SHare your Success
It is easy to forget to share your successes in the workplace. You might assume that everyone already knows. You might not want to come access as boastful or arrogant. However, people are busy. Communication is often not what it should be. The sad reality is that people are not going to notice on their own.
You need to be the one sharing your successes with you managers and colleagues. It is your responsibility. It is not the responsibility of anyone else.
If you struggle with this here are some suggestions to get you started:
Keep a journal
If you are reading this blog you probably already keep a career journal to note your successes and keep track of your achievements. The big ones and the tiny wins. You should also use the journal to set goals (and KPIs) for your successes.
Keep and Save Positive Emails in a separate subfolder
Make a separate subfolder in your emails to keep a record of emails from clients and colleagues that show your successes. It is useful to have all of these in a central location particularly for when it comes to your annual review/appraisal.
Identify the internal channels for celebrating your successes
What platforms are there in your company for talking about your successes? For example there might be a particular meeting or newsletter already in place for shouting about employee successes and you are just not using them. Use them!
If there are no such channels – why not have a chat with your colleagues and manager to see what could be put in place and what platforms people would actually use.
Use Social media and LinkedIn
For those exterior facing and public successes why not also utilise social media to celebrate those successes. If it is also a company success / achievement try to do a joint up approach with the company and your colleagues (and get approval if necessary).
Using social media is a great way to keep your network (both internal and external) up to date with your achievements.
Share the success of others
If you struggle with sharing your own successes. Why not start by sharing the successes of your colleague that you have noticed but they are not shouting about. This helps other feels more comfortable about their own successes, encourages open discussion about successes (which you can join in on later with your own successes) and encourages others to take note and share your successes in a reciprocal way. Give everyone the proper credit for a job well done.
If you start doing some of these hopefully it will start to become easier. Once you get the hang of it, you can then start to take a more targeted approach to celebrating your successes.