The Importance of Visibility for a Successful Career (Part I)



No two persons are alike in terms of various attributes, be it their looks, mannerism, thinking etc. or for that matter anything. Naturally, the workplace comprises of a wide range of personalities from the meek to the over-aggressive, the self-doubters to the supremely confident ones.

But, one thing is common in all of them – each individual desires to excel in his job, gets appreciation, recognition and climb the ladder of success. These are ingredients of a rat race at the workplace which nobody can avoid. However, success eludes a good chunk of them who gradually fall behind the leading pack.

As the gap widens with time, the laggards get demoralised, give up on the race and settle for second fiddle roles in the organisation or look for a better external opportunity.

For the leading pack, the race heats up even more – the farther one moves, the narrower the track is. So, as the race progresses the size of the pack further trims as more and more individuals retire or give up.

There are a number of attributes which are essential for an individual to have a successful career. Some of these are possessed as the born-qualities whereas a large percentage will have to be imbibed through concentrated efforts. 


In my earlier post, I had listed Ten Essential Attributes for a Successful Career. One of them is VISIBILITY. Remember the adage – Out of sight, out of mind? It is very highly appropriate in the professional world. Just doing a good job consistently is not enough to be recognised or rewarded. You have to be visible as a good performer to the decision makers, your boss and the boss’s boss. Otherwise, you will go almost unnoticed like other average ones.

However, different personalities have different opinions as regards to visibility and they are entitled to have their individual outlook. Let’s examine how varied they can be:

  • Some individuals have strong self-respect and some have an inflated ego. Their thought process can be, ‘I am very honest, hardworking, sincere and I give more than 100% consistently for my organisation. It is my boss’s responsibility to take cognizance of that fact and evaluate me accordingly. Why should go the extra miles to make myself visible to the higher ups? I am not the one to soft-soap my bosses for a quick promotion.’ 
  • Then there are other individuals with a twisted notion. ‘More than my work, my relationship with the higher ups is critical for my growth. I have to be in their good books and the only way to achieve this is by going out of the way to please my boss.’ 
  • The next category of individuals are wary of their peers/competitors and would do everything possible to sabotage their efforts to ensure that they do not progress faster in their career. This category of people is dangerous and quite detrimental to an organisation.
  • Then you have the competitive lot, who think right, act right to keep themselves visible under the right glare.
  • The last group of individuals are the non-performers with an escapist’s tendency, not willing to do any hard work and are content to survive with, in their jobs by hiding as much as possible. 

The question that naturally may come to one’s mind is – why visibility is necessary? Is high-level performance not enough for career progression? The bitter answer is – it is not! The professional world is unfortunately not a utopian arena. It has lots of undercurrents that crisscross and create dangerous vortex where the innocent hard working professionals can get caught unaware. To state simply, it boils down to the survival of the fittest!



(Image credit: https://pixabay.com/)

Just learning to climb adroitly does not make one an established mountaineer. One has to also be adept as how to cope up with extreme weather, judiciously use limited oxygen supply, avoid dangerous snow crevices, climb in synergy with the rest of the team members, correct timing of the commencement of the ascent etc. in order to scale a high altitude Himalayan peak. This is a good analogy for a professional career aspirant wanting to succeed and the requirement of traits like visibility etc. in addition to hard work.

  • How to achieve self-visibility? 
  • What level of visibility is adequate? 
  • Is over-exposure fraught with danger?

Please read my next blog to find answers to above questions. In the meantime, it will be nice to know what are your thoughts and opinions on the subject.




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Comments

  1. Judy Manjlekar Fos13 July 2017 at 11:25

    Can sense your keen sense of people observation CK as you have almost nailed the 5 categories of employees that we categorize our-self and others in our corporate journey. High visibility has its share of rewards and risks. The key is to recognize signals that help us decide how much visibility is too much or too little and balance it out.

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    1. Thank you, Judy. Being a senior HR professional, your comments carry a lot of weight! Recognizing signals and balancing one's visibility accordingly - it is a great point. Something not many are adept at. I am working on part 2 of this topic where I am jotting down few ways to generate positive visibility. Your comments/observations will be most welcome :)

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  2. Very informative, keep posting such good articles, it really helps to know about things.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. Certainly it will be my endeavor to keep sharing such tips and information.

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