How to be Visible – From a Distance!

Posted by Sarah Hobbs

It can be difficult building your visibility and reputation when working from home or a local ‘outpost’ far away from a regional or head office. Here are a few ideas on how to ensure you’re not ‘out of sight and out of mind’.

1. Build a good relationship with your manager. Take the initiative to set up regular meetings to keep them up to date with what you are achieving – and keep yourself updated on company-wide initiatives and developments. Ask if you can help with a project that will require you to contact people outside your usual sphere so you stay connected. Can you help train a new member of staff? This can be a good way to get information from Head Office.


2. Link up with the internal communications team. Offer to write articles on projects you are working on, knowledge worth sharing, or a ‘day in the life’ profile so people know who you are and what value you add.


3. Can you form an online network? If others are working remotely or from home in your organisation, form an online network with them and share news, stories, and items of interest that are engaging to the ‘community’ you’ve formed. Meet up in person if you can to build rapport. Perhaps they too are concerned about being visible – so consider initiatives you can work on together which will benefit the organisation and provide you all with great exposure.


4. Make regular opportunities to visit regional and Head Office. Agree with your line manager what you could achieve and develop an action plan. You could spend time with other teams whose work links with yours to build stronger alliances, give talks on your area of expertise or illustrate how your organisation impacts the local community, attend Town Hall meetings or internal training, or simply broaden your knowledge about the business as a whole. Are there new initiatives or projects you could contribute to or suggest and set up? Use every trip to Head Office to arrange other meetings to keep expenses down. All these options will raise your visibility and give you a chance to build your reputation – simply being at the coffee machine will help you strike up conversations and help you network! I know one person, working in Wales, who made a point of driving for an hour and a half to work a day or two a month at Head Office – who said that the contacts she made and discussions over lunch were well worth the drive, and allowed her to drip feed her interests and ambitions so that people thought of her when national projects needed members from the field teams. I know another who used hot desking at the Regional Office and made a point of taking that empty seat near the boss – and ended up with 2 promotions that he attributed to the relationship that they built up and work he was able to take on due to being around in the early discussions! And remember, if you are naturally shy or reserved, networking is as much about being interested in others and what they are doing, as talking about yourself.


5. Your development can offer opportunities to become more visible too. Apart from the internal training mentioned above, you could shadow a more senior member of staff to develop new skills and understanding, you might benefit from a mentor who can help you develop your networks once they understand what your strengths and interests are, as well as improve your effectiveness in your current role or help you work towards your next one. You might mentor others in turn and gain a reputation as a good source of information and support. Shadowing Area Managers or Regional Directors is also an option – one person I knew who worked from home in a national HR role found that shadowing increased her understanding of what was driving her senior clients in terms of their priorities and disatisfactions – and this increased her influence and ability to support change. This further built the relationships, and her reputation.

And remember – assigning time to building your network and relationships is not an indulgence – it’s an important and legitimate part of your job. If you’re at Head Office, it’s done over coffee and lunch and around meetings, 15 minutes at a time. If you’re not in Head Office, you’ll need to set up phone calls, or set aside days or half days to invest in this side of your work. This increases your ability to align your work to strategic priorities, and get things done fast through your informal connections.

TAKE AWAY

If you don’t want to be overlooked and forgotten as a remote worker – decide what it is you want to be known for and then review all the opportunities your organisation offers for you to raise your profile. You’ll be surprised just how many opportunities there are – or that you can create. Being out of sight doesn’t have to mean being out of mind.