Episode 47 How to Get Noticed in Your Career

Speaker: 00:00:04

Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,

the podcast for ambitious female

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leaders who want to create more impact,

income, and influence in their careers.

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feel connected to their passion

and purpose, but without

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selling out or burning out.

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I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach

and career strategist, helping women

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like you thrive in leadership roles

while staying true to your values.

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I'm the founder of CareerTree

Coaching and have over 15 years of

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coaching experience and significant HR

leadership experience to share with you.

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I know as a female leader it can

be hard to find time to focus

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on your career aspirations.

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The day job can be all consuming.

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Plus, no matter how senior you are,

there are always going to be times

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when you feel stuck, when you have

self doubt, or feel like an imposter.

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And that's where unstuck

and unstoppable comes in.

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Each week I'll be sharing practical

strategies, insightful interviews and

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inspiring stories to help you boost

your confidence, lead with purpose

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and achieve sustainable success.

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If you're ready to stop playing

small and unlock the incredible

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potential you have within you and feel

unstoppable, you're in the right place.

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Let's get started.

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Welcome to episode 47.

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I'm always glad that you are here

with me today, and today's topic

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is another really great one.

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If you are feeling that you're not

getting the recognition you deserve,

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or that you are not as visible as you'd

like to be, or you can see your peers

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flying past you, this one is all about

how to get noticed in your career.

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And before we dive into the topic today,

I just wanted to say a thank you to

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Alessandra Ponzi, who I caught up with

this week, who told me that she is a big

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fan of the podcast and how the topics

really resonated with her as a leader.

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And you know, it made my day.

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It was so nice to get that feedback.

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And I would love to give

shout outs to more of you.

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So if you are enjoying the podcast,

please do either message me and

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let me know or, leave a review.

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And I'm always happy to take

topics that are pertinent for

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you that I haven't covered yet.

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So if there's something you'd like me

to focus on, then just send me a message

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and I'm giving away a freebie today.

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I'll tell you more about it.

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End of the podcast and the link to

get it will be in the show notes.

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So please enjoy the session today.

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It's all about how you can

get noticed in your career.

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And this came up because

I was working with.

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Some of my leadership clients recently

and I was reflecting on what's the

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common theme that keeps people stuck

in terms of moving their career forward

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and that advancement and progression.

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And one thing that kept cropping up was

this reluctance to get visible to, be

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seen to show up so that they get noticed.

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And so I wanted to ask you a question.

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How do you feel about visibility?

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How do you feel about getting

noticed in your career?

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Today what we're gonna talk about

is some tips about how to approach

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it and a particular action you can

take away and do straight away to, to

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notice, what impact you are having.

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Because , it is challenging to do it, but

it's incredibly worthwhile and there's

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lots of good reasons why you should think

about getting noticed in your career.

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The first one is career advancement.

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Positioning yourself for that promotion

or that new role in a new organization.

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Also it's good for your career

development because if you are being

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visible and you're getting noticed,

you are likely to be taking part in

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activities that are encouraging you to

step outta your comfort zone in some way.

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So you are going to be developing

from a personal development

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point of view, but also.

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You are more likely to be taking

part in maybe events, conferences,

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networks, keeping your finger on

the pulse of what's going on in your

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industry, having those conversations.

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So it's going to increase your

industry knowledge and your

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industry expertise as well.

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And.

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It means that you will have access

to opportunities to get involved in

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perhaps new and interesting projects as

well, because you might be top of mind

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with your boss, with your peers, with

senior leaders, with people outside

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the organization, and also you will get

the recognition for what you're doing.

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And recognition is something

that keeps coming up and up.

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Again about how organizations are really

bad at recognizing people's contribution.

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Taking some control over that by ensuring

you are getting the recognition for

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the work that you're doing and it isn't

being claimed by other people is really

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important in terms of getting noticed too.

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There's lots of great

reasons about why to do it.

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But I know it feels hard, lots of

my clients find it hard to do and

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there's lots of reasons for that.

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Firstly being, it feels hard to

make time to do it, on top of the

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day job, it feels like another

thing to add to the to-do list.

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So that can be a challenge.

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But often the bigger challenges are

around the fears and beliefs and mindset

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issues that go on, it can feel really

uncomfortable to promote yourself.

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And that can go hand in hand.

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If you've seen other people doing it

in a way that isn't aligned to you,

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you can feel that, perhaps they've

done it and they've seen quite

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arrogant, or they've been really pushy.

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It can mean that you then

don't want to be that person.

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And so you shy away from it, even though

you probably wouldn't do it in that way.

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But you've seen an example of it

and it can really turn you off in

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terms of thinking about getting

noticed and promoting yourself.

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And often you feel and quite

legitimately feel I should just be

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able to work hard, do my job and get

notice because I've delivered my job.

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But unfortunately, doing

your job is a given.

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But it's not enough.

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Everybody is busy.

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Senior managers are busy.

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Leaders are busy.

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You have to take responsibility for.

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Letting them know that you're doing

your job and how you are doing your

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job, and the impact you're having and

the contribution you are making so that

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they're aware of you and they're aware

of that, and they're aware of your team

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if you're a leader as well, because

you're also promoting your team's work.

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I've got a little example for you.

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If you imagine your boss

has two or three direct.

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Ports, let's say, and they ask you

how you're doing with your particular

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project or error of work, and you are

just like, yeah, I'm getting on with it.

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It's all going fine.

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It's absolutely, on track.

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And you think that's great,

that's what they need to hear.

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So they don't have to worry.

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They know that I'm delivering your peer.

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When they ask your peer how is it going,

your peer might say, yes, it's on track.

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But actually I had this particular

challenge that I had to deal

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with, and this is how I did it.

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I had this difficult client and this

is , the action I took with them to keep

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things on track and to keep them on side.

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So then when your boss is evaluating

you both, they're thinking

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you have an easy ride of it.

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Everything just goes smoothly.

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You are always on track.

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Your peer, they might think they

showed X, Y, Z skills because

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they've had all this complexity

in these challenges to deal with.

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Therefore, they might think they're

more ready for a promotion or for

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that next opportunity than you are.

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It's not fair, but

that's their perception.

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So you have to be able to give

them information about how

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you're doing your job as well.

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Maybe the challenges you face, the

complexity you've had to deal with

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had to navigate so they understand

the contribution that you and your

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team are making and they can value it.

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Unfortunately, just working hard, just

getting on with it is not enough anymore.

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, Getting noticed, getting

visible can feel uncomfortable.

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It can feel exposing.

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It can make you feel a bit vulnerable.

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It can push you outta your comfort zone.

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So it's no wonder that

people shy away from it.

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But as I talked about earlier, it's

really important, it's important

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that you have your voice heard and

that your contribution helps the

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organization make better decisions.

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If you are shying away from contributing

and speaking out, then you are denying

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the organization the value of your

knowledge, expertise and ideas.

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You can position it in that way as well.

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You are helping the organization to

deliver what it does in a better way

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because you're contributing more.

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Also it feels good once

you've got past the.

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Outta your comfort zone.

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It feels good actually to be talking

about what you're doing, getting

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the recognition for you, getting the

recognition for your team, and it enables

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you to take charge of your career so

you're not just waiting for someone

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to notice that you're doing good work.

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You are actively positioning yourself

for whatever it is that you want next.

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Let's look at my three top tips

to help you move the dial on

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getting noticed, getting visible.

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The first one is mindset.

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It's about changing your mindset.

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If your mindset is more of a humble,

modest, I don't want to boast, I

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shouldn't really be, promoting myself

that is actually holding you back.

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So you do want to do some work

around changing that mindset.

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Set and shifting it, into more about

having a desire to share your experience,

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your knowledge, and your impact,

and letting your brilliance and the

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brilliance of your teams shine through.

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Okay?

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So it's repositioning it in your head.

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It's not about being arrogant,

it's not about being pushy,

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it's not about boasting.

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It's about letting people know

what you do and how you do it.

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Okay.

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That's the first thing

is to shift your mindset.

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The second is to be authentic,

which helps with the mindset piece.

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It's about getting noticed, but getting

noticed in your way that feels aligned to

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you and that you feel comfortable doing.

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Not doing it in anybody else's style, but

thinking about how do I want to promote

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myself, promote my work, promote my team

in a way that I feel comfortable with.

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It's , doing your job and building

your reputation and the reputation of

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your team and your organization really.

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Connecting to that bigger picture

of actually by me, promoting myself,

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my team, my work, I'm helping

the organization build a great

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reputation for the expertise it has.

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We can be seen as the go-to team, the

go-to organization for our area of work.

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It's also about thinking your preferences.

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So personality preferences, if you

are introvert or extrovert, it's

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going to maybe impact how you feel

authentically about getting visible.

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Extroverts might like group settings.

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Introverts might like doing it

more on a one-to-one small group.

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Extroverts might like doing it

more in person, maybe speaking.

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Introverts might like doing it more in

writing, so it's working out what is.

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Best for me and my style.

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And the third thing about getting

authentic is recognizing that

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you have a unique perspective.

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That when you share it is going

to add value to lots of people

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in ways that you don't know.

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You know that you could be.

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Creating ripples in your organization

that will help, maybe younger or more

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junior female members of staff see a

great role model in terms of the leader

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that you are and the way that you

contribute and that you can help other

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people through sharing your perspective.

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For example, I worked with a senior

leader in financial services a couple

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of years ago now, and we created a

visibility strategy for her she was

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a really great compassionate leader.

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And that was her uniqueness, was

her compassionate leadership.

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Style in a industry that

wasn't necessarily known for

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compassionate leadership.

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Part of her visibility strategy

was her developing her thought

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leadership piece around that.

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So she started to write some

articles for LinkedIn about her

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particular leadership brand, and

we defined her leadership brand.

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She started to do podcast guest podcast

spots on industry specific podcasts

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that were geared to female leaders

in the financial services industry.

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She also started to take part in internal

networking opportunities that allowed

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her to be a role model for women in

her organization and start to mentor

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some of the more junior ones as well.

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She really embraced that sharing of

her unique perspective in her industry

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and ways that she could do that.

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And she found she enjoyed.

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The podcast interviews, the writing,

the articles, the mentoring, the

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championing diversity in her organization.

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, She did it her way.

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It's thinking about what would I enjoy?

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What feels aligned,

what would I like to do?

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And it doesn't always have to be,

doing something quite exposing as

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a podcast interview, but it could

be looking for ways you can share

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that knowledge, that perspective,

both internally and externally.

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And then my third tip is to be

strategic and to be intentional.

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And this is about using your time wisely.

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It's about having a visibility plan,

thinking about who, who do I need to be

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visible to internally and externally,

and what do I want to be visible about

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so that you can be focused about sharing

your expertise and getting noticed.

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, Thinking about building your reputation

internally and or externally.

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Would link to your bigger

career goal as well.

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If you're wanting to focus on an internal

promotion, then your visibility plan is

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probably gonna be more internally focused.

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If you're thinking about that next

role within the next six to 12

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months, then you're probably going

to be a bit more externally focused.

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And then also within that being strategic

is thinking about are there partnerships

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I could develop internally or externally

for collaboration, for mentoring,

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for opportunities to share expertise

and work together with other people.

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'cause that can be a way

of getting visible as well.

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The three tips are to shift your mindset

to be authentic and be noticed, but

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in your way and to be strategic and

intentional about your visibility.

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My action to take away is to think about

doing an audit to see whether you are.

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Ticking, yes, I am really contributing

and sharing my perspective, or

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actually there's work I need to do.

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You could think about how

am I showing up in meetings?

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Am I somebody in meetings who is

actively engaging, who is making

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good contributions and comments,

who is asking great questions?

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Who's going to be remembered

for being at that meeting?

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If it's an online meeting and I've got

my camera on, I've got my camera off.

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Thinking about how you are showing

up and contributing in meetings and

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that can just give you a sense of.

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Okay, maybe I've slipped into some

habits where if it's a meeting

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that I don't feel that's a good use

of my time, I'm not contributing.

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Do I want to be known for that?

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Or actually in meetings, am I

really active in those meetings?

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And therefore maybe what's the next

level for me in terms of my visibility?

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And I've got something

that could really help you.

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I've developed a free resource.

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It's a short ebook called Five

Steps to Powerful Presence as a

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Female Leader, and it gives you

lots of great ideas about increasing

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your executive presence at work.

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If that's something that you'd find

helpful, then just pop the word

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presence into the chat and I will.

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Get that off on its way to you.

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It's a free resource for you and

it's really great, I have to say.

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I love it.

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And if you are listening to this

and you're thinking this is all well

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and good, Sarah, but I don't feel

confident about doing this, or I feel

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uncomfortable about getting more visible,

or , I just don't know where to start.

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I don't know what would go

into my visibility plan.

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Then book a call with me.

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And we can have an exploratory chat

about how coaching might help you

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with this, because some people find it

easier than others to crank up their

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visibility and their plan to get noticed

in their organizations or externally.

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I hope you feel inspired to go away

and start getting more visible, getting

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noticed, sharing your brilliance

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Thank you so much for listening

to this episode of the Unstuck

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and Unstoppable podcast.

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I have lots of free resources you

can access on my website, ww.career

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tree coaching.co

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uk, and I'll also put

links in the show notes.

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If you found this episode

helpful, then please subscribe

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so you don't miss the next one.

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And please do share it with a

friend and leave me a review

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and I will personally thank you.

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Remember, you're capable of more

than you know, shine brightly.

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Lead boldly and unlock the

extraordinary potential within you.

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Be unstoppable.