You Are Really Great, But Nobody Notices It?

Well, are you “telling” them?

In many companies it’s time for the Year End review. Which might have to do with the fact that, well the year is almost over. You are or have been really great, but nobody notices it? And now, at your Year End review, you are realizing that is not a good thing? Have you been telling them, how great you are? No, because you would never “brag about yourself? Interesting. Maybe then it should not really surprise you, that no one actually knows, I guess.

2020, the year that keeps on giving, is almost over. Thankfully, I might add. This year so far has been the weirdest year in my career and in my life actually. And it also has been the best year of my career. Weird describes it best for sure.

With the Year End review period happening at least in Corporate America, many only now get to reflect on their performance. And if they do not do it by themselves, they are often asked to do a self assessment on their performance, before they are being given their “verdict” from their leaders. I am saying that half jokingly and half seriously.

Some leaders are really great at offering real feedback. Many others are more focused on aligning their Year End feedback message to the rating they have been able or wanted to give. Which is not necessarily a reflection of their colleagues’ real performance. When it comes to feedback, you definitely want to make sure, you do not actually complain. Check-out my LinkedIn article on that topic here. So yes, it might feel more like a verdict at times.

Let me start off by letting you know, that telling others “how great you are” would be too late to impact your 2020 Year End review process, if you only started doing it now. But since we are getting ready for 2021, a new year means a new chance and you do not want to miss out again. And self- and team marketing is key. And should be a major part of every people leader’s day to day job. Done the right way, of course.

It’s interesting to see, how many people are struggling with not only seeing their own successes, but also talking about them. A dear colleague just recently told me, he really did not like “bragging about himself”, especially since he comes across very strong already. Sure, I get it. If you are a strong person, there is a risk of coming across arrogant. However the pure fact that he was thinking about this is already a guarantee, that it would actually never happen.

So am I encouraging people to “brag” about their successes to service themselves? Is that what I am doing? No. I really hope not! What I am doing and am talking about today is different. And, at least in my case, the purpose I am having on my mind is not a self-service. Even though it does service me, too. And I know from my own experiences, that Senior Leaders actually appreciate it a lot. To a point that I am often asked to support others to improve their “self-marketing” game.

So what am I talking about? A couple of things that are important, when you want to be successful. But most importantly, when you want to generate internal (and external) sponsorship and support not only for yourself, but most importantly for your team. Especially if you are the leader of said team.

This does include being the leader of an external team, if you are managing an outsourcing partner. Check out my blog series about my “outsourcing game” here (last 4 posts before this one).

First of all, are you able to recognize successes? Yes, of course? Well, does that ability include your own successes? Great. Now do you think, your Leadership team is able to recognize successes when they see them? I would think so, too. However, do they always have the visibility of everything that you and most importantly your team are doing? No, likely not. Unless their only day job is monitoring, what you guys are doing. And then honestly there might be a whole load of problems, other than visibility.

So there is a huge opportunity here. No, not an opportunity to brag about your successes. We have already established, that your Leadership team is very well capable of recognizing successes, when they see them. So all you want to do, is making those successes of your team and yours visible.

The big question is, can it be done, without coming across as bragging, since we do want to avoid that? And what is the right balance here? Both are good questions. The short answer to the first one is “yes” it can be done. The answer to the second one is not that simple and requires a little bit of experience. And yes, it also means to burn your fingers once in a while as you test the water. Unless you are jumping all in, it’s not going to seriously harm you.

So in order to keep your Leadership team posted on your (team’s) successes, you need to provide them with regular updates. Now you do not want to send updates like “my team showed up for work on time today”. Not really, unless this is a major concern for your Leadership team. And again, if that was the case, you might have a serious problem here.

Providing regular relevant updates requires you to understand, what the general concerns of your Leadership team are. In great teams, the team goals as well as the department and enterprise goals are shared on a regular basis. From there, as a (people) leader, you should have open and honest conversations with your Leadership team asking them about their priorities and concerns.

Before I launched a new outsourcing partnership at the end of last year, I met with my Senior Business Partner Leader and talked to him about the project. My part, despite being a chatty person, was a listening role. I asked a couple of questions to understand his position and concerns and took notes. One of his concerns were the KPIs the new site could achieve during and post the launch. Another one was consistency. We discussed milestones he felt were important.

During the launch phase I closely monitored the first KPI results and, of course, openly shared them with my Leadership team and the Business Partner Leader on a regular basis. Combined with the main efforts taken by my team and myself to secure these. I was as open about setbacks after I had identified and implemented a solution to mitigate. And this approach did a couple of things for me and my Leadership team:

• They were kept updated on the progress. Without having to micromanage and stay on top of me and the team the entire time.
• They were kept posted on issues and how they were resolved. Without having to get concerned about them.
• By sharing updates on the the milestones, KPIs and measures, I basically regularly shared the successes of my team. Without it feeling like bragging or coming across arrogant at all.

Now that we are more BAU, I continue to update him regularly on the consistency we are driving. I am also regularly checking-in on his concerns so that I can focus on those and also continue to share the steps my team and I are taking to support (him).

Regular relevant updates are the best way of not only informing Senior Leadership about what’s going on, but also sharing your (team’s) successes and details on all the work they are doing. And the best thing is, this is not bragging at all. So if you, as myself, genuinely dislike bragging, you can still do this without a problem.

Another way of sharing what has been going on, is sending “thank you notes” for jobs well done and copying Senior Leadership. This actually hits two birds with one stone. By copying Senior Leadership on a compliment you are extending, it gives the compliment a lot more weight for the recipient. At the same time, and without them really taking notice, it informs Senior Leadership about a success or an accomplishment. In a subtle and very recipient oriented way.

Why should you be doing this? Just to look good yourself? No, honestly if that is your only reason, let it be. It’s going to shine through and in that case it will do you a disservice. But, if you are a passionate people leader, who wants to see their team grow, you should definitely go for it.

And if it does not come naturally to you, remind yourself, who it is you are doing this for. You have a great colleague in your team, who, you think, should get a promotion soon? Well, if they are really great, but nobody notices, how is that supposed to happen? Promotions happen with support and sponsorship from more leaders than just yourself.

In the beginning of this year a mistake happened, that negatively impacted one of my team members. My leader and I tried to resolve it asap but to no avail due to the pandemic and other impacting circumstances. It bothered me a lot. And my team member as well, of course. Said team member is doing a fantastic job but they started to get increasingly frustrated. So I picked up the topic again and had it escalated. I ultimately, with the support from Senior Leadership, got a resolution for them.

And I am 100% sure, that me having advocated for their hard work and successes throughout the year was important to obtain Senior Leadership support and buy-in. They had to put their feet in the ground for them and they were willing to do so as they knew, what was at stake would we lose them. My team member is really great and everyone noticed it, because I told them.

You are not leading a team? Regular updates to your Leadership team are still your best bet. To your direct leader and their leaders, too. The latter is not so simple but there is no harm in asking for skip level meetings. And then be ready to speak about challenges you have faced and how you resolved them. And don’t be too shy to ask for sponsorship and support to keep growing.

The worst thing that can happen is, that someone says “no”. Which does not mean never. It just means you have not yet been convincing enough.

Networking with your boss’ peers is critical as well. And ideally you find an opportunity to offer your support on projects, day to day tasks or in areas you are really great in. It might mean additional work, but it will also mean additional exposure and sponsorship after a job well done.

You are really great, but nobody notices it, because you prefer to figure things out by yourself all the time? What a missed opportunity. Collaboration is not only essential to collect different insights, explore different approaches and yes, get critical feedback. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to show how great you are at what you are doing. In a “natural work environment”. Without having to actually say it. So no bragging here, either.

As a people leader, make sure your team members take every chance at collaborating with other teams. It will make your job of letting them “shine” so much easier. And it will make their work results so much better, too.

Knowledge is power. It’s especially powerful, if shared. I have experienced so many times when someone made every effort, to keep their knowledge to themselves as they were afraid to lose their power, if they made someone else as knowledgeable. And I can’t blame them. Too many companies have a problem with show-offs that take other’s works and sell it as their own. And if you have to worry about that and are trying to build your own brand, you might not be willing to share your knowledge.

While I do understand the thinking behind this, I completely disagree. I personally think the better way is to make others knowledgeable and to make it clearly known to your leader and their leaders, that you did. You have someone with a special knowledge in your team? Have them share it generously. It’s your job to make sure, they get the credit for it. And what better way of team – (or self-) marketing, than word of mouth?

Now here are also a few examples how I personally feel it should not be done. And as always, this is my personal opinion and “taste” and I am not claiming this to be the one and only truth.

If your VP or another Senior Leader invites you to an after-work happy hour or dinner, it might not be the right time or place to give relevant updates. On the one hand there is a huge risk you are rather going to brag and on the other hand they are not paying attention at all as they are focused on making everyone comfortable and giving everyone the same attention.

Some leaders are collecting input, disguised as feedback, from others to support their case on promoting themselves or their team members. It is one way for sure, but I personally feel it’s often chosen by people who are not observing their team’s work closely and are not able to make the case themselves. To me this feels like product reviews. Heavily biased and super subjective. And I am not sure it’s going to influence whether Senior Leaders are “buying it” or not. I prefer to let the work and results do the talking instead of doing the talking myself.

You prefer to let your work and results do the talking when it comes to your and your team’s successes? I could not agree more. I would just add, you need to help the word to travel, where it needs to go to support you in supporting them and yourself.

As a people leader, you should always shine the light on your teams accomplishments. Never sell their work as yours. Ever. Unless you want to lose their trust and kill their motivation.

Hopefully, on your way to becoming a people leader, you also learned, that their successes will reflect on you as the one who provided the framework, guidance, support and so on. And it if does not, it’s time to leave that job as your leaders are clearly bosses and would not acknowledge your success even if you hit them on the head with it.

So if you want to be a great leader to your team, your job is to make sure their work is seen, their successes are known and celebrated and you and they have sponsorship within Senior Leadership – all of that without bragging.

The steps I have shared above and want to summarize below are helpful tools I have been successfully using for years:

• Know your Senior Leader’s goals, challenges & concerns
• Provide relevant updates on tackled challenges, resolved problems, successfully completed tasks and achieved KPIs
• Give public praise to your team, by copying Leaders on “thank you notes”. Be detailed on the accomplishment, when you do (you should always be as detailed with praise as with any other feedback).
• Collaborate and foster collaboration so that you / your team can become even greater and others get an opportunity to witness the “greatness” instead of hearing about it second hand.
• Make sure you share knowledge as do your team members. And don’t forget to make known that you / they did. Knowledge is even more powerful, when shared.
• As a leader, always shine a light on your team and NEVER sell your team’s work as yours. If your leader is great, they will know your part in the overall success anyways.

You are really great, but nobody notices yet? Make sure you “tell” them in 2021 – the right way! Good luck!