One of the most interesting conversations I was involved in recently came during a panel discussion about talent, leadership and progression.
At some point, the conversation turned to ‘quiet talent’ and whether organisations overlook people who aren’t naturally outspoken or highly visible.
My view was fairly simple – I don’t think we overlook them. I think we often fail to reward them.
Are we rewarding visibility over impact?
Most organisations are very good at recognising visibility and notice the people who speak confidently in meetings. They notice the people who naturally promote their achievements and the people who are comfortable taking centre stage.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with those qualities.
But some of the most valuable people I’ve worked with throughout my career haven’t necessarily been the loudest voices in the room.
They’ve been the people who spot issues before they become problems and who build trust with clients. They’re the people colleagues rely on, and who consistently deliver excellent work without needing recognition every time they do it.
When valuable work goes unnoticed
The challenge is that much of this value is preventative.
When someone avoids a problem before it happens, there is often no visible success story. If they quietly support a team, there isn’t always a measurable achievement attached to it. And when someone is consistently reliable, we can start to see that reliability as normal rather than exceptional.
That’s where I think many organisations unintentionally create a problem.
They begin rewarding visibility more than impact and start associating leadership potential with confidence, self-promotion and being outspoken.
When leadership potential looks different
In doing so, the risk is overlooking people whose strengths look different. This is particularly relevant when we think about the different expectations placed on people throughout their careers.
Many women, myself included, have spent years receiving messages about being polite, being helpful and not drawing too much attention to ourselves.
Those expectations don’t disappear when we enter leadership roles.
As a result, talented individuals can find themselves delivering significant value while remaining less visible than colleagues who are more comfortable promoting their contributions.
One of the strongest moments from the discussion came when someone posed a simple question – “If this person left tomorrow and you’d panic, why weren’t they already considered strategically important?”
It’s such a powerful challenge, because every successful organisation needs way more than a future managing director.
Not everybody wants to lead a department, manage people, or be the loudest voice in the room.
And that’s absolutely fine.
Businesses also need dependable, thoughtful people. Trusted people – those who create stability and consistency, and make everybody around them better.
Do we need quieter people to become louder?
The conversation shouldn’t always be about helping quieter people become louder. We should also spend more time examining what they currently reward. Are we:
- recognising contribution?
- celebrating impact?
- creating space for different working styles and personalities to succeed?
Because if we only reward visibility and the loudest voices, we may be missing some of the most valuable people in our organisations.
And often, we don’t realise just how valuable they were until they’ve gone.
