How to get the visibility your work deserves
Have you ever felt like your boss or your peers aren’t noticing your work? Have you received feedback that felt unfair or not grounded in reality? Worked really hard on a project, but then didn’t get recognised for it? If you answered yes, it might be that you struggle with other people’s perception or impression of your work. This is a topic that’s challenging for a lot of people, but there are concrete steps that you can take to address it.
This article is part two of a two-part series. In part one, we reviewed how other people’s impression of our work is created, and why this can be such a difficult topic. In this post, we cover concrete steps that you can take to change how others view your work. Borrowing tried and tested marketing techniques, this approach will help you think more intentionally about how you help others understand the value you bring with your work.
If you prefer to listen: We discuss this topic in depth on the Dev Interrupted Podcast: “Getting the Respect Your Work Deserves”. In this episode, the hosts discuss the neuroscience of perception in detail and run a live coaching session for a leader who’s struggling with getting the respect that his work deserves.
Changing how other people view your work
Now we understand why perception is important and how it’s formed, let’s move onto how you can take control of marketing your work. This article is designed to be a self-guided exercise during which you will:
A. Start experimenting
B. Identify the gaps between how people actually perceive you vs. how you want to be perceived
C. Plan what you want to change, and
D. Make those gaps smaller.
This exercise works both for individuals and teams who are trying to correct how they are perceived.
A. Experiment while you plan!
While I recommend putting together a bigger plan for how you want to tackle this topic, you don’t have to wait to start changing things. If you have a sense of where you may struggle with what others think about your work, experiment now! Try a different way of sharing your work or talking about your team’s latest project with your boss. Experiment and get feedback on the things you’re doing differently. Getting moving is the biggest first step.
B. Reflect & prepare
The better you understand the perception challenges you’re dealing with, the more impactful your actions can be.
STEP 1: Introspection/reflection
Reflect on the following questions (I recommend taking some notes as you go):
In which areas do perception issues affect me?
What feedback have I received that I disagree with?
Which of my core needs does this perception gap trigger? What makes this topic so [whatever it is] for me?
STEP 2: Challenge your own perception and assumptions
Where may I have blind spots?
What am I overlooking?
What values or beliefs am I holding onto that do not serve me anymore?
STEP 3: Talk to people and get feedback
Understand your effect on others by getting some feedback from teammates that you trust, or reflect on feedback that you’ve previously received.
What’s the general perception of me as a leader/teammate/person? Bonus: what can I do to change it?
What could I do differently that would have the greatest impact on my success?
What’s the one thing that’s holding me back?
The answers to these questions may be very insightful and actually give you some actionable insight already; if that’s the case, congratulations, you may be able to skip the remaining steps!
However, many people struggle with sharing perception directly, especially due to their biased nature, and with formulating clear, concrete expectations. If that’s the case, fear not and carry on.
STEP 4: Define your goal
Prepare yourself for the long run. Changing perception often takes time. Check how much patience you can realistically muster, and how much time you feel you have.
What am I trying to do? What areas do I actually want to work on? Avoid taking on too much at once.
How “big” can I go? If you’re already mentally out of the door in your current job, or depending on your personality, you may feel more or less free to experiment and take bigger risks.
Define success. How will others know that I’m succeeding? How will I know that I’m succeeding?
I recommend taking note of the outcome that you’re aiming for (e.g. ‘X doesn’t think that I work too slowly anymore’), but caution against making the outcome your only goal. After all, we can’t actually control how other people think! Define your success as something that you can actually directly impact, e.g.: ‘I try all steps in this blog post with X’, or ‘I send short weekly updates to my manager for six weeks and get their feedback three times’.
C. Plan
STEP 5: Understand your audience & know your target
Ideally, have a conversation with your audience, e.g. your boss or stakeholder(s) and ask:
What do they care about? What makes them care about those things?
What do they need/expect from you (or who you’re representing, e.g. your team)?
If you’re more senior, I recommend putting some proposals forward: “I’m thinking about doing x, do you agree?”
Where are we misaligned?
STEP 6: Identify concrete actions that you can take
By now, you should have a sense of where some bigger gaps are, and where actions are likely to make the biggest difference. Use this knowledge to define 2-3 steps that you can take. Some frequent, high-impact areas are the following examples:
Pushing communication: Regularly sharing updates about your work
Communication contents & framing: Talking about your work more, or sharing it with a different audience; highlighting the impact and outcomes of your work more clearly and regularly; communicating in a way that’s tailored to your audience (more seniority → less detail)
Doing work in the open and increasing transparency: Sharing more about your work with others, presenting in larger meetings or a company all hands
At this point, you have a good understanding of whose impression of your work you want to change, and which steps you want to take, which means you’re ready to get moving.
D. Action!
STEP 6, part 2: Get started!
Turn the plan that you defined into action and get feedback quickly so you can adjust (see step 9)!
STEP 7: Create visibility for your work
I always recommend identifying ways to do work that come with built-in visibility, e.g:
Write and distribute more long-lived documents, like architecture documents or technical specifications
Lead (and, to a lesser extent, participate in) company forums like architecture reviews, company all hands, and learning circles
Be a cheerleader for your team's and peers' work on Slack/Teams or via email
Share weekly notes of your work to your team and stakeholders in a way that other folks can get access to your notes if they're interested
Contribute to your company's blog
Attend, or potentially even host, office hours for your team or organisation
STEP 8: Note your actions and progress
Keep a mission journal of the steps that you’re taking and the impact that you’re seeing. This can help you stick to your goals, even if it takes extra time.
STEP 9: Get feedback quickly
You’ve tried something new? — Great work! Take note in your mission journal and check in with your audience:
Did you write something? — Ask which parts of it were useful, or what this person would’ve liked to see included.
Did you change the way you share in a meeting? — Ask what else would be helpful to hear from you.
Getting feedback quickly is a great way to stay connected with your audience and learn what’s working, allowing you to iterate and strengthen your feedback muscle.
STEP 10: Further steps that you can take
Find allies, e.g. a sponsor.
Interact with influential people.
Build stronger relationships with your stakeholders. Work towards understanding them, their motivations and needs better.
BONUS: If you’re trying to change perception of a team/organisation
Be as transparent with your team as you think makes sense. I suggest considering early on if it’s worth speaking with your team about this. It can be important for them to understand how their work is perceived and take action together. If you decide to do so, be thoughtful and well-prepared with a plan, and consider that people will likely have varying reactions, and some people may even find it unfair.
Get small wins for your stakeholders. This can be really impactful. Identify if there are areas where your team can knock out a few valuable projects or deliverables for them, and go for it.
The steps I’ve outlined above will help you change the perception of your work for the better. Remember that changing perception can take time, especially when it comes to teams, so be patient. In time, you should witness a shift in perception which allows you to maximise your impact as a leader and earn the recognition you deserve. If you’d like to work on this, or other leadership topics, with the help of a professional who’s been through this herself, contact me for one-on-one coaching.
