How to Get Your Employer to Understand Your Value in Your Job
(NOTE: This is a true case study about Simon Mattocks and how he used More Than My Title tools to find his hybrid professional identity and achieve amazing results with his employer.)
“Your stuff works, it really does,” were practically the first words out of Simon’s mouth after introductions.
After recently pitching his newly discovered professional identity to his employers with great success, we were discussing his results.
Simon had felt stagnant in his career as his title was not a true representation of his role and abilities. Yet after his pitch, he received a raise he was satisfied with, a “meet-in-the-middle job title” and he feels supported to work at his intersections because his colleagues understand that part of his value now.
Simon and I had never met until this moment.
Last fall, we connected when Simon tagged me in a LinkedIn article where he explained in detail how my professional identity tools had been pivotal to resolving his months-long professional identity crisis. This triggered messages and our inevitable zoom call.
The Backstory of Simon’s Professional Identity Crisis
The situation Simon found himself in is familiar to many of us. For eight or nine months in 2022, Simon asked himself, “Who am I, what am I doing?” To the point where he seriously considered giving up and swapping careers completely. The problem was, Simon knew if he chose that route it would be the wrong decision because he’s good at what he does.
During COVID, the company Simon worked for merged with a bigger company. That’s when restructuring began, and Simon’s role was called into question.
What did he do?
You may have seen this coming, but Simon is a “jack of all trades” who realized he’s actually a hybrid professional. Having gained experience across graphic design, animation, motion graphics, and front end development, as well as managing design and development teams together, traditional titles don’t suit him.
In Simon’s words, “I’ve been described as Agency Operations, Solution Architect/Designer, Account management, DevOps, Digital/Creative Producer and Project manager. I would now classify these as tertiary touchpoints. I can do them, however these titles shouldn’t be the core identities of my professional hybridity.”
Hence, his dilemma. Simon didn’t know how to express his true professional identity because he crossed so many lines.
What Happened When Simon Felt Pigeon-Holed
With the merger, new colleagues found it was difficult to understand what Simon does.
When a colleague asked, “Who does this?” staff often answered, “Well, you go to Simon for that.” This nearly became an inside joke because all questions pointed back to Simon, as is the case for many hybrid professionals who possess blended abilities and insights that sit at the intersection of projects, teams, clients, and departments. Simon was dialed into nuances others didn’t see, which is why he was the go-to person as well as difficult to define.
For about ten months, Simon got on with this, until it reached a point where the company didn’t know where to put him. A lot of different titles, like account manager and business analyst, were brought to the table, but they still made him feel pigeon-holed,
Simon adamantly told them, “That’s not me.”
In his heart, he knew if he accepted any of these titles, he’d get bored and leave. Thus, it became a long battle of “Where do we (the business) put you or where do you want to be?”
The tension between fitting Simon into the company structure while also valuing his unboxable nature was real. What was the answer?
The Solution to Simon’s Hybrid Dilemma
The company wanted to keep him, and he wanted to stay, but the structure of titles and roles made that impossible to the point where Simon questioned his whole career.
Being a smart company who saw Simon’s talent, they wanted to retain him.
It was around this time that Simon stumbled upon my interview on The Futur podcast where I explained my model of defining your professional identity and how to communicate your hybridity. This was an “aha” moment. Simon immediately got to work applying the More Than My Title methods.
He said, “I broke down all my core professional identities without using power grab titles. First, I came up with the words solution and strategy, and then I was like, I actually do strategy, creative and technical. So those are my three core areas.”
As Simon got into the depths of his professional identity, he realized there aren’t many people who can do what he does. His identity is rare and specialized, that’s why he needed a way to describe it more accurately.
Using the More Than My Title tools, Simon said it gave him a way to see himself more systematically and break it down so he could make better correlations.
Below, is the Venn diagram Simon created to visualize how his different identities fit together. This was a revelatory exercise that helped him make sense of who he truly is for the first time.
The Venn diagram Simon created to show how his different professional identities intersect.
The Presentation and Pitch That Caused His Company to Understand Him and His Value
With this new self-understanding, Simon shared his revelations in an article on LinkedIn and a few of his colleagues read it. This happened in tandem with a meeting with senior staff, including HR, and a couple members of the board of directors.
It was in this meeting that everything changed.
Simon created a four-slide deck that included his Venn diagram (shown above) and his new professional identity elevator pitch:
“Hi, my name is Simon Mattocks and I’m a hybrid professional. I call myself a strategy, creative and technical consultant because I work at the intersection of strategy, solutions, marketing and design. My hybridity allows me to take ownership of a project to produce flexible, high-impact results for our clients and reduce time deficits for technical setbacks or out-of-scope strategies. The beautiful outcome of this is a shared vision and trust with the client and agency.”
Notice the new title Simon created for himself: Strategy, Creative and Technical Consultant.
For Simon, this title captures, “Who I am and what I do,” and his elevator pitch summarizes why these three points stick.
When delivering his presentation, Simon clearly outlined what he does now, how he sees himself in his work (the identities that best represent him), and why his intersections are where his value lies. He also stated he wasn’t trying to leave but instead wanted to find common ground because there needed to be a change so that he felt more supported in his work.
The Final Result
Simon stated that the purpose of his presentation wasn’t just about money, it was about his job title and identity.
Simon’s goals were two-fold:
He wanted a title that felt comfortable with clients so they understood him,
and he wanted to be seen and understood by colleagues for who he really was and not pigeon holed into something the company wanted him to be.
Importantly, Simon had tested his new elevator pitch and title on colleagues befores making his presentation. In particular, he tested it with a colleague he didn’t work with before he shared it with the directors because he knew if that person got it, then the rest would too.
Simon’s presentation led to a healthy and productive conversation around his professional identity and the company’s structure. They negotiated the language of his proposed title in a way that made sense to Simon (his new title is Solutions Architect to coincide with company standards), but they also allowed him to use his hybrid title and elevator pitch when explaining his role to others. (I call this technique the double intro where you use your formal title with your hybrid professional identity).
By discovering his professional identity and conveying it clearly to his colleagues and bosses, Simon achieved a sense of career belonging.
The resources and methodology of becoming more than your job title are powerful. What worked for Simon can work for you too.