, no matter how painful that might be! Then iterate, try new things, and watch the results.” –Andrew Chen

Be yourself

At the core of your speech, it’s important to remember to make it your own. Your audience will feel more connected to you if you invoke some passion, and your presentation will be more memorable. Having the facts is great, but the key to a memorable performance is that connection.

Use bullet points rather than full sentences on note cards to avoid sounding rehearsed, writes MasterClass. An extemporaneous style means more words from the heart and a more natural performance.

A conversational tone will feel like you’re talking to each audience member individually, even if there are 100 people in the room. Meanwhile, Coursera recommends adding humor and personal anecdotes to spice up the bulk of your speech. This will add to the authenticity and help form connections rather than detract from your message.

Invoke a call to action

In all of the excitement, make sure that the reason you gave the speech in the first place is clear. Your speech may knock it out of the park, but if your audience immediately forgets what the point was, it won’t be a good use of time.

Invoke a call to action at the end of your speech by reinforcing what you want from your audience. Whether you want them to consider the implications of your topic, purchase a product that will help their needs, give you a promotion, or join your organization, you need that final point to hit home. The beginning and end of a speech are the most memorable parts, so use them to drive your mission home.

Wrap up

If you approach your presentation with a plan, find a way to let your unique perspective through, and end with a call to action, you’ll dazzle with your speech and impress your audience. A little “make it til you make it” energy helps, but if you take the proper preparations and have a well-crafted plan, you’ll be able to tackle any speech.

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Building Resilience To Overcome Any Obstacle At Work

I’m sure we can all agree that the last few years have been particularly challenging thanks to the pandemic and its aftereffects. That likely won’t change in the future, as the country faces a potential recession and an ever-changing job market. Building resilience is crucial in order to stay strong during these trying times.

No matter what career path you’ve chosen, building up your resilience is a good idea, and we found that resilience is one of the sought-after skills to develop this year. Build the grit to conquer anything your career throws at you through resilience training!

Define your purpose

One of the best ways to stay on target when things get tough is to take a step back and focus on your purpose.

“What many people don’t realize is that having a sense of purpose has more tangible effects on our lives. There are actually a multitude of health benefits, both physical and mental.” –Medicareful Living

Think in terms of your personal brand and what you stand for. Are your daily actions helping you achieve that purpose? Forbes’ William Arruda says to let your purpose be your North Star and to follow it when making decisions. Arruda cites Margaret Scovern of Pariveda, who said, “Businesses and people driven by a well-defined purpose are much less likely to stagnate in the face of real or perceived challenges.”

By knowing your core values, you can weather the storm and take action in line with that purpose when things get tough.

Focus on your strengths

While you’re analyzing things on the personal side, you’ll want to take stock of what you bring to the table in order to help you overcome the odds.

We can often feel weak and lost when troubles occur, and many of us are prone to imposter syndrome. But by taking stock of our unique individual strengths, we can remind ourselves of our best qualities.

SHRM’s Kathleen Doheny writes that workers of all levels need a reminder of their strengths from time to time. Don’t be afraid to remind others of their strengths as well! We may all struggle at certain aspects of our jobs, but a quick reminder of what we’re good at helps build the resilience to get through.

Set boundaries

Burnout is one of the most common tests workers face in their day-to-day lives. With so much going on in the world, at home, and at work, we can place too many burdens upon ourselves and create ridiculous expectations for ourselves. Learning how to set clear boundaries is key to reducing burnout and increasing resilience.

“Burnout is all too common these days. If you learn to truly take care of yourself, resilience is an automatic side effect.” –William Arruda

Karen Phillips of BetterUp Care mentions turning off your phone after work hours as a simple way to set boundaries to regain some control of your life. Sometimes, setting boundaries can be as simple as learning how to say “no.” You’ll need to find what works for you, but creating a better work-life balance will go a long way toward building resilience.

Build a support network

The above steps are great individual efforts at minimizing the chance of being completely bogged down, but the best way to build the resilience to overcome anything is to create a network you can rely on and who can remind you of your strengths.

HR Today found that workers who felt supported in building workplace relationships were twice as likely to report high individual resilience. These relationships also lead to a greater sense of resilience throughout the entire organization.

William Arruda mentions that while remote work can make it feel like you might be lonely, a support system is only a few clicks away, and it’s easier than ever to connect with or find a support network.

Wrap up

Some of the above advice is easier said than done. Setbacks in our careers are inevitable, and some are easier to recover from than others. But building resilience is universally beneficial and will make bouncing back easier. By taking time to take an inner look at yourself, learning how to create a healthy work-life balance to counter burnout, and finding a support system, you’ll be setting yourself up for success down the road.

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Don’t Make These Costly First Interview Mistakes!

You can never take a first impression for granted, especially in an interview! When you’re being judged compared to your peers, every little fact can make or break your chances of getting the job. Even the smallest mistake can be costly.

You always want to stand out in an interview—just make sure it’s for a good reason! We’ll analyze some of the most frequent mistakes job seekers make in the quest for a new career. Commit these penalties at your own peril!

Arriving late

This is an obvious one, but you should make sure you’re able to be on time for your interview. Outside circumstances obviously happen, but account for potential hiccups by making extra time. It’s the best practice to arrive a few minutes early anyway. Make sure to research the proper route to the physical location, or make sure all distractions are accounted for if it’s a phone or video interview. Appearing unprepared is a great way to not get the job.

Not researching the organization

Speaking of a lack of preparation, if your early questions for your interviewer consist of “what does this company do?” or “what do you do here?” you’ve just shown your hand that you didn’t do prior research.

PushFar states “what do you know about our company?” as one of the most common questions you’ll be asked by an interviewer. While they may have their own spiel to give you about their organization, they’ll expect you to have done some research. Going into the interview blind gives an impression of a lack of interest and drive, and they may think you don’t care about the position.

We always recommend doing your prior research before getting to your interview, in fact, you should do this research before even applying to see if it’s a place you want to work for. Sophia Bernazzani says you can prove you’ve done your homework by asking questions related to the interviewer and their accomplishments.

“”I read that you helped launch a new product last year. How was that experience?”

Ask a question that shows you’ve done your research – and starts an interesting discussion.” -Sophia Bernazzani

In a similar vein, avoid saying “I don’t know” to any questions you’re asked. This shows not only a lack of preparation but creativity as well. Even if the question is tough, ask for a moment to gather your thoughts and at least try to come up with something.

Saying “It’s on my resume.”

When applying for jobs, needing to retype information easily found on your resume is a chore, and not every website has adapted to a modern job search. But when an interviewer asks about your past experiences, don’t refer them to your resume in a tiff. There’s a reason they are asking, and it doesn’t have to do with them not doing their research!

“If a recruiter is asking you about a certain skill, don’t reference your resume, and instead use it as your moment to shine.” –Nando Rodriguez, Ogilvy & Mather

Forbes’ Jack Kelly discusses that many job seekers will get offended and assume the interviewer isn’t prepared, but this isn’t the case. The interviewer wants to hear you communicate your skills and accomplishments and ideally relate them to how you’ll use them in this new position. They want to gauge your social skills and see how you articulate your abilities in person.

Letting the conversation become too casual

We’ve said that when an interview turns conversational, that’s usually a good time. Being able to connect with the hiring manager and prove you’ll be a good cultural fit is great, but recall that you’re still in an interview. Don’t mistake of letting things become too casual.

It’s never good to start dropping swears in an interview setting, even if the hiring manager does, reminds Sophia Bernazzani. Stay alert even when things take a personal turn, and make sure you won’t say anything you’ll regret just because you feel comfortable in the moment.

“You are less likely to use unprofessional language during an interview when you slow down, take your time to think about your response and focus on speaking clearly.” –Indeed

Badmouthing previous employers

This is a point we stress often, but it’s never a good idea to bash your previous employer, even if your last job was the actual worst. Think of it like dating—no one ever wants to hear their date talk about their ex the entire time.

The Muse says to at least focus on something you learned at your previous job while keeping a neutral or positive tone. While the interviewer will definitely ask about your previous job, they care most about what you can do for them. Focus on the future, not the past!

Wrap up

Even if some of these tips seem obvious, it can be easy to let a mistake slip in the heat of the moment. The more preparation you accomplish, the less likely you are to commit one of these errors. Self-awareness is at the heart of a good interview, and understanding the pitfalls other job seekers commonly make can help you avoid their unfortunate path.

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Offering Constructive And Respectful Feedback At Work

We all want to grow as people, and our professional lives are no exception. We desire success and to feel valued, but we can’t do it alone. Feedback from others helps us improve and see things from a different perspective. Yet it isn’t always easy delivering or receiving feedback. Our egos ofttimes get in the way and make it difficult to accept criticism, and it’s hard to strike a delicate balance of offering helpful feedback that doesn’t go too far.

Delivering effective and assistive feedback is something every leader needs to master. But even if you aren’t in a leadership role, if you work with other people, you’ll eventually have to offer feedback. Make sure the feedback you offer is both helpful and respectful by following these tenets.

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” -Bill Gates

Choose the right time

Feedback is often in reaction to some sort of mistake, and sometimes, those mistakes are big ones. But don’t react in the heat of the moment, and remember that hindsight is 20/20.

Monica Torres writes about the balance between reacting too soon, while emotions are raw and too late, where the colleague might not learn the lesson or both parties will remain stressed. It’s important to take time to find perspective, give the other person an opportunity to correct their mistake in their own ways, and find the right way to address the person.

Be emphatic and consider what the other person is going through. They may not be in the headspace to take your feedback to heart if it’s too soon. If possible, provide the necessary feedback in private. A good way for your thoughts to fall on unlistening ears is to make someone feel called out in front of the team.

“Put things into perspective so that you can have the discussion in a better mood.” –Andres Lares

Focus on the issues and offer solutions

Even when you choose the right time and place, it can still be difficult communicating your feedback. People are often afraid of criticism, and it’s incredibly easy to phrase something in a way that makes the other person defensive.

CNBC Make It’s Aditi Shrikant suggests avoiding any phrasing that implies blame. The words you pick should include encouragement, so avoid phrases like “You should have..” or “If I were you…”

Make sure to focus on the specific issues both for clarity and to prevent someone from getting defensive. They’ll know the exact issue you’d like to discuss, and by focusing on the issue instead of them as a person, they’ll be much more receptive.

“If you are the feedback recipient and someone is pointing out an error or mistake but you’re not really clear on what went wrong or what the result was, that’s not really useful.” -Gianna Driver

Finally, make sure to offer solutions as part of your feedback and offer to be a part of that solution. Tangible actions reinforce the idea that an issue is a problem, not a person. And Monica Torres notes that your kindness helps your team member recover after a mistake and prevents them from lashing back.

Create a culture of feedback

Feedback should offer tangible ways to improve and suggestions on what can be done differently. But that feedback will have more impact if it comes from a culture of feedback. A culture where feedback is consistently received—and given—will allow your team to take that feedback to heart with more frequency.

Forbes’ Claire Schmidt suggests that this culture starts from the top. Create channels of feedback, including regular performance reviews, project reviews, anonymous platforms for communication, and surveys. This proves your organization welcomes communication and provides multiple avenues for feedback to be given or received.

Be able to receive feedback

Because a culture of feedback starts from the top, you need to be open to receiving feedback of your own. Someone is much more likely to accept the opinion of someone that listens to them as well.

If you’re in a leadership role, respectfully listening to feedback makes you much more approachable and paints you as an empowering leader, according to SuperBeings’ Dhanashree Jadhav. But even if you aren’t in a leadership role, the same philosophy applies. A team member is going to be more accommodating and collaborative if you’ve shown a pattern of thoughtfulness in the past, and they’ll know your feedback is from a place of respect.

It’s easy to view feedback as an attack or criticism, but by helping create the right culture, you’ll know it comes from a good place.

Wrap up

By choosing your moments, focusing on actions, and offering solutions, you’ll offer effective feedback that won’t come across as an attack. By building a culture of feedback and being open to feedback of your own, you’ll create an atmosphere of camaraderie where team members aren’t afraid of growth opportunities. We all want to improve. Sometimes, it just takes a friendly peer to figure out how.

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