How To Be Indispensable At Work
Want to be indispensable to your employer? I talked to Rita Friedman, a
Philadelphia-based
career
coach and resume writer,
Andy Teach, author
of
From
Graduation to Corporation,
Stever Robbins, an executive and personal coach and top 10 business podcaster,
Amy Hoover, president of
Talent Zoo,
and Marsha Egan, a certified workplace productivity and business leader coach,
to find out how. Here's what they said.
1. Do work that matters, not work that's easy.
Most employees can find tasks at work to stay busy, pass the time, and fly
under the radar of the boss, Hoover says. “To become indispensable, dig deeper
and really think about the work that matters to the company and its success.
Tackle those projects first.”
2. Monopolize a particular skill.
Find some task that needs to get done by the organization and make sure that
you are the only person who knows how to do it, Robbins says. “You will have
the chance when somebody who already has a unique skill leaves the company, and
you step in to replace them. Or it will happen when a new initiative is created
that requires skill the company has never before had.”
3. Be willing to go the extra mile.
This doesn’t mean you have to ‘suck up’ to your boss–but if you’ve got the
time and means to give a little more than what’s expected, it can go a long
way, Hoover explains. “Managers need help and support to do their jobs well and
having a reliable team member makes a big impact.”
Teach adds: “Most employees just execute, but if you’re one of the few who are
constantly coming up with new ideas and are taking on new responsibilities that
aren’t required of you, this will go a long way in making you indispensable.”
Volunteering for projects that other employees don’t want to work on will also
solidify your position as an indispensable employee, he says.
4. Remember that your job is to make your supervisor's job easier.
By becoming your supervisor’s right-hand man or woman, you are building a
trust between the two of you, Teach says. If you are always thinking of ways to
help your boss and you do make their job easier, they are certainly going to
count on you more and more.
5. Master a language that's not required of your position.
Whether its fluency in Mandarin, HTML and web coding, or a special way of
calming down irate customers, being able to communicate on another level is
highly valuable. “You never know when the company will need to reach a client
on the other side of the world or to quickly have its website updated, but it
can be very reassuring for senior management to know there’s someone on staff
who could respond to these types of emergencies,” Friedman says.
6. Be productive, but don't make it a race.
“Most employees equate being successful and productive with doing the most
work, and doing it the quickest,” Hoover says. “That’s not always the
case.” Take your time to do the work correctly and thoughtfully. Often
when you do this you can uncover better and more efficient ways to get the job
done and once you bring those to the table, voila!: You’re a little more indispensable
to your boss and company.
7. Monopolize an important relationship.
If you are the only person who is a trusted advisor to your company’s
biggest customer, you will be essential to the company, says Robbins. “Find
relationships that are crucial to the company’s survival or ability to get
things done, and become the point person who maintains the relationship. Build
it up over time.”
8. Be a thought leader.
When everyone agrees, it is difficult to stand out, Egan says. “By applying
yourself in a way that provides new and valuable thinking that benefits your
company, you become a thought leader.”
9. Be a team player.
To be indispensable, you not only need to prove yourself to your supervisor,
but to your co-workers as well, says Teach. “If they’re always looking to you
to lead them, to be the point person on projects, even though you aren’t
their supervisor, this speaks volumes about you. Furthermore, offer to help
your co-workers when they run into a problem. If you do, they will see you as
their colleague and mentor which can only help your work relationship with
them.”
10. Add value to every transaction.
Egan says when completing your work, you should always ask yourself: Have I
taken the extra step? Has my report/response truly added value to the bottom
line of this company?
11. Be committed.
“It sounds obvious, and it may even sound easy, but what often truly sets
the indispensable workers apart from the replaceable cogs in the machine is a
die hard work ethic and commitment to quality,” Friedman says. “If you are the
best at what you do, you are likely to be the last one to go.”
12. Stay current with technology and trends.
Technology and industry trends are constantly changing so if you
are continually learning new technologies and keeping up with trends, you
will continue to be an invaluable asset to your company, Teach says. “If you’re
not already, you will become the go-to person on these matters which makes your
knowledge and skills even more valuable compared to those who aren’t staying
current.”
13. Have a good attitude.
“Again, it might sound obvious, but it’s easy to find people who don’t
appreciate having a job at all, and much harder to find people who make the
office a pleasant place to come,” Friedman says. “Everyone likes working with
people who seem like they are happy to be there, and if choosing between two
employees who are equally good at their jobs, a manager is more apt to axe the
grumpy one.”
14. Continually improve your oral and written communication skills.
Many people don’t like to speak publicly–but for those who do, it can
lead to great opportunities, Teach says. It’s also hard to find employees with
excellent written skills, especially in the world of texting and Twitter–so if
you are a great writer, you will definitely have an advantage over others, he
says.
15. Always try to offer solutions.
You know that one thing that everyone at work always complains about? It
might be the poorly designed e-commerce platform, the way the warehouse is
organized, or the computer system that has some really whacky glitches.
Whatever it is–instead of commiserating, find a way to fix it (or, at least, a
way to consistently work around it), Friedman says. “You don’t necessarily have
to have expertise in a hard skill such as creating pivot tables in Excel, but
if you’re the only one who can get the printer to stop eating paper, you might
find yourself with a leg up.”
16. Be consistently reliable and trustworthy.
These are traits that employers value today, because of too many incidences of
unreliability and mistrust, Egan says.
17. Keep in mind that no one is truly indispensable.
If you leave, as long as the organization is at least slightly functional,
it will find a way to survive without you, Robbins says. “The strategies above,
however, will give you a chance at being perceived as indispensable, which is
what you really care about.”
Read original article here http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/09/05/17-ways-to-be-indispensable-at-work/
