Unlocking Success: Embracing a New Mindset of Working from “How to be The Employee Your Company Can’t Live Without” Book — Part 1
Hello everyone! It’s been a long time since I wrote an article on Medium back in 2020. In this article, I would like to share with you some notable books that have truly given me some life-changing moments in my career. One such book is called “How to be The Employee Your Company Can’t Live Without.” I would like to recommend this book to those who are just beginning their careers or those who are already in the middle of theirs. This book is 18 years old since its first publication in 2006, but I think its content is still relevant now.
🎯 What this book told anyway?
As its title suggests, this book tells us how to become a highly valued employee in a company so that the company would be highly unlikely to live without them. Not just limited to that, but this book also provides a new mindset about working. Maybe some of us feel like working is just another routine and we are truly only looking for the money. But through this book, you will gain a new perspective on working and will likely look beyond just money. Without further ado, I would like to review all 18 ways to become indispensable based on what this book has taught me.
Step 1: Start with Why?
Every time you start something, you always start by asking yourself, “Why are you doing this?”, right? That’s what this book tells us to do. Start by seeking and asking yourself, why does it matter to become a highly valued and indispensable employee? Some of you may think, “I’m just working for a living.” There’s nothing wrong with that statement. Everyone needs money. What’s interesting is what lies beyond that statement.
Everyone needs money. The surest way to earn money is by working, and the surest way to make more money is to become valuable at work, a highly valued employee that the company can’t live without.
Step 2: Learn What Your Boss Wants from You
If you just kickstart your career, your manager or boss sure plays an important role in your work along in the company. Hence, it’s important to take note on the 1st day of your work, ask your manager for the details of your job description, your performance evaluation, and settle short informal meetings at least once a month so your manager will keep update with your work and your aspiration. Beyond that, it’s also true that you should fulfill what your boss‘ expectations’, right? It’s not just limited to how well you perform in accomplishing your work, but also achieving what your boss values are.
Talk about values, every generation has its own values. For example, the Baby Boomer generation is the most optimistic generation and they will appreciate more those who truly hard work even if it’s until overtime. Different with Generation X where it was contrasted with Baby Boomer where they usually free themselves as a free agent and independent person. I won’t talk more about this, but the point is, you should align your value with your boss’s value. For example, you should stand out so your boss will recognize your value. As Baby boomers were the enthusiastic ones, you should give some initiative to show your enthusiasm and your commitment to the company. And the rest of it, you know the drill.
Step 3: Be Low Maintenance
Just like in a relationship, a low-maintenance relationship is ideal so both partners can ensure the relationship will be healthier and there will be more trust between them with less effort. This also applies to the relationship between an employee and their manager. High maintenance refers to someone who puts in a lot of effort and attention to make others happy or satisfied, while low maintenance refers to those who are easier to please and put in less effort but achieve the same results.
This is a good reason why there are daily meetings held at the beginning or end of the day. You don’t need to update your manager about what you’re doing every hour since your boss’s time is valuable and you’re not the only one they should pay attention to. You can recap everything you’ve accomplished at the end of the day and try to solve your problems by yourself first, putting in your maximum effort.
Step 4: Answer the Question Your Boss Didn’t Ask
This phrase may sound equivalent to the term “proactive,” where you take action initiative before any circumstances or events occur. It’s also the same as looking two or more steps ahead before something happens. Your boss will most likely appreciate what you are doing. Beyond that, the magic phrase “What can I do to help you?” is also a love expression in a professional or working manner that will make your boss thankful. Being a highly valued employee requires more effort than just volunteering help when it’s needed, but also offering help before you know it’s needed
Step 5: Understanding the Economic Realities of Employing People
Now, it’s also important to consider your employer’s perspective, as they are the ones who pay your wage. If you’re only doing what you’re getting paid for, and not doing it any better than the average employee, then your pay is most likely right where it should be. A person who won’t give 100 percent at a job that pays $6 an hour won’t give 100 percent at a job that pays $60 an hour. This resonates with a quote like “You won’t be given a big responsibility if you fail in a small one.” Each time you receive a raise or a promotion, it means that your employer trusts you more and expects more from you in terms of increased productivity. Your title should match your performance, and as your productivity increases, so should your income.
Step 6: Act Like You Own the Place
It’s obviously for the entrepreneur to master their own products and services for customers. But how about an employee who works in the company? The same logic should be applied too. You work for the company, you contribute something that will serve what your company needs. And the company surely must serve its customers with the product or service you made for the company. Hence, you should master your company’s products and services too. Act like you own the place. It’s quite embarrassing if someone asks something related to your company but you can’t answer it well, right? Customers don’t know or care if an employee is a temporary worker or the company president. This is why companies need everyone to act as if they are owners.
Is there another benefit beside them? Yes, there is. As you may know, if someone is entrusted with such ownership, they usually become more productive as they usually make good decisions when they act like they own the company.
Step 7: Treat Your Job Like It’s Your Lifelong Career, Even if it was a Stepping Stone
Some of you may consider your current job just a stepping stone, hence, you know that you will not spend long in the company. This mindset could crush your work spirit and make you just an average employee. But the book offers us a new perspective. Treat your job as if it’s your lifelong career. Since your job consumes 5/7 days per week, you should love your job and do your best. Consider your job as your lifelong career where you should make something incredible and interesting every day so that every day of your work counts.
BUT what if you hate your job? That’s probably the big question, isn’t it? The answer is quite the same. Live as if you were dying, treat your present job as if you plan on doing it for the rest of your life, and you’ll soon have a better job. Sometimes, you may realize that everything you’re looking for is just around you; you just need to look a little closer. At least, before you decide to quit, ask yourself first, “Is there anything I love about this company?”. If you find something precious, that’s great. But if there’s not even a single thing, you may resign immediately.
BUT how about a boring and routine job? Try to look closer. You probably didn’t notice that everything you work on every day has its own differences from day to day, right? It may not be possible to get excited about doing a boring job, but it is possible to give yourself a reason to look forward to going to work. You may challenge yourself with your own goals and try to make variations in any of your work.
Step 8: Become the Most Reliable Person in Company
To become the most reliable person means you’re the one whom your colleagues or managers would entrust with responsibilities because they really count on you, knowing you’re always responsible and produce great results for the company. To start becoming reliable, consider three components as your indicators: job longevity, good attendance, and on time. It’s emphasized how good attendance and being on time play a role in reliability. Attendance is the simplest thing to do to become a reliable person, but most people only look halfway into this aspect.
Someone once told me, “If you fail at a simple task like attendance, how can I trust you with more responsibility?” You see how a small thing like attendance can influence an employee’s reliability? The same goes for being on time. Every instance of tardiness can cost the company more than you can imagine. Even being just 1 minute late for a client meeting could lead to a failure starting from a simple mistake. You need to earn a reputation for being reliable to become a highly valued employee. This means your boss can be confident that you’ll be there tomorrow and the next day, and that you’ll be on time.
Step 9: Learn the Right Way to Make Mistakes
In order to achieve highly valued employees, you should change your mindset about making mistakes. Perfectionism is such a killer instinct that could cause someone to over-worry about doing something and focus too much on preparation, which usually leads to doing nothing. Doing nothing is worse than making a mistake.
Highly valued employees are more likely to make more mistakes than average employees. This happens because highly valued employees usually take more initiative to accomplish something and are brave enough to take responsibility for it. BUT, the most valuable aspect of a mistake is the lesson learned and experience gained that can’t be replaced by anything and will be nurtured in the subconscious. You can see now that making mistakes is a sign that you’re doing something. If you stumble across the wrong track of the binary maze, you now know that it’s the wrong track and know which track is the right one.
“Life is just like a maze, you never know how to get to out of the maze unless you try to explore it! If the path turns out to be the dead end, just turning back and find another way! That’s life! If it is fail, doesn’t mean that is the dead end.”
Continue to Part 2…
I think that’s enough for the first part of my review of the book “How to Be the Employee Your Company Can’t Live Without.” I will continue with the next part, which you can read in this link.
Thanks for reading. I hope you have a great day in your life and your career! If you have any thoughts or comments, feel free to comment below and let’s talk!
REFERENCES
Shepard, G. (2006). How to Be the Employee Your Company Can’t Live Without: 18 Ways to Become Indispensable (1st ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
