In some professionals’ eyes, one “con” of remote work is the lack of visibility. Without your peers or your boss around you to notice you working on a project or accomplishing your goals, it can be all too easy to feel siloed, isolated and like you aren’t getting the recognition you deserve for your hard work. But just because you aren’t physically around your boss when working remotely doesn’t mean you can’t achieve the same level of visibility as you would in the office.
To help, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the tips they’d give employees for how to increase their visibility and get their projects (and their hard work) noticed.
Young Entrepreneur Council members share tips for increasing visibility while working remotely.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Get Vocal
One way to get your hard work noticed is by being more vocal about it. Don’t shy away from sharing your achievements. Almost all remote workplaces use a communication platform like Slack to facilitate interaction among teams. Use your company’s platform to share important updates in respective channels, discuss ideas and encourage others to brainstorm. Be the one to break the ice. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
2. Track Your Weekly Tasks
Keep a task list in a tracker with all of the projects you’re working on for that week. This will not only keep you organized, but it will also make it easy to showcase your work and allow your leadership to have more visibility into it. – Andy Karuza, NachoNacho
3. Take Advantage Of Collaborative Software
Collaboration tools and project management software can help. Using a tool like Slack allows everyone to communicate with each other, so no one can be invisible unless they’re not participating in conversations. Similarly, using a project management tool like Asana or Trello to track all aspects of projects, including communications, ensures everyone is visibly involved in the success of each project. – Jonathan Prichard, MattressInsider.com
4. Praise Your Peers
When you praise your peers, chances are that they will reciprocate. You have everything to gain by offering praise to others, including recognition for yourself too. Of course, be selective in your praise, but do go out of your way to recognize when others are doing a good job and that will make its way back to your work and your value added to the business. – Matthew Capala, Alphametic
5. Embrace Digital Spaces
While video calls may require planning, and audio-only calls can be more off the cuff, they do increase comfort and familiarity for remote workers. Fortunately, we’re entering an era when people have grown up befriending each other and discovering their communities all in digital spaces. Your personality shines through everything you write and through every emoji you choose. Don’t be shy! – Tyler Bray, TK Trailer Parts
6. Shout Out Your Accomplishments
Believe it or not, unapologetically praising yourself when you knock a project out of the park can increase your office visibility. It’s worth remembering that there’s a difference between cocky and proud. You should always be proud of your work and let others know when you pull off an exceptionally difficult task. – John Turner, SeedProd LLC
7. Communicate Authentically
As a leader, you can encourage your employees to embrace and optimize internal communications that mimic working together at an office. Authentic communications make complete visibility occur among the team members working from home or other remote locations. Embrace cutting-edge project management tools that are optimized for the remote workforce. – Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day
8. Participate In Roundups
In our business, we have monthly and quarterly roundups where we give visibility to all of our staff who have contributed to various projects. This is a great way to ensure that everyone’s work is being seen and acknowledged. We simply talk about progress during a Zoom call and update the entire company about contributions. In this way, we make sure that people get the visibility they should. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner