In-House Counsel

Tip-Toeing Into Self-Promotion

You may need to advise or, in some cases, remind your leadership of your contributions.

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thumbs-up-2056022_640Even as I type out the title of this post, I cringe. I can’t help it. Self-promotion seems like such a dirty word. Aren’t our workplaces meritocracies where head-down long hours, missed family dinners, and the quality of our work speak for themselves?

At the same time, consider the reality of your work. As in-house counsel, how do clients know that you helped prevent a lawsuit? How much is your advice and counsel worth and how do clients know, if they themselves are not lawyers?

Also consider the reality of your workplace. How many people are on your team? In the legal department? In your company? Consider how many people your manager evaluates during performance review time. Consider whether you can personally remember all the good work you did over the last week, month, year?

Chances are, after consideration of these questions, you may begin to realize you and your individual performance can easily become background, the drone of business as usual, against a sea of to-do lists, work demands, projects, and expected output. A natural extension of that realization is that you may need to advise or, in some cases, remind your leadership of your contributions, wins, and impact to the business to stay top of mind.

Here are a few ways to tip-toe into self-promotion.

Be Generous In Promoting Others

This may seem counterintuitive because it is not actually promoting yourself. At the same time, in my experience, genuine praise of others does two things: it promotes a generous team culture which can indirectly lead to recognition of you and your work, and it may directly lead to you receiving recognition out of reciprocity. You could even be intentional and establish a buddy or work group where you explicitly agree to promote one another. And because praising others is more comfortable than self-promotion, it is a great place to start and from which to practice.

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Try The Obvious Humble Brag On Social Media

Before you give me the side-eye for being so basic, just try it. If you have to start somewhere, this is a great place to start because it is socially acceptable (especially as a lawyer) to share that you won an award or share that you’re speaking at a conference on LinkedIn. If you are connected to others at your company on LinkedIn, including your leadership or clients, this can be a less “in-your-face” way of self-promotion.

Be Factual

Part of the icky-ness of self-promotion comes from the myth that it is hyperbole or fiction. In reality, self-promotion could be as simple as sharing the positive impact or results of a recent project with your manager during your weekly 1:1 meeting. It could be an email with a bulleted list of cost savings derived from your efforts or a forward of positive feedback you received from a client.

Delivery Is Key

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As with anything, how you say it is just as important as what you say. Being braggadocious is very much about the how. Casually slipping in that you just returned from a conference where you spoke when asked what you did over the weekend by your manager or a colleague feels very different than sharing that same information during a meeting with your entire legal department when it opens for “pop-ups.”

At the end of the day, I personally don’t believe that self-promotion alone can replace solid good legal work. But I do believe that it is a skill, if executed well, that can accelerate the trajectory of your career.

Meyling Mey Ly OrtizMeyling “Mey” Ly Ortiz is in-house at Toyota Motor North America. Her passions include mentoring, championing belonging, and a personal blog: TheMeybe.com. At home, you can find her doing her best to be a “fun” mom to a toddler and preschooler and chasing her best self on her Peloton. You can follow her on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/meybe/). And you knew this was coming: her opinions are hers alone.

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