If so, it can be a good sign that it’s time to start a personal public relations campaign to highlight your accomplishments to those that matter at work. The problem is talented employees often feel uncomfortable in tooting their own horns. Turning around a troubled division, improving margins or streamlining office procedures can be taken for granted without you pointing out your accomplishments to your boss. You may never get the credit you deserve.
An administrative assistant once described how they saved thousands of dollars making travel arrangements for their boss and how they used their own contacts in planning events that kept costs low. Unfortunately, their accomplishments were highlighted on their resume rather than used as talking points during weekly meetings with their boss. When the company merged with another, their position was eliminated even though their contributions were outstanding. It might have made a difference had they routinely networked with other managers and kept hiring decision-makers aware of their value. Instead they were too shy in talking about their efforts for fear they would come off as too aggressive.
Most people avoid talking about their accomplishments due to the fear of bragging and coming off as pretentious. You can avoid the negative perception of tooting your own horn if you are aware of timing and recognize the difference between bragging and acknowledging the facts of your performance. Talking about the facts is acknowledging what you did well and giving yourself credit. If you don’t give yourself credit, who will?
A good place to start is by keeping records and start collecting comments by satisfied customers or clients who thanked you for your work. Many times using comments made by others is an easier way to highlight your contributions and can help you talk about your value without coming across as bragging. When recording your accomplishments always back up them up with results to make them memorable. It’s not enough to say you participated on closing the largest sale in the company’s history you need to identity what you did in helping to close the sale.
Take the time to describe the skills you used and share them on quarterly reports.
144805268Be aware of walking a line between coming across as a solo player versus a team player. At the same time, the consequences of not giving yourself credit when appropriate outweighs keeping silent and letting your talents go unnoticed.
How do you keep your boss informed of your accomplishments? Does it sometimes feel awkward?
