Per say, nobody is indispensable. People quit their jobs, they are handed over pink slips and deals fall through, but the world continues. You may wonder then why you should become indispensable at work.
Well, there are three reasons. First, you will always stay visible in the organisation. Your name would remain on the top of bosses’ mind for promotions. Second, your organisation will think twice or even more before firing you if they consider you a valuable employee. Third, if you put up your resignation, the organisation will try to retain you on your terms and conditions. Either way, being indispensable can work in favour of your career path.
Here are various ways to make yourself indispensable at work:
Improve Your Expertise
Find out what your strength areas are. You could be a skilled negotiator – you can win business for the company for every deal. You could have great people skills – you can resolve any conflict, whether among peers or with customers. You are a number cruncher – you can analyse tons of data at your fingertips. Develop your expertise to the extent that organisation feels that nobody can do it better than you!
Become a Right Hand Man
If your capacity permits you, try to shoulder the responsibilities of your boss. Don’t let a work issue reach him unless it is something you can’t handle or is very critical in nature. The more initiatives you take to lead the team, the more your manager would appreciate you. His work burden would become less. You should become his or her most trustworthy ‘go-to-person.’
Offer Solutions, Not Problems
At times, it is good to pose questions to get a better understanding of a problem and rule out all negatives. But, follow up your questions with solutions. Nobody likes a person who raises questions for the sake of disagreement. If you tend to disagree, back up your argument with an answer. This will boost your office reputation as a solution-provider instead of trouble-maker.
Pursue Professional Skill Enhancement Courses
Keep a tab on the job landscape and find out what skill would your job require in future. Similarly, also find out your weak points – maybe you lack strong communication or leadership skills. Accordingly, you can enrol in professional courses.
Support Colleagues
While you are trying to become indispensable for career acceleration, your peers could feel insecure or jealous. You do not work in isolation; you have to take your team members along. If you are on good terms with them, you can achieve organisational goals much faster and smoother. Do not hesitate to share your knowledge with your colleagues or juniors. Become their mentor. But, never stop working on strengthening your expertise!
Being indispensable is a lot of hard work. But, if you do it correctly, there is no stopping to your career success.
