The visibility of a leader inside an organization is something that is much more important than what many think. It is really hard for people to respect someone as a leader or a mentor in the event that the individual never seems to be around. From the leader’s point of view, it is tough to always be present because there are many different things that have to be taken care of at the same time. However, being present and having high visibility inside a company is mandatory if you want to get the needed respect and actually be aware of what is happening.
Fortunately, there are various things that you can do in order to increase visibility as a leader. German Trujillo Manrique talks about some options that can easily be used by any person that wants it.
Be Social
This is one of the simplest things that you can do. Most managers these days simply get to the office and go to their desk. They do not interact with most of the people seen along the way. What you want to do is to acknowledge the people that you meet, ranging from the receptionist to the upper management members that may be around.
Obviously, you can easily stand out as being fake if you exaggerate. Make sure that you have natural interactions. Sometimes, just saying hello does wonders.
Set Up Appropriate Communication Methods
Most people inside an organization use emails to communicate with each other whenever it is not easy to arrange a face-to-face meeting. This is definitely something that is effective but you still need to be sure everything is as balanced as possible.
One of the things that can be done is to set up some new communication channels, like internal blogs or forums. These would only be accessed by employees and allow leaders to be much more present than simply sending and receiving emails. Such an approach is useful in the event there are many team members that exist.
Be Present During Team Breaks
There are many different informal meetings that take place as people have a break. This can easily increase leader visibility within an organization. For instance, do people often go to launch at a specific diner? Why not go and eat there with your team? Most managers these days are separate from their staff members all throughout the day, especially during breaks. Do not make this mistake and you quickly get the visibility you are interested in.
Arrange Team Meetings
This one should be pretty obvious but because of the fact that there are so many things that have to be done in an organization, many leaders end up communicating with employees just through internal chats and emails. You need to arrange regular team meetings to talk about the handled projects and set up strategies. At the same time, these meetings increase your visibility, as long as you are present in person (not through video conferencing) and you are actively involved in the conversations that take place.
