How to stay ‘visible’ while working remotely

During lockdown and a slow phased return to work, it can be difficult to be visible in the workplace. If you are no longer seeing your managers and colleagues except via virtual contact it can be challenging to stay in contact and to stay visible.

If you are now working remotely at least some of the time, you will need to actively keep in touch with your managers, colleagues and contacts (even if at first it may feel like you are over-communicating).

01. Keep in touch with your manager

As the person you directly report into, your manager should be your starting point for getting noticed more at work. They probably already have some oversight over what you are doing, but make sure that you are keeping in touch and communicating what you are doing to ensure that you stay visible.

• Commit to a regular catch up/communication. Ideally, these should be a video call, but a phone call, chat, or even email help you discuss things more generally rather than always talking about specific work items.

• Ask for Advice and Feedback. Just because you are working remotely, doesn’t mean that you can’t ask for advice and feedback in relation to your work and your performance.

• Step up. If you are able to step up and take advantage of opportunities and take ownership of projects. If nothing is available, show that you are interested and ask your boss to think of you when something does come up.

• Be transparent about your schedule. Being clear about when you are and aren’t available goes a long way to building credibility and trust.

• Share your successes. Don’t be afraid to share your successes (and express thanks to colleagues who helped you with those successes).

02. Use meetings to raise your profile with Colleagues

It is likely that it is not only your manager/boss that you want to be visible to. There will be others within your company that you will need to stay visible to. Meetings event though they are being held virtually are a great opportunity to do this.

Even if you are usually quiet, in virtual meetings everyone is on an equal footing, so it can also help you find your voice. However, remember that being noticed is about what you say, not how much you talk. It can also be an opportunity to engage in polite small talk with your colleagues as well.

03. Continue to network remotely and grow your network

Finally, think about how you can get yourself noticed within your wider network. If you are working remotely, you have to be more deliberate and dedicated about connecting with your colleagues and contacts. So keep expanding your network by networking virtually.

Here are some suggestions:

• Virtual Coffee Mornings
• Virtual Lunch Dates
• Webinars and Virtual Industry Events
• Network using Social Media

You can read all of our remote networking series here.