The Number One Reason Behind the Lack of Workplace Visibility

The number one reason behind the lack of workplace visibility is not the corporate culture or office politics. It’s fear. It’s the stories you tell yourself knowingly or unknowingly to keep yourself safe.

Are you labeling yourself without realizing it? Holding yourself back because you’re afraid of saying the wrong thing or being judged? Unable to slow down because you think there’s too much to do and not enough time to do it? It’s time to assess what stories you’re telling yourself.

The top 3 ways fear stops you from getting the workplace visibility you deserve are:

1. Labeling yourself as an introvert (or anything else that keeps you safe).

I first learned about being an introvert when I took the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment. It was the first time that I can remember hearing that it was okay to prefer small groups to big crowds and that an introvert might need to recharge their batteries after being with people all day.

I realized that I had been given a permission slip to tap into those opportunities for solitude and not feel bad about it. It explained so much about why I was drained of energy at the end of the day. I created stories that protected me so I could stay in the background and out of the spotlight. Some of the stories I believed were:

• Introverts aren’t good at networking, so I shouldn’t attend those kinds of events
• Only leaders who are extroverts can be successful, so I can’t get promoted
• Extroverts are the only people valued in my company, so I self-sabotaged
• Introverts aren’t good at speaking in public, so I avoided speaking unless I felt I had no choice
• Introverts don’t want the spotlight on them, so I avoided speaking up in meetings or “sitting at the table”

Those stories were wrong, but I couldn’t see them at the time. If you have any of these old stories like I did, you need to examine them to see if they are really true for you now and are they helping you to grow or stopping you.

I realize I used the story “I can’t do that because I am an introvert” as an excuse, because of fear. I lived with the thoughts that I wasn’t good enough or that I wasn’t adding value and someone was going to find out. So if I could tell myself that introverts can stay home and they don’t have to attend events with a lot of people, I could stay safe. Are you using a label like being an introvert to keep yourself safe too?

Once I built up more self-awareness, I could see that these stories were just that…stories. Once you look at them as stories, they lose their power. I could see that they weren’t real and I could then push them into the background and do what I wanted to do. I began to see the value that I brought and let the label fall away. I didn’t need that label to keep me safe any more.

Going through that experience taught me that I would have to approach networking differently and do things in another way. I didn’t have to hold myself back. I could reach the same visibility outcome that an extrovert could but using my style and approach instead.

Now It’s Your Turn

You may have the introvert label or a different one that you are holding on to as a way to protect yourself. Take a deep breath and think about what your life could look like if you no longer believed that label was who you are. Take a look at the places in your life or career where you are holding yourself back from playing bigger. Now you have a choice to become the person that you have been wanting to become, but didn’t think that it was possible. It’s okay to get excited about the opportunities you have in front of you! Now you can decide what you want to do with nothing holding you back anymore.

2. Impostor syndrome

The term impostor syndrome was first identified in 1978 by Dr. Pauline Clance and Dr. Suzanne Imes, whose research determined that this challenge impacts overachieving women who try to fit in and be perfect. The high achieving women attributed their success to mistakes, luck, or because someone hadn’t yet figured out that they didn’t belong where they were in the company or role. Although this initial work focused on women, it actually happens to a lot of men as well.

Impostor syndrome happened to me when I first took on a management role. I remember other leaders around me doing things that seemed to come so easily for them. I was working in the Information Technology (IT) function at that time, but I did not have an education in IT. I came from the business side and learned everything that I knew on the job. I had a strong reputation and no one was concerned that I didn’t have an IT education, but instead of being proud of myself, I saw it as a negative. Everyone thought highly of me, but I lived with self-doubt. This negative story that I carried around in my head made me question if I was in the right role for myself. I wondered if I could be successful.

I did not realize how much it impacted my actions and kept me playing small. All I knew was that I didn’t want to be judged, say the wrong thing, have the spotlight on me, and have everyone look at me. I had questions about whether I knew as much as the other people in the room. So, in order to keep myself safe, I sat in the back of the room and stayed invisible. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that was my stress response to a situation I didn’t feel comfortable in. That fight or flight response was keeping me safe, but it was also what kept me hidden. I had been given so many opportunities because people saw my potential, but I held myself back. I didn’t realize how much the doubts in my head had paralyzed me and prevented me from speaking up.

Here’s what you can do

Brene Brown, bestselling author of many books including Dare to Lead and The Gifts of Imperfection, shame and vulnerability researcher and professor says,

“leaders must either invest a reasonable amount of time attending to fears and feelings or squander an unreasonable amount of time, trying to manage ineffective and unproductive behavior.”

Unless you deal with these fears and resolve them, they will continue to show up. Explore what those fears are about and question if you live with an old story that no longer serves you.

Do not tell yourself that you’re not good enough and please don’t let other people tell you that either. You get to decide how you feel and think about yourself. Decide whom you want to be and don’t let others change your opinion of yourself. Look at your accomplishments and see all the great things that you’ve done. Be brave and trust that you have everything that you need to accomplish whatever you want in your life.

3. Thinking you will fall behind if you slow down

When someone first told me that I should “slow down to speed up,” I couldn’t even process what that would mean for me. There was too much to do and no time to get it all done! If I slowed down, then I would fall behind even further.

What I came to realize though, is that slowing down is what is needed to prepare for what is ahead. Taking the time to reflect, be strategic, plan, create new ideas or processes, and think about how your team is progressing and where you can support them helps you move faster.

Some people have described the chaos that exists in their companies. I have been there, it is stressful, overwhelming, and difficult to manage. My favorite saying was “I am on a merry-go-round, and I can’t get off.” The truth is that I was spinning in my head, not on an actual amusement park ride. There were so many things that all seemed to be a top priority and it felt overwhelming.

Once I learned about slowing down, I realized that I had a choice to change the way that I thought about and dealt with the chaos.

I learned the importance of spending a small amount of time each day (15 or 30 minutes) to simply focus on what was happening and think about what I could do to improve it. Can you see the benefit of taking that small amount of time for you to think? You may come up with a small idea or some action to take if you think about your own situation. When you are in a spin mode in your head, nothing new or creative has the ability to show up. Slowing down gives you the ability to let your brain help you come up with ideas and actions so you can move forward faster!

You can get over the lack of workplace visibility by choosing to keep moving forward even when it is uncomfortable and feels hard.

It is when you will have the biggest breakthroughs. Be the leader who shows your value and is seen for your true talent, so you can achieve the opportunities you deserve in your career and life.

Susan M Barber, Author, Podcast Host, Former Fortune 500 IT Director, turned Certified Executive Coach helps business leaders to play bigger, increase their visibility and finally, shine a light on their leadership strengths so they can elevate their position in the workplace. She brings a depth of business knowledge to her coaching from her 25+ years of leadership experience at Kraft Heinz. As the author and podcast host of The Visibility Factor, she is creating a visibility movement for leaders to show their value and be seen for their true talent. Susan is married with three children and lives in the Chicago area.