You're struggling to get your boss to notice your hard work. What can you do to stand out?

To be recognized you should definitely align your activities with the company's priorities, with your direct superior priorities, but as this is quite obvious, there should be some extra flavor on top. I suggest trying to find out what would be the extra performance that can add a significant amount of results to the ongoing projects and invest your time and efforts in such. Having the base of alignment plus the extra efforts would help to get the spotlight.

Keep a record of all your completed tasks, extra responsibilities you've taken on & any positive feedback from clients/ team members. e.g. if you've streamlined a process that saved the company time & resources, prepare a brief report with before-and-after metrics to showcase the impact of your initiative. Offer to lead or be part of projects that are important to your boss or the company's goals. Don't wait for performance reviews to discuss your contributions. Schedule regular check-ins with your boss to update them on your progress. Use this time to highlight how your work aligns with the company's objectives.Remember, it's all about working smart and ensuring your efforts are aligned with what's valued & recognized in your organization.

Is not enough to prepare and do the work, you should be able to get the attention of that as well. One of the best technique is that you prepare a small plan about what you would like to achieve, do a proposal on that towards your boss, who will then see that you are proactively working on something and would also have an attention towards your work. Not to mention that you already gained an approval and support on your planned work. When progressing do a regular report how you are developed with the project and at finishing it make sure that you have a summary report and wide communication as well.

Very important part! Feedback is the best way to a) start your recognition path even when there is no or little progress (like planning phase), b) have approval of what you are doing c) active involvement of progress and when there is a need for additional resources d) progress status and finally e) results summary an recognition. Feedback would help you through the way in means of support, recognition and improving cooperational work.

This is the key to success. Just as I wrote in point 1, being proactive makes you win this game at least in 50%. There are successful people who are not proactive and not communicating well on their huge successes and sometimes they are not getting the well-deserved attention because of all the other communication noises in the working environment. It is not easy for learn proactivity, (especially for introverts), but keep going, practicing would help a lot.

Being proactive is a key skill to get noticed, another skill would be learning to 'manage up' which also links to the other section on building rapport.

Systematic work on a structured way. Be brave to proactively approach work, projects and your bosses. Be open and regular in communication, in seeking feedback and don't be shy to show your plans, your progress and your results. There is so much information out there, you should invest a lot into standing out for yourself and for your achievements. Sometimes even the greatest results needs an extra from showcasing and communication point of view to get the deserved recognition.