How to help your returners from leave boost their visibility at Work
This last year has made it all too easy to ‘opt out’…
We need to help boost visibility at work for those employees who are returning to the office .
Consider the number of virtual meetings, webinars and training or online events where you have decided not to attend at the last minute. Perhaps now that we have been working remotely for the best part of 18 months, we are all feeling that temptation to stay on mute, turn our videos off and retreat to the comfort of our home office or desk space. It’s too easy to cut out the small talk at the beginning or end of meetings, crucial for relationship building and supporting others, in favour of getting straight into the agenda.
For many (and especially those who are naturally more introverted, or those returning from a period of leave), when confidence levels could be low and when we’ve been used to living a ‘hermit-style’ existence; socialising, working face to face and generally just ‘getting back out there’ can feel really daunting, especially as most of us will be back in the physical office next month, at least for some of the time.
There are long-term repercussions that inevitably will come with the daily choices our employees may well be making – choosing to remain under that radar will impact their confidence levels, their relationships, their mental health, and ultimately their career prospects.
That’s why we have decided to launch a visibility webinar – to focus on and help draw attention to the long-term dangers to future career prospects if our employees don’t invest time in ensuring they remain accessible, visible and open to opportunities.
So how can we support our employees to ‘get back out there’?
One way is to help people understand that working ‘hard’ only gets you 10% of the way to career success…let us explain:
Harvey Coleman’s book called ‘Empowering Yourself: The Organizational Game Revealed’, contains the very powerful message around the difference between ‘working hard’ and performing versus working on your image and visibility. This is particularly relevant to those employees who have spent the best part of a year away from the physical workplace, and even more relevant to those who have also gone through the parental-transition or experienced another huge life change.
You may wish to share Coleman’s PIE Model, which is broken into the 3 areas which have an impact on your career prospects and success. They are:
Performance – your daily tasks, results and achievements
Image – what others think of you; what your personal brand is; what you are known for
Exposure – who knows about you and your results and impact? Do those with influence know who you are and what you achieve?
The striking thing about the model is the breakdown of how important each element is to your future progression:
Performance – 10%
Image – 30%
Exposure – 60%
The challenges that this present to many employees are manifold. It can take weeks, if not months, to re-establish your basic level of performance when you’ve been out of the office for the long-term. How dis-heartening, then, to be informed that when we finally do get back up to speed, we are only 10% there in terms of our promotional prospects.
For those employees who wish to progress and be promoted, there is a stark realisation that getting your head down and ‘working hard’ is not enough.
Working on image management and then networking so that you and your performance get exposure (noticed by the right people at the right time) – is therefore crucial.
As HR Professionals, do we recognise the need to support our employees and boost visibility at work? Do we give them the opportunities and support to build their branding and image management skills?
Supporting employees and managers to get the basics right when they first return from leave is essential:
- Are they 100% clear what their reintegration objectives are?
- What does excellent performance look like in their role?
- What is their personal brand? What do they want to be known for and what are they actually known for?
- Who knows they have returned from leave and what they will be working on?
- Who knows that they are still passionate, determined and committed?
Further Support to Boost visibility at Work
We are currently offering a free 45-minute lunch & learn webinar that gives employees the tools and tips they need to take control of their visibility. If you would like to find out more about running this for your organisation contact us: info@pandpcoaching.co.uk
This week’s blog is written by co-founder of Parent & Professional, Helen Letchfield.