From the outside, the route looks clear. Your performance is strong. Projects are getting delivered. Reviews look good. If you were scanning a spreadsheet or a leadership update, you’d assume things are moving exactly as they should.
And then your career…stalls?
It's hard to define, because nothing is really "wrong" at work. But somehow, nothing is really changing either.
We tend to look inward when that happens. What do I need to do differently? What skill am I missing? What should I be fixing?
Where’s the check engine light?
Sometimes the problem isn’t you at all. It’s that you have no idea where your work goes after you hand it off.
You worked on part of a presentation, but you weren’t in the room to see how it landed. You ran an analysis but never saw the final report. You are a star performer in an area that just doesn’t get noticed by “the powers that be.” How do you know if what you did made a difference? This isn’t just about ego or getting credit for your work. It’s about knowing whether your work is actually shaping decisions, direction, or outcomes beyond your immediate role. When you can’t see where your work lands, it’s hard to tell if it even matters.
In most organizations, opportunity doesn’t only move through performance systems. It moves through reputation systems. Promotions, stretch assignments, and nominations are shaped in conversations that sound a lot like “Do you know anyone for this?” or “Who’s strong in that area?” Those conversations rarely happen inside a performance review. They happen in rooms many people never enter. When someone’s work is only visible to their direct manager, it never becomes part of that broader reputation economy. That’s why invisibility feels so destabilizing. Not because people want applause, but because without visibility, their work has no way to turn into momentum.
invisibility feels so destabilizing. Not because people want applause, but because without visibility, their work has no way to turn into momentum."
The Spotlight
This is where ERGs shine. Pun intended. They can create and aim spotlights in ways that open sightlines between people that otherwise aren’t clear.
We often talk about ERGs as valuable because they give more junior employees access to role models and senior leaders. That matters. But it’s only half the equation. Visibility has to work in both directions. It’s not just about who you get to look up to. It’s about who gets a chance to see you. ERGs create some of the few spaces in an organization where leaders can encounter rising talent outside of reporting lines, résumés, or formal review cycles. That kind of exposure changes who gets remembered when opportunities come up.
Who just did work that other people should hear about? Who led a project that crossed teams? Who solved a problem other people are quietly struggling with? When that kind of work gets named and shared, it starts traveling beyond the people who already know it. Managers can help by nominating work worth noticing. A quick “here’s someone doing standout work and what they’re working on” goes a long way when it’s visible to more than one leader.
ERGs create some of the few spaces in an organization where leaders can encounter rising talent outside of reporting lines, résumés, or formal review cycles."
ERGs can also create low-pressure ways for talent and influence to actually meet. Office hours with ERG sponsors or senior leaders are a good example. Not formal mentorship. Not a long-term commitment. And not a networking event where talent at all levels are expected to be comfortable going up to people multiple skip levels from them and introducing themselves. Ask sponsors and senior leaders to host an office-hour or coffee-chat and give them something to talk about. Find a theme or a common article for everyone to read and discuss. The goal isn’t polish. It’s familiarity.
When ERGs do this well, they don’t just make people feel good. They change how talent moves. Instead of opportunity being shaped only by who already knows whom, it starts to be shaped by who is actually doing strong work. Names travel. Work gets remembered. And people who were once on mute begin to show up in the conversations where decisions get made. That’s how effort reconnects to outcome, and how organizations keep their best people invested before invisibility turns into disengagement.
We’ve captured practical ways to do that in the accompanying Spotlight Action Sheet.
