Personal Effectiveness Tips

- Getting recognized as an expert inside your company has obvious benefits. It helps you get noticed by management, which raises your visibility for promotions and raises. It brings you respect from your colleagues, and establishes you as someone valuable and indispensable in the company, all very good things. But how do actually do it, especially if you haven't been with the company for 30 years, or have a PhD. Here are four strategies to keep in mind. First, recognize that you don't have to be a world expert to contribute.

Sometimes people shy away from even attempting to share their expertise because they assume that an expert has to mean a world expert. It doesn't, you can be a local expert if you know more than the person you're talking to and you're willing to share. After all, to your grandma, you're probably a computer expert, so understand that you do have a contribution to make. Second, the key when you're not in fact a world expert, is honesty. Be clear about what you know, and what you don't know. No one is expecting you to know everything.

Where people get in trouble is if they get out over their skis and purport to have more knowledge or expertise than they actually do. You can avoid this very simply by saying, "I can't speak to XYZ, you might want to talk to Frank about that, or there's some good information online at blahblahblah.com, but what I can tell you is ABC." Third, a great way to establish expertise inside your company is, ironically, to get known for your expertise outside your company. As they say, you're never a prophet in your homeland, and it is easy for your company, especially if you've been there for a while, to start to take you for granted.

People may still think of you the way you were five years ago, when meanwhile you've been learning and growing and building skills. Part of what can snap them out of their stupor and make them realize you've made yourself extremely knowledgeable and valuable, is hearing from someone else on the outside, "Oh wow, did you read Dorie's article on the XYZ blog last week, those were some great insights." That often wakes them up to your potential, and ensures that your true value is being seen. Finally, as you're building your reputation, make sure you don't get pigeonholed as only being good at or knowledgeable about one thing.

You can start there and build your base, but as soon as you can start expanding strategically. If you have developed a reputation around training, for instance, start to write and talk about a related, but distinct area, like executive coaching. If you've developed a reputation around social media, maybe you do a lunch and learn for your colleagues about long form content marketing. Keep pushing and expanding the boundaries of what you're known for, so you'll continue to be seen as more and more valuable. When you're viewed as an expert inside your company, people look at you differently.

And when it comes to money, respect, and influence, you reap the rewards.