Why Waiting to be Noticed Isn't a Strategy
How Women Rise
What got you here won't get you there. Last week, we talked about Habit #1: Reluctance to Claim Your Achievements. This week, we’re moving into Habit #2 from How Women Rise by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith: Expecting Others to Spontaneously Notice and Reward Your Contributions. Because if we focus on letting go of the habits holding us back, we will not only reach our goals this year-end, we will set ourselves up to skyrocket at the start of the new year!
Habit 2: Expecting Others to Spontaneously Notice and Reward Your Contributions
At first glance, these habits sound almost identical. But here’s the key difference:
Habit #1 is about finally speaking up about what you’ve done - claiming your achievements after the fact.
Habit #2 is about assuming you don’t need to. Believing that your boss, peers, or organization will automatically notice your efforts and reward you.
Spoiler: They usually don’t.
Think about it: in most organizations, everyone is busy managing their own deliverables, pressures, and priorities. Even well-intentioned leaders often miss the quiet wins happening right under their noses. That means visibility has to be intentional, and it has to be ongoing - not just once a year at performance review time.
So what does that look like in practice?
Regular updates, not just finished products. Don’t wait until the project is wrapped up. Share progress as you go - what you’re working on, why it matters, and how it’s moving the team forward.
Connect the dots for others. Sometimes the impact of your work isn’t obvious. Spell it out. “By doing X, we freed up Y hours” or “This helped us hit Z milestone ahead of schedule.”
Shift from “self-promotion” to “strategic communication.” It’s not bragging, it’s equipping others with the information they need to see your value.
Specifically ask for what you want. If you let your organization pick your reward, it may not feel like much of a reward at all. Be clear about what feels valuable to you.
One of my clients recently told me she used to wait for her leader to notice the behind-the-scenes fire drills she was handling. They rarely did. Once she started giving short, timely updates like, “We averted a last-minute compliance issue that would’ve cost the team hours,” her visibility skyrocketed - and so did her influence.
Her goal was to be oversee a specific program in her department. After her visibility rose, she was asked to take on additional responsibilities, but not the ones she wanted. She once again had to speak up for herself and explain how her goals and expertise aligned more with the specific program she wanted instead of her newly assigned responsibilities.
Her leader was slightly confused, but agreed to the shift. This could have been avoided if she had been clear about what she wanted from the beginning.
The truth is that your work (and what you want) doesn’t always speak for itself. You have to give it a microphone.
This week, I’d love for you to reflect on:
Where am I assuming people already notice what I’m doing?
What’s one way I could start sharing progress while the work is happening instead of waiting until it’s done?
What's one way I can share how I want to be rewarded?
Because sustainable success isn’t just about doing excellent work. It’s about making sure the right people know about it consistently, clearly, and confidently.
You aren't doing anyone any favors by keeping quiet. You deserve to be valued, and it is up to you to let people know the value you bring.
Cheers to using your voice,
Sharon
PS - Here are the 12 Habits we are walking through (from How Women Rise by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith) - Links to previous newsletters:
1 - Reluctance to Claim Your Achievements
2 - Expecting Others to Spontaneously Notice and Reward Your Contributions
3 - Overvaluing Expertise
4 - Building Rather than Leveraging Relationships
5 - Failing to Enlist Allies from Day One
6 - Putting Your Job Before Your Career
7 - The Perfection Trap
8 - The Disease to Please
9 - Minimizing
10 - Too Much
11 - Ruminating
12 - Letting Your Radar Distract You
Find Your Sweet Spot and Thrive
On Friday, October 10, I’m hosting a free 60-minute workshop: “Between Hustle & Harmony: Finding Your Sweet Spot.” It’s a gentle reset before the end-of-year chaos kicks in so you can continue to rise AND enjoy this life you are working so hard for!
We’ll walk through:
What it means to move beyond the buzzword of boundaries
How to identify your real non-negotiables
Why your ambition and your well-being don’t have to compete
How to create space that actually supports your success (instead of adding another thing to your to-do list)
We’ll make time for you to think through it all and capture it in the included workbook.
🎯 If you’ve been craving clarity…
💡 If you’re tired of swinging between burnout and avoidance…
📅 If 10/10 feels like a good day to reclaim a little bit of you...
Click HERE to grab your (free) seat.
Life is too short to stay stressed and stuck. Don't let another season slip by. I've helped so many people reclaim their life. I can help you too.
