Crack Open the Door

How great work with the door closed goes nowhere.

👋 Hiya, work besties!

My boss said something to me the other day that I’m still sitting with.

Not because it was harsh. Not because it was a shock. But because it was just... true. And I hadn’t really prioritized it before he said it out loud.

“You need to get outside of your team.”

I knew he was right. But also... wasn’t that kind of on him? Like, isn’t it his job to direct me where to go? Isn’t that how this is supposed to work?

Spoiler: that’s not how this works.

The room you’re not in.

Right now, somewhere in your company, a group of people are working really hard on something super important that is perfectly aligned with your strengths.

Are they going to think of you?

If you can’t answer that with some confidence, that’s the thing worth fixing. Not your resume. Not your LinkedIn profile. That.

The three circles.

Think of your reach at work like three circles.

The first circle is your immediate team. The people who see your work every day. You’re known here. Probably very well known. And that’s great.

The second circle is your manager’s world. The meetings they’re in, the stakeholders they talk to, the cross-functional relationships they have. You might show up here occasionally, if your manager is a skilled delegator or actively focused on your development. But you’re probably an afterthought.

The third circle is everyone else. Not just your boss’s boss. Your counterparts in product, in sales, in ops, in engineering. The people owning the big projects that actually move the needle. The people who don’t know you or why they should loop you in.

These cross-functional relationships are often where the biggest impact happens. And where the best opportunities come from.

Most of us are doing incredible work inside circle one. And wondering why everyone else seems to be getting the exciting projects.

Why your manager can’t do this for you.

Here’s the thing about managers: they can advocate for you, but they can’t build your relationships for you.

If your counterpart in the product team has never worked with you, your manager saying “they’re really good” only goes so far. Trust is built through doing things together, not through someone else’s recommendation.

I gave someone feedback not long ago that they weren’t ready for a bigger role. Really talented person. But when I thought about who outside of our immediate team knew what they were capable of... nobody. Not because they weren’t doing great work. Because the work was done in a room with the door closed.

That’s a frustrating place to be. And it’s fixable.

What to actually do.

A few things that work, in my experience.

Ask your manager to bring you to one of their meetings that you wouldn’t normally attend. Not to sit quietly and look engaged. To contribute something.

Figure out where the cross-functional chatter happens. A weekly business review, a shared Slack channel, a working group on a big initiative. Show up there with something useful to say.

Once you’ve started to build some relationships, look for the gaps. What’s the thing that everyone is struggling with that nobody is solving? Do that. The people who step into those gaps get known fast.

And honestly? Keep your manager in the loop with what you’re doing. Tell them who you’ve connected with recently. Tell them what you contributed. Don’t assume they’re tracking it. Help them help you.

The one question.

Ask your manager this: “Who outside of our team knows what I’ve been working on?”

If they have to think too hard, you have your answer.

And your next project.

The deep dive? Adam Grant’s Give and Take is the most compelling case I’ve read for why the people who reach across team boundaries, help others without keeping score, and invest in relationships outside their circle end up with the most credibility and the best opportunities. And it’s a great read.

Get your name out there,

✌️ Steve