Trying to get noticed or promoted at work is a struggle at the best of times. Especially for women. But it’s become increasingly difficult for some with hybrid or work-from-home arrangements.
Many of the same career management principles apply whether you’re in the office regularly, work from a home office full-time, or anything in between. But proximity bias, or out of sight, out of mind, is undoubtedly a concern for those who work from home more frequently.
A study published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that more than two-thirds of supervisors of remote workers admit to considering remote workers more easily replaceable and that full-time remote work is detrimental to employees’ career objectives. Almost three-quarters of the managers said they would prefer all of their subordinates to work in the office. Yikes.
If you’re worried about your influence, profile, or exposure, hiding behind that computer on Zoom will not improve the situation. Try dialing up the strategies below instead. Create opportunities for deliberate conversations on these topics to stay top of mind.
1. Check-in: Otherwise known as the how am I – how are you chat? Hopefully, by now, most managers are asking their people this question. But I won’t take it for granted because there are many crappy people managers out there and lots with COVID empathy fatigue. Ask your boss how they are doing with everything. Model empathy and learn how they are navigating priorities. And don’t gloss over your answer when your boss asks you with a generic fine or busy. This is your chance to say what’s great by highlighting your successes. It’s also a chance to signal that the waterline is up to your nose and you’re in serious jeopardy of drowning. Be honest, create boundaries and negotiate priorities. Ensure you have the bandwidth for strategic projects, not just tactical ones.
2. Task: Or the here’s what I’m working on conversation. Most people confuse this chat with project status updates or firefighting. You probably have way too many of those conversations, don’t you? Be sure you carve out time to highlight your wins, strengths, and accomplishments as you talk about your daily work. And don’t be so tactical. Ensure you’re communicating your work and wins within the context of higher-level goals to demonstrate your strategic capability. Provide qualitative or quantitative metrics when you can. I know what you’re doing. You’re sighing and thinking, that sounds like a lot of work. It takes practice, yes. But if you do this all along, it makes the end-of-year conversations a breeze.
3. Career: The here’s how I want to grow, stretch and advance conversation. This discussion is likely happening once a year at the end of the fiscal year when the organization forces managers to chat about careers while giving performance ratings and determining salary increases. What a horrible place to put this conversation. Instead, I suggest you seed this conversation throughout the year and give your manager notice that you want to talk regularly about growth projects, exposure opportunities, and real-time experiences. Also, give the heads up that you want to discuss your salary or other benefits. Don’t wait until the end of the year. Scrap the year-end development plan and replace it with an experience plan you action regularly.
4. Influence: This is the give me some insights to better influence stakeholders conversation. Getting things done at work is rarely easy all the time. Wouldn’t that be nice? You likely encounter difficult people, run up against roadblocks, and need to get certain people to say yes. Use conversations with your boss (and insightful others) to better understand the people you interact with. What does it take to be credible in their eyes, and what is your standing with them? What are their pressures, and what are they paying attention to? What’s the best (and worst) way to communicate with them? Build your influence by better responding to your important stakeholders.
5. Visibility: Known as the how can I build profile chat. To be seen above the fray, you must have exposure to the critical people and projects in your organization. Use this conversation to determine if higher-ups know your successes and capabilities. Do they know your aspirations and ways you can add more or different value than you are now? Can you get into different meetings or projects? Can you get help to prepare for an upcoming presentation that will paint you in great light? I know this conversation was hard before when we were all in the office together. But you must dial this one up right now.
6. Impact: Or the I’m looking for some feedback on how I am landing/perceived conversation. I hope you’re getting feedback on how you’re performing your job. If not, add that to the list. But that gives you tactical input on your duties and responsibilities. To advance, you need to know more than that. You need to understand how people perceive your capabilities and your potential. If you only get feedback on your current work, you might be stuck there for a long time. You need to talk about how you’re perceived, how you’re landing with important decision-makers, and if people see you as having what it takes to do something more or different. That’s a very different type of feedback that you must target.
I’m not suggesting you give up a hybrid or permanent work-from-home arrangement. They can be a thing of beauty. I am urging you, though, to dial up your proactive self-advocacy. Out of sight does not have to mean out of mind. Proximity bias is just as easily encountered by those sitting on different floors of the same office tower or in another city. And if you’re a people manager reading this, make these conversations routine with your teams, especially those you meet regularly over your computer screen.