Being visible? 6

[shahyar]

In my last day of work in a company, the Process department manager said "I have a recommendation for you, You need to be more visible". What do I need to do?

Thanks for replies

 

[shahyar]

Thank a lot. Now I have better understanding of his advice.
Unfortunately I can not see him anymore.
Thanks again.

 

[TPL]

Quote 1:
In my last day of work in a company, the Process department manager said "I have a recommendation for you, You need to be more visible".

Quote 2:
Unfortunately I can not see him anymore

Is he now invisible? Something strange going on here!!

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

You may not be able to visit him at work any more, but could you not contact him by phone?

 

[rbcoulter]

Being "visible" simply means working on something that is important to the company/management. The trick is to always be working on something important and knowing what they may be at any given time.

 

[Latexman]

When you have multiple masters and one or more of them do not have work near the top of your priority list, being visible may also mean giving "face time" so they still feel you are doing something for them. Otherwise they'll kill you at performance review time, no matter they had no priority.

Good luck,
Latexman

 

[strokersix]

At my company there is a quarterly patent review committee meeting where it is decided whether invention disclosures should be elevated to patent applications. This process is one way other departments know about my work. I believe it has shown my value to the company.

 

[MechEng2005]

I am a young mech. engineer. I think a good way to be "visible" is to make sure you don't hesitate to speak up. If you are in a meeting and there is something you don't understand, ask! If it's a more in-depth issue, you may want to ask a single individual after the meeting instead of during the meeting. Don't just assume that you'll catch on in time.

In particular, there was a weekly meeting I was invited to after being with my current employer for <6 months. The company has been around a long time and has developed many standards and specific ways things should be done. We were evaluating these and trying to improve the way we do things. Being a young engineer, I wasn't as familiar with the benefits/labor in different processes, cost of different materials, etc. However, while everybody else was discussing I would take notes and make sketches of the items they were discussing. As the meetings progressed, I would bring up what things that we had been discussed, ideas proposed, etc. The president of the company noticed and I was given the job of sending out official meeting notes. Therefore, even though I didn't have the experience to be the "star" at the meeting, I was noticed.

- MechEng2005

 

[mizzjoey]

I think my previous boss gave a very good advice when he said in a meeting, "They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care'."

He meant to call attention to our dept (FEA engineers) to meet with people from other departments and talk over work requests, and also to talk to non-tech employees about our company products, instead of receiving work requests and sitting at our desks solving/analyzing designs all day. We indulged in a bit of grumbling afterwards because FEA dept was already swamped with work requests from the other design depts but after spending time mulling over what my boss said, I realized what he was driving at.

Creating (correct) solutions is perhaps the main function of engineers, but how do we present those solutions so that other depts (design, marketing, management etc) know how to use those output correctly? How do we relate and explain to them about our results in a way they can understand? So I agree with IRstuff, maybe offering to explain results/project accomplishments and offering yourself for presentations should suffice. It's not exactly tooting your horn per se, but more like taking responsibility tp ensure whatever work you produce will bring maximum benefit to the company.

jo

 

[dbooker630]

Even if you have what you would call a good boss (as I do), it never hurts to always document and inform others of what you are doing. Managers often have a lot on their plate, so if it only a minute of his time is available, take advantage of it. Even if he is not directly involved with something I am working on I will always cc him and key management on any written work. Just state the facts, it can be done tactfully so that it is clear to all that you are taking care of the issue without portraying yourself as a superhero. Otherwise you can get taken for granted in my opinion.

 

[kat6787]

Speaking up when you don’t understand something is a good way to become known as the eager young engineer who is trying to learn as much as possible from the more experienced engineers in the company. But knowing when and where it is appropriate to ask those questions is also important. Otherwise you become the nitwit newbie that interrupts the meeting for questions every 5 minutes. I’ve seen more than one of my colleagues fall into this category. Being visible is important, but you want to make sure you are visible for the right reasons.

As to how to become more visible, I’ve found that you need to know who to be visible to. In my company my manager isn’t involved with the technical side of the projects, but focuses more on the business development for the group, which means that none of the new engineers work with him directly. So I focus my energy on being noticed by the project managers I work with on specific projects. When it comes time for performance reviews my manager relies heavily on what the project managers have to say about my performance. That’s not to say I don’t offer a friendly hello if I pass my manager in the hall or have a conversation with him when I’m refilling my coffee cup, but I don’t focus on being visible to him. I try to show the project managers I work with that, although I am a young engineer, I am eager to learn and prove myself as a useful member of the team. So far this has worked out well for me with two good performance reviews.

Cheers,
Kat

 

[KENAT]

Yeah, make sure and be visible for the right reasons!

I'll bet you the worst, most annoying, incompetant... person there is probably highly visible.

Knowing when & where to ask questions is important. Sometimes thinking about it yourself and then asking for confirmation of what you came up with is better.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[GonzaloEE]

Hi,

I've found that, by psychology, some bosses actually prefer wallflowers (less risk of being replaced by some smarter employee), while others aren't much concerned about sharing the decision making, leaning for more outspeaking and participative engineers.

In any case, it 's better to show regularly your progress and that you have an independent mind, and 'modulate' your messages by the boss personality: whether he/she prefers a more visible or a more silent worker, you may talk openly about your work and suggestions, or just emailing briefly about your advances.

Good luck with your next move!

Regards,
Gonzalo