Most people at work will keep their head down, work hard and hope that their accomplishments will get them noticed. Unfortunately, in today’s modern workplace, you can hinder your own progression by forgetting to add a bit of polish to your reputation. Whether you like it or not, promoting yourself at work is actually a valid part of the workplace culture. It’s important that you take the time and effort to ensure that your managers and co-workers know what you do, what you excel in and what you have accomplished! We are not talking about overtly bragging or being brash, just making sure you promote yourself in a balanced and considered way so people see you in a positive light. By doing this, you can establish yourself as an authority in your field and a valuable member of your working team.
We have compiled a list of our top six tips to help you promote yourself at work!
1- Understand Your Best Skills
Before you can promote yourself at work, you need to make sure you know what it is you excel at! Once you have an understanding of your best skills, you can put yourself forward to helping out with certain jobs you feel that youare good at, especially those outside of your working responsibilities. For example, if you think you will be good at training employees because you did it before in a previous job, mention it to management and say you wouldn’t mind helping out with training new recruits because you enjoyed it in your last job. You might be doing them a favour and it will get your name out there for being able to help the company with roles outside of your remit!
2- Become An Industry Expert
If you are really serious about your career and the industry you are working in, make sure you are continuously learning about it, regularly research to ensure that you are up-to-date with all the relevant facts and news! Create a LinkedIn page, write blogs about your industry and attend seminars. If you are constantly trying to learn more and attend different events, you will quickly brand yourself as someone significant in the Industry. Your company will pick up on this and see you as someone very well informed and passionate about your sector and job role. Becoming an industry expert or a 'Thought Leader' is one of the biggest things you can do for your career.
3- Become A Public Speaker
The next stage to being an industry expert is to let people know how much of an expert you are. One of the best ways of doing this is to become good at public speaking. As most people hate doing this you have a chance of standing out from the crowd by being able to master this skill! Whether you are talking in a team meeting or presenting in front of an audience at an industry conference, knowing how to do this well is a massive asset. Conquering any fears and becoming good at this craft strongly affects peoples perception of you in general and within the business environment. Public speaking can cause so much anxiety but the good news is that with rigorous preparation and practice, you can overcome your nervousness and perform extraordinary well. Like anything else, it is all about learning and practice. There are lots of good courses on Public Speaking that you can take, or you could go all in and join the Toastmasters https://www.toastmasters.org this is probably one of the most thorough and supported ways of mastering public speaking.
4- Talk!
The small talk office chat you find yourself partaking in every day is a great opportunity for you to self-promote! If your boss asks ‘What’s new?’ this is a perfect opportunity for you to let them know all about the important work related event you went to on Saturday – or about how you have just finished a blog post on your LinkedIn page on inside industry tips. Casual office talk makes up a large percentage of interaction in the workplace. Take this opportunity to discuss what you are working on and how it will affect the company. Show your enthusiasm and knowledge of what you are doing, it's amazing how word spreads around! These conversations can build up your positive reputation and will illustrate all of your hard work.
5- Never Compare Yourself to Others
When you’re promoting yourself, you don’t need to put others down. Avoid comparing yourself to others at all costs because you don’t want to make other people feel bad in order to make yourself feel better. This will also reflect badly on you and it won’t really be a beneficial way of promoting yourself. If you do want to compare something you’ve done, compare it to your own previous experience to illustrate that you are growing! While we are on the subject, just be a positive person! Don't gripe and put others down. This will get around and it will be seen as a negative when it comes to positive self-promotion. You know what they say, if you haven't got anything good to say about a person, don't say anything at all!
6- Help Others
Linking back to this previous point, if you do see someone who appears to be struggling, you should offer them some help. Everyone has their own work and sometimes you genuinely can’t help someone else, but if you have the time and knowledge, make sure you offer it to others! Step up when people need you and don’t shy away. This gives you a great opportunity to show knowledge, empathy and a willingness to help when there is nothing in it for you! Not only will it build up your reputation, but it will also show management you are happy to help others and that you have the potential to be a well-rounded leader or future manager.
Conclusion
Put all these strategies together and you will be amazed how they will help your career progression! Even if you start with one thing only it will be a solid base for all the others to follow. At the end of the day just the fact you can be an uplifting and positive person who is willing to help, can elevate your reputation and be a great foundational step to move forward from.