Remember the saying “Dance Like Nobody is Watching”? Yes, we should all put our best game forward and enjoy the process, regardless of what others think.
But your success does depend on who is watching. After you spent days and weeks working on a very polished report or insightful recommendation, does it make a difference if the key decision makers don’t get to see it?
Or borrowing a story from my friend Luki – “If a tree falls in a forrest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”
We are all told this story: “If we do great work, people will recognize it eventually”.
It teaches us to be humble – but how long do we want to wait for that to happen?
A previous manager once told me: “You have been dancing on the wrong stage, let me put some light on you”.
I realized then that I have been selling myself short, and worse, not letting the solution I came up with get to work or help people sooner. Shortly after that – I proactively reached out to people that could benefit from my work, and he shared the stories and solutions with leadership. Impact followed exposure.
And as a manager myself, I then started to think a couple steps ahead on how my people’s work will be highlighted later to the right audience. It’s a partnership.
Who is showcasing your best work and talent for you? We can’t count on the environment to do that for us. Build bridges ourselves and let your supporters help you. You are adding value to the world – let more benefit from it.
Remember the times at the lunch table, or water cooler, an informal chat about a something you are working on resulted in an idea, tip or tool that worked like magic? “Why didn’t I think of or hear about that?” A two-way lesson here:
- If you need help or feel stuck, don’t be afraid to reach out. Very often you save tons of time and learn from each other
- As a solution provider (WE ALL ARE!), you have the goods that can help others. What does it take to reach them today?
