How:Gain visibilty in Organisation

sv117 · Post by **sv117** » Thu May 31, 2007 11:04 pm

Hv been working hard and do all the work assigned. Also I take interest in things that are not assigned to me. But i do not get much visibility in the organisation - leading to no growth.

Ideas of gaining visibilty? (even stupid it may be) ...

Ideas to impress the boss (Doing all task and complete them promptly does not seem to impress them). Need genuine tips/tricks...

Things that would make one stand out in meetings/email....Any ideas.

Thanks in Advance.

sv117 · Post by **sv117** » Thu May 31, 2007 11:05 pm

I am in IT industry..

indian · Post by **indian** » Thu May 31, 2007 11:37 pm

Found this article related to work. Not an answer to your question. but a good article

How to make yourself more likeable at work
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/careerist/34834

On a side note, I am wondering if anyone has gone in for mentors to help you plan your career and get to where you want to be? How did you go about it and how many mentors do you have?

Desi_by_Nature · Post by **Desi_by_Nature** » Thu May 31, 2007 11:42 pm

1. Develop something cool on your own time - apart from your usual work. Identify things that people waste a lot of time doing and see how you can improve them. For example one guy wrote in my company wrote a script that automatically pulls out information from your outlook calendar and dumps the info into our time logging system. That saves everyone a lot of time logging their time in the system at the end of each week. Someone else wrote a web based interface for searching internal documents. Another one wrote a web interface for submitting vacation requests, submitting expense reimbusement requests etc. that used to be done by paper forms. If you're good with Excel macros, perl scripting, some web programming etc. you can do a lot of such cool things.

2. If you do anything cool like that that could be useful to a lot of people make sure you present it publicly. I'm sure in your company there must be periodic division meetings, programmers meeting, all staff meeting etc. attended by hundreds of people. Get your spot in the agenda and present it. One big thing I find with many smart and talented people is that even they do great work, no one ever notices them because they tend to be introverted and never boast of their accomplishments. Visibility and talent are very different things. I have seen people with zero talent in highly visible positions because they can talk. Someone else does the cool work - but they talk about it internally to senior managers, present it to customers and therefore in some way take the credit for it.

3. Some organizations tend to take their employees for granted. Try quitting. You will get instant visibility. Maybe even a pay hike.

hyderabadi2006 · Post by **hyderabadi2006** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 1:15 am

Do you drink ?... If yes, that will solve lot of issues ( just kidding !!)
Socializing with your upper management and your team adds a lot of visibility too. I have seen lot of Desi's who are very good at work, but lack social acitivities.

Are you sure your management knows that you are working hard ? Make sure your manager (not just your project lead) knows what all you have been doing .

When you working late night/early morning send emails to team and cc your manager.

Speak up in meetings and try to give presentations whereever you have an opportunity with some cool ppt's.

yugpurush · Post by **yugpurush** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 2:45 am

You already got some excellent advise.
Along with impressing boss, impressing peripherals would also help.

If your work involves designing goto Architect or Enterprise Architect and present your ideas, brainstrom with him/her, have multiple sessions. Involve your boss also one of the final design meeting and present the design. Same way work with testing manager/testing lead have multiple sessions on testing strategies etc, involve Production support manager group on how they can support your piece/product/app. This should give you well rounded visibility.

DoctorJ · Post by **DoctorJ** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:08 am

hyderabadi2006;26849Do you drink ?... If yes, that will solve lot of issues ( just kidding !!)
Socializing with your upper management and your team adds a lot of visibility too. I have seen lot of Desi's who are very good at work, but lack social acitivities.
[/quote]
Personally, I think this is one major factor where most of my Indian friends miss out (including me to some extent)...either due to our cultural background or our principles.

Anyways, group activities like smoking, occasional after work drink or two (although not a big proponent of either), outings for lunch, golf, picnic etc. helps develop a good working relationship with peers and management.

Apart from what other's have already mentioned, I'd like to highlight the importance (or lack) of value statements or value addition in what most of us do at work.

Hopefully, you are being a professional to the core...in everything (including dress sense, interaction - both vocal and written, body language etc.) you do at work.
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End of it...I'll have to confess that it's a white boys club. So, work twice as hard and work twice as smart. -DJ :cool:

LLLLWhenR2I · Post by **LLLLWhenR2I** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:22 am

Cool things by so many people.....

I would add another one to volunteer for any event. In our organization we do charity and participate in that. Be part of different clubs if in a big organization. Participate in summer picnics, annual events.

Or better...if there is no such events in your organization; organize one. Organize a bowling party, golf event, shows+dinner etc.

Know your boss's taste...If in flight with him on assignment, try to find out his seat and sit next to him with a book from your boss's favorite auther......Don't indulge in peer desi group gossip.

tejasvee · Post by **tejasvee** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:35 am

sv117,
I have a one line answer.

Just work for the most powerful person in your division/floor/building.

There is no other better way to climb the ladder in an organization compared to working for a 'strong' and visible boss. Everything else is secondary. I learnt the hard way and would never work for a meek/weak/selfish manager again.

sv117 · Post by **sv117** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:42 am

Wow.. you guys made me wear my thinking hat.

Guess i would start with 1:1 meetings, and socialising and volunteering.

One more stupid question -

Any suggestions for snippets that can be read in a flash - With regards to sports, jokes (rather humor) ,.... Anything like a stock ticker.

Thanks Again guys.