How To Make Yourself Indispensable At Work
Let’s face it: you’re probably not the only one who can do what you do. If you are, congratulations on being in the top 1% of the workforce. But for most of us, we understand there are plenty of people out there just lining up to take our job.
So how can you make yourself irreplaceable?
1. Improve The Business
Probably the most surefire way to ensure you always have a place at any company is by improving it. This doesn’t necessarily mean going out and securing new clients for the business, though that would be a smart move. Just be creative.
If you’re not much of a salesman, think of new ways to go about prospecting, or look for inefficiencies and suggest improvements. Maybe you know of a new piece of software that can automate a time-consuming task or you’ve got a better way to go about a menial part of the job.
If you’re looking for a formula then try this: identify problems at your current workplace and come up with a viable solution. If the issue is a lack of communication between departments, maybe it’s time to introduce everybody to Slack. If the issue is a lack of documentation, stay back an hour or two and put together some Google Sheets for everybody to use.
2. Improve The Workplace
Improving the workplace is different to improving the business. The business is everything that goes towards the bottom line, the workplace is the people you work beside and the office you sit in every day. It’s the extra-curricular activities you engage in with your coworkers and the vibe and atmosphere you all come into every day.
As well as finding ways to make your workflows and processes more efficient and finding new business to bring into your company, find ways to make your workplace a better environment. Sometimes it’s as simple as just being friendly and affable with your coworkers.
You’re a good worker, so naturally you’d put maximum effort and care into your tasks and duties, so apply the same attitude to your interactions and relationships with your peers.
Suggest reasonable improvements or additions to the office, organise activities outside of work, and help your coworkers out when they’re in a jam that’s work-related or if they simply need a ride or are looking for a good place to get lunch.
The rule of thumb is always be a positive presence in your workplace.
3. Solve Problems
My current team leader informed me during a work drinks session that what impressed him during my initial interview wasn’t my skills or experience but what my answers to their questions revealed about the way I think and problem solve.
When asked how I define a successful campaign, I explained that a successful campaign is determined by how well you achieved the goals and objectives set by the client. If the client wanted more website enquiries, giving them a report with lots of social engagement but no enquiries would not be considered a success.
Ultimately, everything boils down to how well you are able to problem solve. The success of a campaign is judged by how well you solve the client’s problem. In this case, a lack of web enquiries.
Most people, even those who’ve been working for years, still often fail to grasp this relatively simple concept. People don’t want to buy products or services, they want to buy solutions to their problems. Your employers had a problem when they put up a job notice and you provided the solution.
If you want to be an indispensable employee, it’s as simple as identifying problems and find the best solutions.
4. Be Nice
More than one employer has told me that what they look for in an employee before they consider qualifications and experience is basic culture fit. Life’s too short to hate the people you work with and this is doubly true if you’re a small business owner. It makes sense: you spent all this time and money building something special, you’re not about to have someone with a bad attitude come and spoil it for you.
Culture fit is also important because it’s something that can’t be taught. I’ve said it before: most employers are happy to provide on-the-job training if they think it’ll pay off. Even if you know how to do things, they probably have their own way of doing them. But being a positive and helpful member of the team is a quality that can’t be trained, nor can the way you think and deal with stress and pressure be learned on the job.
For the most part, employers and their employees want a workplace that’s pleasant. They want coworkers who don’t add another layer of anxiety to the existing pressures of the job. Go the extra mile and be the person that’s always calm and friendly in high-pressure, high-stress situations, the one that never seems to be having a bad day, the one that’s always chipper and affable and you’ll go a long way to ingratiating you with your coworkers and managers.
5. Take Out The Trash
That’s not meant to be some badass euphemism for smoking the competition and snatching clients and customers from their grasp. I mean literally emptying the office bins and taking them out to the dumpster when necessary.
Several managers have admitted to me that they effectively make the first week of an internship ‘Hell Week’, bestowing upon their fresh crop of unpaid workers as many soul-sucking menial, labour-intensive tasks as possible to ‘weed out the weak ones’.
But even more important than weeding out those employees whose backs are simply too fragile to handle some real, honest work, these managers are interested in seeing who’s a real team player committed to helping the company and contributing in any way they can, and who’s there just to punch a clock, collect a check, and refuse any task they consider beneath them.
Simply put, don’t dismiss company issues as ‘not my problem’ or refuse to do tasks you feel are below your pay grade when requested. You don’t just get paid to do the tasks you were hired to do, you get paid because of the value you bring to the company overall.
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