How to Promote Yourself at Work
Posted on February 17, 2009
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The cliché says that if you don’t toot your own horn, nobody else will. Unfortunately, this is quite often true. Of course, occasionally we might garner unexpected praise for an accomplishment or a success. But the truth is that most of your successes occur in the smaller arenas, but they pave the way for the high profile successes of your department and your organization.How can you bring attention to your skills and accomplishments without coming across as an attention-seeker or brownie-points-gatherer? Here are some ideas:
1) Present your idea or accomplishment by asking for feedback. Go to the people whose opinions matter, such as your boss or a colleague who is an opinion leader. Say something like, “I did some serious work on this last week, and I think I came up with an exciting new angle. I’d like you to see it and tell me what you think.”
2) Bring it up casually (but appropriately) at staff meetings. For example, you might say, “I was showing Marie this piece I’ve been working on, and if we move forward on it, I might need to ask others among you for your suggestions.”
3) If you have skills or an accomplishment that people beyond your workplace might be interested in, approach your boss with the suggestion that you’d like to submit a proposal to present at a conference or seminar.
4) Submit articles to industry or trade publications. When your articles are published, show them to your boss and to other key people with polite comments like “Remember when we were talking about this? I decided to write an article about it!” (Of course, for this suggestion and the previous, you must be careful to not reveal sensitive information to the detriment of your company. For instance, a KFC corporate staff person wouldn’t want to reveal the recipe at a restaurant convention! )Bear in mind that you should never come across as apologetic or self-deprecating when talking about your skills or your accomplishments. You should, in fact, be quietly confident.You have every right to bring your skills and accomplishments to the attention of the people in the organization whose opinions matter. After all, if you don’t, nobody else will.
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