How to communicate your value at work

We held the kickoff session for my 2025 women's leadership cohort last week and there was a common topic on everyone's minds: Why is it so easy to advocate for everyone else and so hard to advocate for myself? 

It just feels easier to speak up for someone else or to advocate for what they want, especially if those people are your trusted colleagues or direct reports. It makes you feel good, like you are a team player or a supportive leader. You don't have to deal with the vulnerable emotions that arise when it comes to telling people what you've accomplished.

In fact, one of the messages we commonly hear in professional development courses at work is to be supportive. We should cheer for others and we should be advocates for our team. This is all true and we definitely want to work for a manager like this. 

Sometimes, however, being too good at supporting everyone else and overlooking the importance of advocating for yourself can keep you in an advancement trap - overlooked as an indispensable team player but perceived that you aren't capable of executive leadership yourself. After all, you're so busy advocating for someone else and not wanting to look arrogant or self-aggrandizing that your accomplishments remain more hidden than they should be.

When it comes to performance review time or asking for a raise, many of my clients echo a consistent theme, “I am struggling to articulate my value and I'm pretty sure I'm selling myself short.”

A recent poll I conducted validates this sentiment:

Whether it's performance review time for you or not, any 1-1 conversation with your leader is a good time to advocate for your career goals. 

Clues you may be selling yourself short include:

• Not owning your part in contributing to group results

• Not naming and claiming your contribution to business outcomes

• Diminishing your role or part in something when compliments are given

• Dismissing the talents or skills you used to achieve these outcomes

• Not believing you are qualified for a raise or promotion, even though you've worked harder than others

• Believing you need “just one more” certification, experience or educational experience to be ready

One of the best pieces of career advice I've ever heard is from Carla Harris. She says, “The majority of decisions about your career will be made when you are not in the room.”  

This truth bomb reminds us of how important it is to tell our leaders what we desire, what results we've created and what we've impacted so they can use that language to advocate for us in decision-making rooms about our careers. Keep reading for tips to put this into action.

PUT THIS IDEA INTO ACTION

When it comes to identifying what companies care about at the end of the day, it boils down to four business focuses: Making money, saving money, leading change and reducing risk. You can use this information to help you shape what impact you've made and to advocate for yourself. 

Stop selling yourself short and strengthen your resume, your performance review feedback or boost your success in asking for a raise or promotion by identifying what you've accomplished in the four business focuses.

1. How did I help my company make money this year? Did you:

• Produce revenue through sales or growth

• Contribute an idea that created revenue

• Retain a large client or reprice a large client to stay

• Launch a project or product into the marketplace

• Contribute efforts that boosted employee engagement or satisfaction

• Contribute efforts that boosted client engagement or satisfaction

2. How did I help my company save money this year? Did you:

• Contribute an idea that streamlined a process

• Reduce direct expenses or overhead in some way

• Reduce client attrition or turnover

• Reduce employee attrition or turnover

• Launch a product or system that creates efficiencies

• Reduce errors or rework or improved quality

3. How did I help my company lead change? Did you:

• Participate on committees actively driving change

• Lead meetings, training or education to support a new initiative

• Advocate publicly for a new vision and encourage others to get on board

• Encourage clients to adopt new behaviors or use a new system

4. How did I help my company reduce risk? Did you:

• Improve quality in a process that reduces errors or rework

• Contribute to the company's brand or marketplace perception in a positive way

• Make financial or system enhancements to improve your company's health or ability to earn revenue

• Contribute to system or compliance enhancements that made it safer and easier for clients to do business with your company

Try this phrasing using real numbers or percentages:

• In the last year I worked on XYZ which impacted the company by improving/decreasing ABC by X % / $. 

• Follow up with what talents or skills you used to accomplish that goal.

Remember: Some of you may be thinking, but I worked with a group of people to achieve this. Yes, that's true and you can claim credit for your part in the group work and the outcome it all achieved. 

Stop selling yourself short, own your contributions and advocate for yourself so you leader doesn't have to guess what to say about your goals and results when you are not in the room.