How To Build A Personal Brand When You're In A Virtual Role

The nature of work is changing. Flexibility is gaining acceptance. Remote and virtual roles are growing in popularity. Organizations are catching on to the increased employee engagement that can come from remote work in addition to the organizational cost-savings and reduced environmental impact.

All that said, sometimes when you’re in a virtual or remote role, it’s easy to get lost in the background, to be forgotten or overlooked. How does one navigate a career, become visible in an organization, build deep relationships and reach for desirable projects and assignments when the rules of the game have changed?

When I work with clients who come to me in this situation, we focus on these 5 ways to build up their personal brands to help them continue to connect with their work, their colleagues and their leadership.

1. Be you
Take the time to get clear on your strengths and also what makes you different from your colleagues. Do you come from a different industry or discipline than most of your peers? Leverage those differences as a way to add a new slice of value to projects and teams instead of trying to fit into the pack. If you’re struggling to figure out your gifts, do one of my favorite self-esteem boosting exercises: ask 5 people in your life what they see as your strengths. (You’re welcome!).

2. Look like you’re at work
Love it or hate it, video conferencing is here to stay. Even though you’re at home and your dog may be lying on your feet, when you have video calls you should look professional (at least from the waist up!). Wear a nice shirt, do something with your hair and make sure the part of your office that’s on camera is neat-ish. This is an opportunity to remind people who you are and let some elements of your brand shine through. Do you have a bookshelf behind you with some favorite books? Photos of your family? Your meditation pillow? Whatever it is, this is an opportunity to share a piece of you without leaving your home.

3. Choose action and participation, early and often
There’s no sitting on the sidelines in meetings or on teams when you’re a remote worker. You must participate. You must share points of view. You must be visible. For some, this takes practice. If you’re struggling to get a word in with a vocal crew—I get it. Phone and video calls can often be awkward with timing. Talk to a colleague who will be in the room ahead of time and set him or her up to ask you for your POV in the meeting or to back you up after you’ve made a good point.

4. Volunteer in meaningful ways
Note some areas to help the organization that are not part of your job description AND are also things that are important to you. If you’re committed to environmental causes perhaps you can help your organization with a recycling policy or set up a service day with your team where you can contribute time to an environmental non-profit. If you want to bring together a women’s leadership group or plan a speaker series—these are great ways to experiment with new skills and projects—and be known for the causes and work that’s meaningful to you.

5. Prioritize relationships
No matter whether you’re in the office or remote—building and maintaining deep professional relationships is critical to effectively navigating your career. When you’re in a virtual role, you can do this by setting up virtual coffee meetings with colleagues to connect, staying in touch with your manager regularly and setting up occasional days of meetings on-site so that you have in-person time with your team and beyond. Make an effort to remember the names of partners and kids and dogs. These details go a long way in building trust and showing that you care about the lives of your coworkers.

While the benefits of remote work for employees are clear—flexibility, reduced stress from a commute, and the ability to get solitary work done—if your goal is to be promoted and known within your organization, it takes some extra effort to step onto that path. It also takes a level of self-motivation, energy management and the ability to know when you need to step away from your laptop and talk to a person. Knowing all of this can help you decide whether or not a remote role is for you and whether you can tweak your approach to make it work. As someone sitting on a couch writing this, I’m relaxed and grateful for the direction work is taking. And I’m also ready for my moment to go talk to a person. Right. Now.