Talking about the work is part of the work
“I worked so hard, yet I was skipped for a promotion, just because I didn’t brag about the work I did”
“My hard work is going unnoticed”
You might’ve found yourself in this scenario: you worked incredibly hard on something, but didn’t get the recognition for the work you did. A missed promotion, raise, or simply lacking any kind of positive feedback. Even if you did the hardest, best work of your life. Your effort went unnoticed.
At the same time, maybe you have noticed that the people that do get recognition are - for better or worse - less humble about their efforts. The people that shout from the rooftops all they did, all the long hours they made and how incredibly important they are to the company.
You might think these people arrogant a-holes. And they might be. But they are doing something better than you. Talking about the work.
It’s not bragging, it’s communication
People are mostly, if not entirely, preoccupied with themselves and their own problems and worries. Even your manager - a person responsible for your work - has their own struggles, pressures, and worries. Same goes for you peers, the people that might get how much work and how hard your work is, they are still mostly busy with their own ongoings.
And so, people simply don’t pay attention to one another. No one sees how much work. They might care - but they will care more about themselves (as they probably should!).
The only way that people will recognize your efforts is if they see them, and usually that means that they hear you talk about them. But there is no reason to brag. You just have to communicate.
The fact that you had to work hard is information in itself - it means that either something was more complex than anticipated, the company or project is understaffed, or something else. Either way, it’s useful information!
More important though: to collaborate effectively you need to communicate about work. That includes status updates, things you’ve learned, and the output of your work.
This transmits not only the value and information of the work itself, but it also makes you more visible as someone related to this work. It helps your colleagues understand how you can be helpful to each other.
How to brag communicate better
You don’t have to act in a particular way. Just be overly transparent:
Regular updates. Every two weeks or so, share an update publicly (among colleagues that this vaguely is of interest to) if you haven’t done one. What’s happening now, what are you doing next.
At project start: What are we doing, how long will it take, where can people follow along.
At project close: what did we do, what’s the impact
This all seems very obvious, but if you don’t share this in a public forum, you’d be surprised by the lack of awareness of your work. Even if it’s the most important thing ever.
Talk about work. It’s part of the work.