Standing out and getting noticed at work isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing what matters.
The right moves can fuel your career growth and influence, while avoiding the trap of staying stuck in the weeds or buried in busywork.
To build value and get noticed for the right things, you need a strategic approach.
The goal isn’t just to be visible but to be recognized for contributions that drive impact, showcase your strengths, and accelerate your path to leadership.
In fact, I interviewed dozens of C-level executives and VPs this past year across companies like Walmart, Google, L'Oreal, Samsung, Unilever, Microsoft and more and there was a common thread throughout the conversations. Gaining the right visibility allowed them to open up new opportunities much faster in their respective careers.
Here's how you can do it too!
Mistakes that keep you in the shadows
While it’s natural to want your efforts to be recognized, don't unintentionally minimize your impact by focusing on things that don't hold enough weight in the company. Here are some missteps to avoid:
→ Focusing on busywork: Spending time on low-impact tasks instead of aligning with high-value projects that drive your company’s priorities can keep you unnoticed. Visibility comes from making meaningful contributions to strategic goals, not from checking off endless to-do lists.
→ Solo effort syndrome: Prioritizing your individual wins over collaboration can make you seem disconnected from your team. True visibility comes when your efforts amplify team success, showing you’re both a leader and a strong team player.
→ Neglecting your personal brand: Assuming your work will speak for itself is the biggest misconception. A strong reputation, on the other hand, will highlight your distinct expertise and contributions which ensures your value is recognized by the right decision makers.
[Check out my recent newsletter on 5 principles to build your reputation]
→ Lacking internal networking: Skipping opportunities to connect with colleagues and stakeholders means you’re missing out on building relationships with those who can amplify your work and open doors to new opportunities. Networking is as much about visibility as it is about influence.
3 ways to get noticed for the right things
1/ Focus on high-impact wins
Trying to do everything dilutes your impact.
Instead, focus your time and energy on the tasks and projects that align with your company’s biggest goals. This positions you as a key contributor to the company success as an ally in helping to make it happen.
→ Prioritize high-visibility projects: When presented with multiple projects, do your best to choose the one that aligns with a critical company goal. If your leadership team is focused on this area, it makes it much easier to increase your exposure because it's actively in their consideration set already.
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For instance, you can frame it as, "To align with our growth strategy, I’m prioritizing the client onboarding initiative to improve retention by 15%. I believe this is going to be the most important lever this quarter and will directly support our vision of [X]."
→ Communicate your impact proactively: When delivering results, highlight how they contribute to the bigger picture (i.e. towards the company vision, a major priority focus, a process improvement that increases efficiencies, etc.).
This could sound something like, "To support our team’s quarterly objective of [X], I streamlined the reporting process, reducing turnaround time by 30%. Here's how this is going to help us get more out of the same resources we initially agreed upon..."
→ Delegate low-priority tasks: Free up your time by redistributing work that doesn’t require your direct expertise. If it's something that someone else can do, which allows you to take on more strategic work, vocalize this with a clear transition plan.
For example, "I’ve delegated this task to Emily so that I could focus on optimizing [project Y]. This task was previously taking up 20% of my time and freeing that up will now allow me to support you better in [X]. I've also already trained Emily on how to carry it through so she's all set."
→ Track and document outcomes: Keep a record of your contributions and their results. You want to always be ready to speak about your outcomes, not just efforts, as that is what truly matters. Follow my WHAT, HOW, RESULT structure by focusing on what you did, how you did it and the result it brought.
[Check out my recent newsletter on 3 steps to self-advocate with confidence]
2/ Build your advocates and exposure
Your career success isn’t just about what you know, it’s about who knows you. Building strong relationships, allies and advocates inside your company amplifies your impact, boosts your credibility, and opens doors to new opportunities.
Advocates are the people who speak up for you when you’re not in the room, champion your work to senior leaders, and connect you to critical projects. Here's 5 steps to put into action:
→ Leverage key relationships: Regularly check in with influential members of your company. These are typically those who are either senior in ranks or those who are well connected across departments. For instance: "Hi Michelle, I’d love to get your perspective on how I can best align my work with [specific goal]."
→ Share your wins with them directly: Don't rely on your boss to speak on your behalf. Keep your advocates updated on your accomplishments yourself, without oversharing. Use updates like, "I wanted to let you know that the campaign I led increased customer engagement by 20%, contributing directly to our quarterly targets."
→ Support your peers: People like to feel good about themselves. If you make them feel good, guess what? They'll feel good about you in return. So advocate for your colleagues and celebrate their successes as this builds goodwill and makes others more likely to reciprocate.
→ Ask for feedback strategically: Position your requests as opportunities to grow. For instance, "I really value your perspective and would appreciate any feedback on how I can further contribute to the success of [project or goal]." This shows both vulnerability but also your desire to be the best version of yourself.
→ Be visible in meetings: Use meetings as platforms to demonstrate your value and engage with leaders. Say something along the lines of, "I’d like to propose an approach that would align our efforts with [specific goal]. I’d appreciate your thoughts on it. I'd also really like to present this myself at our next town hall. Can I get your support on that?"
[Check out my free LinkedIn Learning nano-course on Nano Tips to Fast-Track Your Career]
3/ Implement proactive problem-solving
Doing your job well is important, but getting noticed is also about identifying challenges before they escalate and offering solutions that demonstrate your value. Proactive problem-solving positions you as a forward-thinking leader and someone who can be relied upon to drive results, even under pressure.
When you really think about it, your CEO is the distillation of your company's problems. If you help tackle some of these problems firsthand by being closer to your specific area of the business, it will directly elevate your value and visibility.
Here's how you can do this in your day-to-day:
→ Anticipate roadblocks: Identify potential challenges on your projects early on and share your plan to address them. For example, you might say, "It's possible we may face delays due to [specific issue], so I’m already coordinating with [X teams] to ensure we stay on track and have a backup plan should that happen." This is also a great moment to create contingency plans that are ready to action should you need.
→ Bring solutions, not just problems: When raising an issue, pair it with a suggestion. For example, "We’ve noticed a slowdown in [X process] that is causing extra strain for our operations team. To address this, I recommend implementing [specific action] to alleviate this in the short-term while we work on a sustainable longer-term fix. Do you agree with this approach?"
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​Pro tip: Make sure you're building on the pain points that matter most to your team and leadership. Once these areas are solved, they can drive far more impact than small incremental gains. You can say, "To achieve our Q1 targets, I recommend a pilot program to test X, which has a high likelihood of increasing customer retention by 10%. I believe this is the right solution given that our biggest challenge in the last 6 months has been customer churn. If we can fix this leaky bucket, it will create a healthier foundation for our remaining initiatives this year."
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→ Optimize processes: Look for inefficiencies in workflows or gaps in communication so that you get to the source of the issue. Don't rely on your boss to do that for you. For instance, "I’ve mapped out steps to improve how I deliver our monthly reports, which would save approximately 10% of my time. This way, I can allocate that time towards our [X challenge] that's even more pressing on the business this month."
→ Volunteer for cross-functional initiatives: Join efforts that solve company-wide issues. This is not only a great way to build your exposure and recognition across other department leaders, but also position you as bringing value beyond your current role. The one thing to keep in mind is not to overload yourself. Pick opportunities that play to your strengths and increase your proximity to internal decision makers.
​These are the same strategies that helped our client receive major recognition by her leadership team within just 90 days of starting her new role.
How will you get noticed at work?
Visibility isn’t about ego. It’s about creating value and building your career with impact. When you focus on the right things the right way, you create a path that propels your growth, not one that detracts from it. Take action today to make your value impossible to ignore.
You've got this!
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Your mission this week is to increase your visibility at work to fuel your growth. Each step is designed to be actionable, measurable, and immediately effective.
1/ Focus on high-impact wins:
- Identify tasks/projects that align directly with your company’s biggest goals. This is especially timely given that we are at the start of a new year, so this is likely top of mind for your company leaders.
- Ask yourself what will create the most measurable impact in your current workload? Shift your focus toward these activities and adjust priorities as needed.
- At the end of the week, draft a short update for your manager that highlights your contributions.
2/ Build your advocates:
- Choose 1 person in your company this week (whether it’s a manager, peer, or leader in a different department) whose support could amplify your visibility. Schedule a casual 1:1 coffee chat to discuss how you can further support them in their goals and priorities this year to build your allyship with them.
- Use this conversation starter: "I’d love to hear more about your work on [specific project]. It seems like it ties closely to [my work goal] too. It would be great to support you further in that so we can make a bigger impact together on this."
3/ Proactively solve a challenge:
- Identify 1 inefficiency in your team’s workflow that you can address this week.
- Propose a plan to your manager or team on how you propose to tackle it and if you require any additional resources to make it happen.
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