The shy girl’s guide to self-promotion

When you’re shy, the idea of shouting about how great you are is about as appealing as eating mud. But as we know, the working world isn’t about merit, it’s about visibility.

So you might be the most talented person in your industry, but that alone won’t get you very far if no one knows about it.

If you want to succeed and progress your career, you need to be able to self-promote. But how? It can feel uncomfortable, especially if you’re not one to brag about your wins.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to promote yourself without giving yourself the ick. In fact, you might even find it natural after a while.

Reframe self-promotion

The idea of self-promotion makes us baulk because it feels arrogant to tell people how great we are. After all, we were all told not to show off when we were growing up, right?

But what if we approached self-promotion differently?

What if we reframed it as a way to help others?

Think of your experience as a resource. If other people know that you’ve accomplished something (and how!), this will help them to achieve their own goals. If you’re at a meeting where a problem similar to one you’ve overcome before is being discussed, you can share how you did it.

Similarly, if you let your manager know that you’ve succeeded at something, it makes them look good to their own boss. They can say “so-and-so on my team just achieved this” at their own appraisals.

Become a resource and I promise you, no one will accuse you of bragging.

Ease into making your presence known

Does the idea of presenting at work make you queasy?

Perhaps the thought of suggesting an idea to your boss makes you want to hide in the office loos.

Or maybe the mere idea of unmuting or speaking in a meeting send shivers down your spine?

Start small. Start to become visible in ways that are comfortable to you first. That might look like checking meeting agenda and writing down some notes so you have something to say. It might look like running an idea past your work bestie before your boss, so you get a bit of validation that it’s good first.

Make a list of ways you can dip a toe into self-promotion and go from there.

Be proactive

Don’t just sit around waiting for your boss to give you things to do!

Ask them for work, or better yet, recognise things you could be doing that will both raise your profile and make their life easier (that means work that progresses your career/skillset, not becoming their PA).

Not only will this get you in your boss’s good books, but it will build your reputation as a leader and put you front of mind when it comes to things like promotions.

And do you know what? Not a lot of people are proactive at work, so this will really make you stand out without having to shout.

Document and share your wins

Get in the habit of writing down successful projects, tasks and contributions. I put mine in a Google Doc and then when appraisal time comes around I have a ready-made list of accomplishments for the year. I usually have the goals set in my last appraisal at the top of this document so I can check my progress as well.

It’s also helpful to let the relevant people know when you’re making things happen. As a project manager, I’m lucky that I have a natural way to share my successes, as when a project is completed I usually present it to the board.

If you're not in that kind of role, you could email the relevant people when your tasks for a project have been completed, or share it in an update meeting if you’re happy to do that.

The point is to make your contribution to the business well-known.

Be you

Finally, remember that you don’t need to be anyone else but yourself to self-promote.

You want to build a reputation as yourself, right?

Don’t feel like you need to be loud, brash or pushy in order to promote yourself. Hopefully the tips in this article show that you can do it in your own way.