So I have been working in tech for more than twenty five years, and I have learned that great work alone doesn't always get noticed.Visibility is not guaranteed, and it's certainly not automatic, but we can find ways to make it natural. So I'm gonna tell you a little bit about me and my story. So I started my career in digital media, back when we used to call it new media. I wonder if anybody's here that is, mature enough to have had that happen in their career as well. I lead cross functional teams. My specialty is helping teams build digital products before product management was even really a formal job title title, excuse me. And I learned early on that the hardest part of this product work isn't really the technology, it was translation.

It's really helping brilliant business and technical minds actually understand each other so that they can build better products. Now through my consultancy, what I do is I actually help organizations, as Laurie said, bridge that gap, kind of blending strategy and empathy and systems thinking, all the things to make sure that they're working better together. And my mission is to make human centered leadership a natural part of how we work. So today, I'm gonna help you find that same kind of clarity in your work. So, so those of you who heard doctor Diana b Allen this morning, she's talked about sponsorship, and she was talking about this exact topic, which is that visibility is a skill. And that we as high performing women often assume that if we're just delivering great results people are going to notice, but I think we know that that's not actually how it works.

And so when you're already juggling projects and deadlines and life, the idea of self promotion can feel exhausting and it actually is exhausting and I've been there myself, so I'm gonna share with you some suggestions about mention is that when we think about there there's this idea of invisible excellence.

Right? We have this problem where we think about, again, that we're that the the quality work is going to be enough, but think about the colleagues in your in your organization or maybe in past organizations who get recognized versus those who don't. It's rarely about who's working the hardest, or maybe even about who's delivering the most value. And so this is something that is really important to get to make the to make your mark. Now we tend to think about self promotion as bragging, but it's actually if we reframe that, you can really think about it as a way to help others understand the impact of your work. You're not showing off. You're just making your value visible. So here's the three skills that I'm gonna take us through. How do we make this practical?

These are three skills that will turn your kind of invisible excellence into visible impact. Number one is own your strengths. Number two is communicate clearly. And number three is build relationships that open doors. And none of these are gonna add hours to your day. I promise they're gonna fit right into the way that you work already. And I'm gonna start with skill number one, which is owning your strengths. So visibility starts with self awareness. So one of the things I'm gonna ask you to do when you're thinking about how, what are my strengths is maybe start noticing patterns. What are the kinds of things that people thank you for? What are your teammates rely on you for? What are the things that come up? I don't know.

If you're on a team that does retrospectives, for example, what are the things that you tend to get called out for? So this is a really important thing for you to start to integrate daily in kind of get to a point where this is instinctual so that you're like, oh, yeah. That's a thing. One thing that I like to do too is if you ever if you're in an organization that does self that does assessments of different kinds, so maybe you've done things like the insights colors or DISC or, any number of those kinds of things like the Clifton strength finders, take those into account too as, as things that help you see a fuller picture of yourself, and then capture evidence.

This is this is one that is really, this is a tiny thing that you can do as a tiny habit, and it builds up over time. So when I say capture evidence, what the kinds of things I'm thinking about are somebody sends a Slack message or a Teams message to you that says, hey. You did a really good job in that meeting, or I'm really impressed by the way you solved that problem. Take a screenshot or grab the text and put it into, a note somewhere. So screenshots, Slack messages, any kind of feedback snippets, wherever you get that feedback, even if somebody says it verbally to you, maybe just scribble it down on a post it if you're in the office, or, you know, if you have a voice note, whatever you use. Now this is really important. Use tools that you already use. Use tools that you already have. You don't need anything new to make this part of your routine.

The way you can layer this in is by layering it on top of a tool that you already use. So for me, I use Trello for almost everything to keep myself organized. Personal, for grad school, for, for everything, for for, for, you know, my client work. And when I was in house even when I was in house in corporate corporations, I use Trello to manage my workload and my projects. So for me, I keep a list of my wins or of positive feedback that I get in a Trello card or in a series of Trello cards. I have a whole column for it. So this is, this is just a quick way to get you know, to kind of incorporate this into your your strengths, into your your flow.

And then, you know, actively ask for feedback too. This is this is one of those things, like, if you do public speaking or if you if you do demos, for example, in your work, make sure after a demo, if somebody comes up to you and says great job, ask them for specific feedback. What did I do well? What really resonated with you? Or, like, what's one thing I could do better next time? Those are all things that you can kind of bring into that into that, reflection, that self reflection that will help you understand what you're really good at and what your strengths are. So skill two is about communicating clearly. Don't overthink this. Keep it simple. The story doesn't have to be perfect to show to show value. What you really are looking for is a way to communicate the impact that you're having. What's the thing that you're known for?

What's the thing that I want to be known for maybe? What changed because of what you did and what kind of work you do? Now if your brain loves details first, that's okay. Like, I am one of those people who I will brainstorm a whole bunch of things, and I'll have a big document with a bunch of, you know, a bunch of details that maybe aren't all relevant. So sometimes what I do is I get all that down, but then go back to, like, the basics and think again. Like, so what? What is the impact? What was the value that I was bringing by doing all of those things? What did I actually deliver? And and if again, so this is this is kind of, like, assuming people know the context makes it you really do need to take a step back and to start to think about how does this look from the outside or how should it look from the outside?

What's the story that I wanna tell about the work that I did and its value? Now as far as incorporating this into your regular flow, this is one where you should use meetings you already have. You've got stand ups. You've got status updates, retros. If there's an email update that you send out, this is one that you these are built in opportunities for visibility. And remember that clarity is oxygen for your work. It really helps others kind of breathe in the work that you're doing. So clarity is key here. Don't worry so much about people knowing the 80 things that you did to make something successful. Again, focus on that impact. So maybe a couple of examples might be, instead of saying, well, I finished the analysis that was needed for this project, you might say, this analysis will help us focus on what our users actually care about.

Or instead of saying, I'm still testing that feature, you can say or I'm still testing. We're still doing usability testing. You might say, we're learning which features users actually notice. So, again, you're kind of focused on that outcome or the value that you're delivering in each step. Third skill, the last skill, is about building relationships that open doors naturally. So forget the big networking events. We're talking about internal influence at this point. Focus on these, like, small real moments. So if you're if you're you know, a lot of us are working remotely, but if you're working in an office, definitely take advantage of those in person opportunities, whether it's, you know, in the hallway or the kitchen, to make sure that you're kind of comparing notes with your peers.

But even when you're doing it online, like, there's a couple of things that you can do that will really just kind of, build those relationships over time. And, again, this could be anything from a sponsor to a team, you know, to appear on your team. And what you're really doing is you're trying to find ways to build kind of potential people who might who might think of you when they think of of something that needs that solution. Right? So I'm gonna tell you about that more in a second, but one thing to think about is, sharing credit. This is something that is a really good leadership skill and will serve you in a couple of different ways. So if you worked on a project and there, or, you know, a feature or something and you're there's somebody or a handful of people that actually helped you make it better, work that you've really collaborated on something, make sure to share that credit.

Because not only are you then saying, hey. I did this thing, and by the way, this other person did this thing. The other people that you share that credit with will feel good about about you having shared that credit. You're kind of creating a team entity that then is looking good. It actually looks very good for you if the team is, working well together. This is something that I literally coach organizations on all the time is, is that collaborative spirit makes a huge difference in outcomes. So definitely be thinking about how can I share credit for these things? It's not always about I, I, I, me, me, me. Sometimes it's about what we as a team did.

And so sharing that credit is is valuable again for those reasons, but also because it's kind of a step on the way to leadership. It shows leadership. It shows that you understand that you're part of a team that is delivering this and that you cannot do your job without these other people who are amazing and have their own contributions to it, that you are better as a team. So, definitely, that is kind of, like, my my one, my one kind of, like, power move that I like to do, and it makes a difference. And then, you know, kind of just focusing a little bit more on, on, like, what that ends what the outcomes of that are. This is where things start to get, and I know we've you know, folk a few folks have talked about this today, but that's where, like, the project that you just wrapped up gets mentioned in a meeting. Maybe you're not even in the room, or someone recommends you for a new opportunity.

We don't always, as individual contributors, have insight into how those things happen, but I'm telling you this is how those things happen. You kind of you start to build a reputation in slow little ways over time and then people start to hear your name and think, oh, yeah. She can do it. She's the right person for this. So that someone will recommend you for a new opportunity, And, you know, it's just again, you need to build constantly be building those relationships. So one thing, little projects you might wanna tackle later on today or while you're between calls between calls is, keep a relationship map. Think about a few people who should know about your work that you want to have visibility from and either schedule quick casual check-in or, just, you know, make sure that you're kind of communicating with them on a regular basis.

Keep those relationships fresh. And visibility shouldn't feel like a performance. It should really feel like presence. This should be something that's kind of natural and starts to feel like it makes sense, and it's, you'll you'll get this feeling of like, oh, yeah. I did that right. I did that you know, that was the right time for me to mention that. So practice and, and definitely always be asking others for feedback. So, again, remember, visibility does not require more hours. It really requires just your intention. You should have this goal of making your mark. And in order to do that, you own your strengths, you clearly communicate them, and you build these meaningful relationships that can help you amplify that impact of what your story is, your great work is finally gonna get the recognition that it deserves. And you're gonna make your mark, and you're gonna keep yourself.