How to differentiate yourself at work, and stay true to yourself.

Do you want to raise your profile at work but don’t know how to do so in a sincere way, these tips are for you.

The world is full of smart people who work hard every day but not everyone gets noticed for doing so. The reality is that career growth comes from a combination of hard work, impact and visibility.

Unfortunately, many people think that working hard is enough, but unless others know what a good job you are doing you won’t progress.

Visibility at work is not showing off.

There are several reasons why people get stuck in a role.

• They put the responsibility of their career growth on others, their manager for example.
• They get too comfortable and stop learning
• They become a master of their field of expertise and stop collaborating with the wider business.
• They fall into a routine that limits their growth.

Your career does not need to go through this phase if you are curious and willing to test new ideas.

Identify your role models

Pick people or leaders in your organisation who you respect, and who impress you.

It is very important to pick people you resonate with as they will likely be aligned with your values.

Observe and analyse their actions

Write down exactly what you see them doing, how you got the opportunity to see this, and why it impressed you.

For example, did this person lead a great meeting? Look at how they behaved in detail, did they send minutes? do they use humour? make sure to engage all attendees?

Once you have compiled your list of actions, make a plan

Now you know exactly what to incorporate into your working style. The final stage requires you to build these habits into your workday. These actions will feel slightly unnatural but treat them as an experiment on yourself, and keep a track of when you implement them and the results!

By replicating those actions which worked so well to impress you, you will start to have that effect on others. Over time others will be impressed with you and this can lead to career advancement or more recognition for your efforts.