7 Ways to Raise Your Visibility

8/6/2021

Meetings.  Love ‘em or hate ‘em they are unavoidable at work. And you need to be strategic about your contributions in meetings to keep your work and career on track.

How often do you “raise your hand” in a meeting and weigh in?  How comfortable are you doing it?

Meetings are “ground zero”, where you feel like you belong at work, or not (virtual or otherwise).  So, how can you leverage these constant opportunities to be seen and make your expertise count?

Here are 7 tips to help you do just that.

Preparation = Less Perspiration. Look at your calendar every morning and make a note of what meetings you are involved in today. Then, determine what your purpose is in each of those meetings (use the RACI resource below as a guide). Lastly, decide how you want to contribute in each meeting and make a note of your commitment and it’s intended impact for the meetings you are in. Doing this means you are in good place to contribute with less stress.

Stop Censoring Yourself. A barrier to sticking to your commitment to contribute to a meeting is your internal critic. You have good ideas, unique perspectives, expertise and experience your team/clients or organization needs to hear. And only you can bring that much-needed info into the discussion.

Let go of Perfection. You do not have to be a polished public speaker to be influential or speak in a group meeting, but you also can’t hesitate. When that brief window to get your voice out there opens, take it. You can stammer a bit in speaking, and it won’t matter when what you have to say is on topic in the meeting. Being nervous usually gains compassion in the room. Stick to it and get your point across. The more often you do this, the more comfortable you will become being visible and contributing in group settings.

Interrupt the Interrupters. Interrupters are everywhere. From the people who finish your sentences, to those who butt in at the slightest hint of a pause, they have existed for decades and will continue to exist for many more. When you’ve been interrupted in a meeting put your hand out to signal “stop” and clearly state you’d like to finish your point. Do so with respect (no hogging the floor), and then invite the interrupter to make their point.

Ask Questions. Sometimes the most influential contributions in meetings aren’t information, but open, curious questions that give everyone an opportunity to reflect and think. Questions and curiosity are powerful, use them to contribute to meetings more often.

Keep Your Power. It’s tempting to defer to someone else in the meeting (like your boss or another higher up). Don’t give away your power. You are all humans, and frankly, the boss doesn’t always know everything (if they did, they wouldn’t need you and you wouldn’t be in this meeting, but you are, so…). Put your contributions out there, if others have something to say, they will.

Raise Your Hand. Do you have something to contribute, missed the window, or something important hasn’t been covered in the meeting yet? Raise your hand and put yourself out there – if you can see it, it’s important, and needs to be raised.

Your impact at work is greater when you strategically choose to contribute your voice to meetings with the bonus that it also confirms you have value and purpose in being there. You don’t have to say something in every meeting (sometimes you’re there just to listen), but you do need to understand why you are in the meetings you attend and contribute accordingly.

To do less means you lose visibility, influence, and credibility all of which determine your relevance at work (and any feelings of belonging and acceptance).

Make sure this isn’t something you are doing to yourself. Put your hand up, you’ve got a lot of great things to contribute.