View your work through the lens of business outcomes and turn invisible contribution into visible evidence with Glynis E. Devine’s top tips
The Journey Is Not Always the Destination!
One hand is clamped to my chest, the other is white‑knuckle gripping the handle so I do not get launched out of my speedboat. I am between meetings and we squeeze in a quick boat ride before the rain begins. It is chaos. Hair everywhere, clutching my mid-morning smoothie between my knees, waves spraying over the side, guaranteeing a full hair and make-up overhaul before my next meeting. And still, it is worth it to get to my oasis. Out here, the water turns glassy and shallow. The world goes quiet, except for reeds whispering, the soft slap of water against the bow, and the occasional seagull trumpeting his catch like he just closed a six‑figure deal. It is glorious.
For my husband, though, the journey is the whole point. He treats every outing like a live‑fire performance test for the boat. According to him, we must hit warp speed to “see what she can do,” which seems to be code for “ignore my airborne spouse in the passenger seat.” When I ask him to slow down, he rolls his eyes as if I have just suggested we paddle with spoons! His motive is speed and performance. My motive is calm and restoration. We are on the same boat, on the same lake, yet we measure the success of that trip differently.
The same thing happens at work. You can be the most capable, trusted Executive Assistant in your organization and still feel invisible. You and your executive ride through the same week, on the same schedule, but you measure success differently. The problem is rarely your performance; the problem is that your value is not linked clearly to the business outcomes your organization cares about most. Before you can show them how your work gets them to success, you need to know exactly what warp speed looks like in business outcomes.
From Helpful to High Value
Start with a simple question: What are my organization’s top business outcomes? When you can name those outcomes, you define your role by impact,not activity. To be proactive and know what and when to say ‘no’ strategically, you need a clear filter for what moves the needle.
When you know the top business outcomes, your daily decisions change. You see yourself as someone who protects revenue, reduces risk, speeds up decisions, and strengthens key relationships. When you anchor your tasks, initiatives, and decisions to business outcomes, you can describe your work as contribution to those outcomes, not as a list of tasks.
Shift your thinking from “I help” to “I contribute to specific outcomes.” Name your high-value visible and invisible contributions. Visible contributions are the tasks in your job description that everyone knows you do. Invisible contributions are all the high-touch tasks you do that your executives would only see if you stopped doing them.
Ask yourself, of all your contributions, what do you most want to be known for? And how do those contributions affect business outcomes? This connects who you are at your best with what the organization is trying to achieve and makes your contribution not only visible but indispensable.
High‑value work consistently solves problems that are aligned with those top outcomes. Ask: “What’s one problem I solve consistently?” and “One outcome I contribute to consistently is…” Use the pattern you see to manage your time and attention around the work that delivers results.
Know What Your Executive Is Really Solving For
To link your work to outcomes, you must understand what your executive and organization are solving for right now. The clearer your answer to “What are my organization’s top business outcomes?”, the more strategic your choices become.
Reflect on these two phrases: “In one sentence, what does your organization think you do?” and “In one sentence, what do you actually do?” The gap between these two sentences is pure opportunity. If your organization thinks you manage calendars, and you know you are smoothing cross‑functional communication and preventing issues from escalating, that gap is the beginning of a new, more strategic story about your role.
List your top three contributions that create the most impact on business outcomes and explain why each one matters strategically. When you do this, do not describe tasks. Describe the effect your work has. Instead of “I manage meeting logistics,” consider, “I create conditions for faster, better decisions by ensuring decision‑makers have the right people, information, and time in the room.”
Capturing your contributions is important; the summary may be shared with or eventually escalated to someone who can’t fill in the blanks. Make it clear and outcome-focused.
Map Your Work to Business Outcomes
Once you are clear on the outcomes, map your daily work to them. Ask: “What problems do I solve consistently?” and “What outcomes do I contribute to consistently?”
Look at your calendar, inbox, and current projects and ask: “Which of these activities and projects directly support our business outcomes?” When you see recurring meetings, tasks, or requests that do not connect to a stated business outcome, that is a signal to start asking better questions and suggesting adjustments.
Here are three example patterns you might uncover:
- You often step in to clarify information between teams. Frame this as “reducing confusion and delays in cross‑functional projects, which supports outcomes such as efficiency and faster delivery.”
- You regularly prepare your executive to walk into meetings fully briefed and confident. Frame this as “increasing decision‑making capacity and reducing the risk of missteps.”
- You organize stakeholder meetings where issues are resolved earlier and escalations drop. Frame this as “reducing risk and improving client or stakeholder satisfaction.”
Each of these examples comes back to the same question: “How does what I do contribute towards our business outcomes?”
Turn Contribution into Evidence
To position your value, capture and communicate your contribution as evidence. Conduct a 90‑Day Visibility Blueprint; start listing your contributions and expertise and why this expertise matters for your executive, team, or organization. Turn your internal strengths into a claim about impact.
Next, log three examples to show how you do this well. Translate your day‑to‑day work into simple proof statements, such as:
- “I coordinated X, which helped Y group achieve Z result.”
- “I stepped in to do A, which prevented B problem and supported C outcome.”
You are training yourself to describe what you do, why it matters, and how it supports a business outcome your organization recognizes.
Then, design a Stakeholder Map. Choose three people or groups whose awareness of your value matters most. Note why their perception matters and your current level of visibility with each, and track all your aligned contributions to these three stakeholders for the next 90 days.
Build Your 90-Day Visibility Blueprint
Start with the end in mind. Craft an answer to “In 90 days, I will be more consistently known for… (a particular expertise or aligned contribution).” Lay out clear proof, in detail. Define what success looks like before you start.
Design visibility actions across three time windows: days 1–30, 31–60, and 61–90, including where the action happens, what stakeholders will see, and how you measure success.
These actions might include:
- Sharing a concise update in a project meeting that links your work to a key outcome.
- Bringing one new insight about risks or opportunities to your executive’s one‑to‑one each week.
- Documenting a process you manage so others can see the complexity you handle and the problems you prevent. Record it on Loom and create an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).
Ask “Which contribution creates more value than you usually get credit for?” and “Which part of your work makes the biggest strategic difference?” Prioritize actions with the most impact.
Make Your Strategic Value Official
The final step is to think beyond one‑off recognition and ask how your expertise could be recognized, named, or built into your role more formally so business outcomes become part of your job description, goals, and performance conversations.
Craft your conversation ahead of time. How will you talk about this expertise:
- In your one‑to‑one with your boss?
- In team or project meetings?
- In goals, performance review, and role discussions?
- In cross‑functional relationships?
In identifying what matters most, you’ll discover what matters least to the business outcomes. Do less of the low-impact tasks and projects to protect your effort and stay realistic and sustainable. Saying ‘no’ to the requests that don’t feed business outcomes is a crucial part of acting like a strategic partner. Choose to invest more energy where your work creates the strongest link to outcomes.
Use Conversation to Unlock Opportunity
Finally, ask: “One conversation I need to have in the next 30 days is with…” followed by “because…” Once you’ve mapped your contributions, identified your outcomes, and built some early proof, this conversation is your bridge to the next opportunity.
You might choose your executive, a key stakeholder from your map, or someone who sponsors promotions in your organization. The content of the conversation can be simple and evidence‑based:
- Here is the problem I solve consistently.
- Here is the outcome I contribute to consistently.
- Here are a few recent examples.
- Here is how I would like to make this part of my role more official.
Because you have already done the work to name your contributions and outline your 90‑day plan, you are not asking for abstract recognition. You are inviting the organization to align your role more closely with the outcomes it already cares about. Instead of broadening your job description, suggest they rename the role to reflect the aligned contributions you focus on.
Your Next Step This Week
This week, research the business outcomes your organization cares about. Decide to be an aligned contributor to business outcomes. When you can describe your work in terms of measurable impact, and back it with evidence, you’ll transform how others see you, how your role is shaped, and which doors open next. And when you do, please email me so I can celebrate with you!
