How do you effectively balance "tooting your own horn" and getting the recognition you deserve with senior management at your company?
Answers
It’s a great question and a definite
--Keeping your own personal brag book of measurable contributions and atta-boys from managers and customers/clients that you have available for all performance valuations.
--Get out of your department/division and look for ways that you can contribute on a broader corporate basis.
--Find an internal mentor. A mentor who is vested in your success can help raise your visibility both internally and externally.
I wish you all the best in your career!
When I started my career at AA&Co, I met the firm's managing partner and asked him how he rose to the top. His response was 'I stayed in the light'.
He said he had two equally important rules for career advancement.
1. Deliver excellent work.
2. Staying in the light - keeping people aware of your contributions.
He told me if I just diligently toiled away in the shadows, trusting that my work product would be enough, he did not believe it would happen. He met hundreds of staffers with exceptional technical talent, those that got promoted had made the partners 'aware' of their contributions and were an easier choice for promotion.
I've found the best promotion is being the 'front person' as often as possible for projects, etc. I started with organizational tasks (minutes, draft presentations, etc.) - while not sexy, it made me integral to a project's operation and promoted me within my department.
But as I performed, it evolved to hands-on operations, leading presentations, project
To Cindy's point about reaching out into the organization - I totally agree. In today's fluid employment environment requires a continual set of contributions that you can promote to as many 'advocates' as possible.
We've all met the types of people who don't miss a chance to tell others how important they were, it's better to show them - becoming the 'front person' is one place to start.