Whatever your role in your team, you’re there because of your expertise – and some people value and recognise that expertise. But that’s probably limited to your colleagues, your team members, your boss, and perhaps a few other people. Amplify that expertise by reaching more people.
Don’t do this by shouting or boasting. Instead, there are so many more ways now to share your expertise by publishing your thoughts and ideas.
Business owners and entrepreneurs do this through a public blog, social media, or YouTube. Your platform of choice might be an internal blog, the company intranet, or an internal newsletter or magazine.
Some people find this challenging, because they don’t know how to write well. But everything you publish doesn’t have to be a beautifully-crafted 500-word article. Here are some other options:
- News story: Mention a recent news story and add a brief comment explaining its relevance.
- Latest research: Report on new research in your area of expertise, and explain why it’s important and relevant.
- Photograph: Take a photograph with your phone and publish it, along with a brief explanation.
- Insights from a conference: Share an interesting idea you heard from a conference speaker.
- Workplace incident: Describe an incident in the workplace and what you learned from it (Be careful about privacy, confidentiality, and sensitivity, of course).
- Useful Web site: Recommend a Web site that you find useful.
- Sent e-mail: Check your Sent Mail folder for answers to questions, edit them for relevance and confidentiality, and publish them.
- Quote experts: Quote other experts in the field (even competitors).
- Personal stories: Share relevant incidents from your personal life.
What can you do to share your expertise, build your authority, and start becoming an internal thought leader in your workplace?