Can you relate to this experience I had with a client a few weeks ago? Paul crossed his arms and with a frustrated huff said to me, “I’m not going to play politics around here. If I do a good job and keep my head down, things will work out. I just know that eventually I’ll get noticed and rewarded for all of my hard work.”

We would all love to believe that if we just do good work, that’s all it really takes to get noticed. Of course, this is contingent on the idea that someone is “scouting talent” at your work 24/7, desperately looking to find someone just like YOU – the diamond in the rough, the next hall-of-famer. This perfect scenario reminds us of those great “discovery” stories like the waitress who would occasionally break out into song during her breaks until one day, a Hollywood agent happened to stumble into her diner. Or the rural farm boy who practiced throwing a baseball out back behind the barn until one day that major league scout’s car ran out of gas and there was a fortuitous knock on the door.

I don’t know about you, but “talent scouts” are few and far between in the world. People are too worried about their own “stuff” to notice what others are up to. There aren’t many fortuitous knocks on our doors. Simply put, if we want to get noticed, the burden is on us to make that happen.

This month we are tackling this career limiting dysfunction: “I’m not getting noticed at work.” We’ll take on, amongst other things, the following questions:

• Are you getting noticed at work?

• What is being overlooked costing you?

• What are the most common ways we prevent ourselves from being noticed?

• What can we do to get the recognition we want and deserve?

Every week, I’ll kick off our conversation by addressing one of these big questions. Throughout the week I’ll collect and share stories, examples and other opinions as we dig in. By the end of the month, if we haven’t cured this dysfunction, we’ll do a darn good job treating it!

Write to me with your stories, examples or opinions on the subject. I promise to protect the innocent (and guilty!).

So, are you getting noticed at work or do you just feel like wallpaper? Help is on the way!