Getting Promoted Essentials: Performance Image and Exposure

Career success is based on three key factors: performance, image, and exposure, according to a theory published by Harvey Coleman in 1996.

The relative importance of these factors might not be how we typically think of them though, because the performance, while being imperative, only accounts for 10% - 20% of the success.

The other 80% - 90% is accounted for by image and exposure. Often, we are so focused on our performance that we're not managing our image and exposure. What I’ve heard about those who are considered to be rockstar, easily promotable candidates is that they're definitely managing their image and their exposure.

How exactly does one manage their image and exposure? In this post, I'll provide you with a step-by-step approach to integrating managing your performance, image, and exposure into your career efforts and your daily way of doing business.

The first time I got really present to the importance of managing your image and your exposure was a bit dramatic. I was leading Diversity and Inclusion efforts in the same line of business for about five years and I was having a one-on-one with one of the senior executives.

He said to me "You're not doing anything." And I thought I misheard him. I was like "Excuse me, what?" He said again "You're not doing anything."

I said "No, but I'm leading four teams, and we're doing this that and the other thing, I'm facilitating this meeting with the executives every month, we have a whole agenda we're executing on this that and the other thing... and he replied "Yes I know. You're not doing anything."

I said okay. And I had to go back and think about it. All the activity wasn't what he was pointing to. He was pointing to the results. So I thought alright, let me get out the metrics, which I had never looked at.

What I found was that over this period of five years, the average increase in the items on the 14-point scale that we used to measure results across the company was 24 points. But some items had gone as high as 50 points above the baseline. And most of the scores were above 75% favorable. Pretty good results.

I started to publish this dataset everywhere. "Thank you!" to everyone involved and "Look what we accomplished." That certainly changed the conversation.

For me, this progress seemed super obvious to everyone who worked there, and I wasn't tooting my own horn because I felt like that was not a good use of my time, and that I should be focused on the deliverables.

But in a communication vacuum, this executive, who maybe wasn't appreciative of what I was doing, created his own unfavorable narrative, and was communicating that with others. I really got that part of my job is to ensure that everybody is on the same page about what results I'm producing and ensuring they understand how those results align with what’s important to them. 

Because the other piece of this is what was my relationship like with him that I wasn't communicating with him in a way that was cognizant of what was important to him and linking my results to what he found important?

Not only was I not managing my image by understanding what the metrics were and promoting the results, I wasn't dealing with my exposure, which is the quality and breadth of your relationships with key players - who knows you and what they know about you.

If I had been building a stronger relationship with him, my exposure to him would have been different because I would have been talking to him about my results in the context of what I knew was important to him.

Have you ever had a situation where you found out in a very abrupt or important way that you needed to do a better job of managing your image and your exposure? Comment below yes if it's happened to you, and if you're feeling generous let us know how you dealt with it.

Here's a worksheet you can use to organize your plan. Download it at fullpotentialrealized.com/pie.

High level, it's a three-step process. First, you're looking at your performance, and getting clear about the specific expectations around that performance.

The second part, image, is what do people know about you? Of those results, what's being communicated and how are you showcasing the impact you've had?

The third part is exposure. Who knows you and what are the relationships like with those people? And are you building the relationships with the right people so that you can understand what's important to them and connect the dots?

Here are the steps I’d propose in more detail. For performance, there's a couple of pieces. The first piece is what are the results that you're meant to deliver and how are they being measured by your key stakeholders?

Because what you might think is important in the role might not be the same thing that's viewed as critical by your manager and other stakeholders of your work. It's also important to understand how they measure these results, formally or informally.

What are your routines that deliver those results? Do you have other routines that might be important to you but might not be delivering or supporting the delivery of those results? And if so, can you streamline those?

Given that we don't want to just put more to-do’s on your plate, is there anything that can be streamlined? Is there anything that you're doing that's not mission-critical where that time and energy can be diverted to focusing on image and exposure? Perhaps making this effort less frequently, maybe delegating it to somebody else, or maybe adapting the process so it takes less time and energy.

Three things with respect to your image: what do you want to be known about you and your work? How do you get that message out there? What feedback loops do you have in place to check that the message that you want to have known is in fact being received? 

Any of these questions can be explored with your mentor or other trusted advisors.

For the exposure piece, look at your key stakeholders. Who are the people who are weighing in on your performance? Who are the colleagues or clients affected by your work? Who has something to say about how you're evaluated? If you're considered promotable? And what's important to them? What's your relationship like with them?

The thing to put in place here are the routines where you're building your relationships with those people. What are the contact points, what is the frequency, what is the frame of the general conversation you're having, what's your messaging, and how are you finding out what's important to them so that you can link what you’re doing to what they're doing and demonstrate alignment?

Assessing and managing your performance, image, and exposure is part of a bigger process for taking your career to the next level. If you're interested in learning more about that process, download an overview of my eight-step system at fullpotentialrealized.com/advance.

Let me know what you think about it, would love to hear your reaction. If you found this content useful, please share it with someone who could use it too.