Is Nobody Indispensable?

When I ask around, ‘What do you understand by being indispensable?’ I receive a wide range of responses and interpretations.

I tend to hear: ‘Nobody is indispensable!’ What does that mean? It sounds like employees do not really value themselves very much. If you do not value yourself very much, then why would your organization think, otherwise?

Consider the occasions when your team needed you around: year-end audits; during their vacation; when a male staff attends national service; a colleague goes on examination leave; your colleague is on maternity leave. On these occasions, were you most needed to deliver certain tasks? Thus, were you indispensable? Now, whatever number of days you were considered ‘vital’ or ‘cannot do without’, what would it take to extend this period of relevance? That is the goal you will have to think through.

I think the question is not about ‘indispensability’. It is about being valuable. How do you make yourself valuable? What is your brand? What does your brand stand for?

What do you possess that is valuable to your organization? How do you stand out from the rest? How do you position your brand? Which competencies do you possess that is rare, and valued by your organization? What are your mental orientations: contemporary versus traditional; flexible versus rigid; innovative versus predictable; daring versus safe?

Authors, David McNally and Karl D. Speak of ‘Be Your Own Brand’ wrote that ‘When you think of brands, chances are you think about whether we trust them or not, like them or not, remember them or not, value them or not.’ All these words have emotional components.

I just met a 40-something friend today, and he has been an entrepreneur for the past year. He challenged himself to do something different after earning his pedigree MBA degree. For the last six months, he worked on retainer as a consultant, doing business process reengineering. He is, currently, being wooed by an executive search firm for two global positions. Lucky? Perhaps? Hard work? Certainly. Relevant? You are correct. Indispensable? Probably. Indispensable skills. Absolutely.

What will you do on Monday? How will you position your brand? Evaluate your worth.

Can You Be Indispensable?

There is a prevailing belief, propagated and promulgated in large part by the management machinery. Nobody is indispensable! How true is that? Can you become indispensable?

Of course you can! The questions you need to consider are: how, and for how long?

Be a valued staff, and make yourself valuable. What can you offer beyond the achievements of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Key Results Areas (KRAs)? What do you do to add value? How do you multiply your value throughout your organization? How do you share value? Seriously give much thought into these value propositions.

Have you been asked to postpone your annual leave? Have you been told how the workplace was busier without you? If you returned after a hiatus, back to your job, then you are still valuable.

1. Have unique skills (be rare)

2. Be competent (so that you can compete)

3. Update your Job Description/Job Scope (scare the next person coming in!)

4. Do tasks that are not popular (writing minutes of meetings; editing; conversations with staff/management)

5. Lead, and be in leadership positions (include temporary ones)

6. Assume ‘acting’ roles (standing for a manager in their relative absence)

7. Reinvent yourself, and reduce your predictability

8. Shift that sense of dependability on you from a few days to a few weeks in a year (go from there)!