Become Visible or Invisible: your choice

An executive of a renowned international NGO offering HR training and development recently told me that he wouldn't leave his less-paid job for a fatter pay, because his present organisation gave him visibility and respect. It is a fact that there are people who look for visibility more than remunerations.

Visibility can be within or outside the organisation. Many of us do very well in our work but few of us get noticed. If we have done something well, we have every right to get noticed in the organisation. We must make it a habit to make ourselves noticed and our presence felt in the company in which we are working.

People who make their successes and works visible get the reward while those who keep them invisible become invisible themselves.

Here are some tips to become more visible.

1. Give your maximum

The best way to get noticed in your company is to give your maximum in whatever you do. High performers are always respected and rewarded. We must give our whole heart, whole energy and whole talents to our tasks. When we do things with total commitment and full passion our works will produce maximum output and we will be recognized for our achievements. Many organisations have titles like `employee of the month', `employee of the year' etc to reward and recognize such high performers.

2. Management by walking about

This is a simple way to get noticed. Some of us become too serious about our works that we fail to see our colleagues and bosses. We may do wonderful things but if we do not have the required human relations skills then we will never be noticed. It doesn't mean we trumpet all our successes all the time but we need to tell others our accomplishments. It is important to communicate with our bosses often and tell them what we have done.

The principle of management by walking around in the office can be practiced by all. We are not alone in our company. There are many others who too are doing wonderful things for the company. We need to get up from our seats and go around meeting people, chatting with them or at least giving them a smile. Meeting others will always give us fresh ideas, refresh our enthusiasm and make us visible and lovable.

3. Respect, admire and appreciate

If you want to be respected and admired respect and admire others first. We not only trumpet our achievements and capabilities but we also need to appreciate and admire the achievements and potentials of our colleagues and bosses. We must respect the others and talk positively of them. We must talk positively of our company and must feel proud to belong to it. Positive people always have more visibility and they will always be sought after by others. Appreciate sincerely the contributions of others especially of your subordinates. It is always better to appreciate people in public and correct them in private.

4. Take initiatives and become a leader

One of the best ways to get visibility is to become a leader. Leaders are self-made and so we have plenty of opportunities in our organisations to take up initiatives and become leaders. Become a leader and volunteer in some activities if you really want to be visible. Another way to become visible is to join some kind of groups within the organisation. Communicating well your ideas, taking initiatives and dealing fairly with people also will get us noticed in the organisation.

Make sure you use the normal channels like the newsletter, notice boards etc where you can post articles with your name attached to it. This too will give you visibility. In the organisation where I work we have two pillars called the pillar of appreciation and the pillar of ideas on which everyone is encouraged to write an appreciation note about someone else, or write some innovative quotes and ideas. These writings give us visibility.

5. Humility makes you visible

When we are humble we are visible. Humility doesn't mean we are quite and timid. It doesn't mean we never talk about our accomplishments. It is our ability to accept our mistakes and give credit to others for the successes. We are in a false trend today, which says `those who can talk big can also act big.' There are many who talk of big things and big ideas, often stolen from someone else, but very few who really do something. If you want to be noticed don't go around saying blah, blah rather stop talking and begin to do some actions.

6. Become punctual, responsible and helpful

People who are punctual, responsible and helpful are always visible. We need to be more responsible with regard to the use of our time, resource and talents. We need to keep our places clean, protect the assets of the company and support our colleagues who are struggling to complete a task. These acts may look simple but leave in the minds of others an indelible mark about our character.

7. Develop a people-centered attitude

The greatest asset at our disposal is the human resource. We need to treat people not merely as means of production but as opportunities with immense capabilities and potentials. We need to believe in people and their power. When we begin to view them as treasures of great possibilities and respect them for what they are we become visible.

We can be visible or invisible in our organisations. The choice is ours. Effectiveness is the fruit of visible presence.