You’re an introvert, so you’ve resigned yourself to the fact that you don’t ‘do’ small talk or coffee machine / water cooler chat.
You also don’t speak up and share your thoughts in meetings of more than 3 people and don’t get involved in departmental events or join team lunches. You definitely don’t do conferences and because the other members of your team are so much better at it than you, you let them ask the obvious questions, present their work, present parts of your work even… because you’re an introvert, and everyone knows that you don’t ‘do’ all that interacting and team bonding stuff.
Well, yes… and also no.
Yes, they know how you are, but are you aware of the judgements they’ve formed about you and why you don’t do all of the social interaction stuff? Because whereas to you it’s nothing personal, to them it can appear standoffish, snobbish, arrogant, antisocial and rude. And none of those qualities are going to get you the recognition and promotion you crave. None of this is going to get your work seen and recognised and none of this is going to get you working on this best projects with the best teams.
And the hard truth is that over time what happens is that your not wanting to be visible, results in just that… you not being seen. Which can feel great for a short time, because when you’re not seen you’re not bothered either, so you’re left in peace to work on your own which you love.
But…
When you’re not seen and your work isn’t seen you also get overlooked; it would be nice to be asked for your opinion from time to time, right?
When you’re not seen you’re not considered for testing out the new equipment; it would be nice to be chosen to work with latest tech, right?
When you’re not seen, people don’t notice when others start taking credit for something you originated; it would be nice to get the recognition you deserve, right?
When you’re not seen, your younger less experienced colleagues start getting promoted over you; you’d like that promotion, right?
You’re a scientist, for the science.
You work for the love of the science.
Your lab and your books are your world (at work at least).
But if you’re in it for the science, as well as doing the research you also need to be able to contribute by making connections, forging partnerships and broadcasting your knowledge… And that starts with all those little coffee machine conversations, with raising the obvious questions in meetings and getting involved in those team and departmental events.
If you’re not doing this or if you’ve gone a step further down the path to invisibility and your 360° reviews are starting to mention a lack of participation, you need to start doing something about it. You need to start finding ways to overcome your discomfort being visible and start making yourself seen.
This doesn’t mean becoming a complete extrovert or changing your personality it just means finding ways to overcome your dislike of being in the spotlight without getting overwhelmed.
Need some help? DM me to have a chat about what working together could look like.
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