You are not indispensable!
Only you can make this world seem rightHumming that beautiful classic song by the Platters reminds me something about my role at work. While we can truthfully assert "only you" to our partner (wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, etc.) the organization does not.
Only you can make the darkness bright.
Only you and you alone
can thrill me like you do
and fill my heart with love for only you...
Let me get down on this a bit, please.
It is a humbling experience to discover that others can get along without us. Yeah. Let me ask: which one of us has not harbored the secret thought that when we leave a job to others, it probably won't get done as well as if would if we were doing it? Aha! See. Still, the fact remains that none of us is indispensable. In the end, that job will be accomplished with or without us.
Organizations now can easily cope. Change Management, by the way, is now an institution for many organizations. Change is inevitable. It is happening all around us. What used to be effective and efficient methods and processes then, were now considered Jurassic. The advancement in technology has compelled organizations to continually audit their business activities and implement changes when and where necessary. This includes training employees for multi-tasking jobs. This is being implemented to ensure that there won’t be any job within the organization that cannot be done. Hence, if you are toying on the idea that no one can do that job except you, you are in for a surprise.
With outsourcing and B2B ways of doing business becoming the norm, any employee can easily be replaced and any job can be fill in immediately.
Therefore, the next time that you get into the trap of thinking that the job won't be done without you, and you are about to commit another night at the office or sacrifice another weekend away from your family, please reconsider. No one is indispensable. You are not indispensable. Learn to delegate. Learn to allow others to share the responsibilities and goals. After all, organizations do thrive when members synergize and the mavericks (or Lone Rangers) learn how work with a team.
On another thought, if you really think and believe that you are indispensable, it only shows your lack of planning or your inability to manage priorities. More so, this is also an indicative of your lack of trust on the others ability or worse, your failure to train others to take on those responsibilities.
Think again my friend. In any given job or project, there is always another man who can do it better or even faster than you do.
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3 Comments so far:
Great post. A point you implied, but didn't specifically state, is that to be successful in today's quickly changing business environment, people need to be proponents of the change that will occur. Change is going to happen, so be in front of it. That way it won't roll over you.
I'm living the change in my own organization. We haven't kept up with our customer's changing needs, so they are drastically reducing their contract with my company. Know anyone who needs a good systems engineer?
I try to follow a "hit by a truck" rule . . . if I get hit by a truck crossing the street, will someone be able to pick up my projects & keep rolling with them?
You are absolutely right . . no one is indispensable at work, nor should they be. great blog!
Yes, no one is indispensable in a company. We try to adapt to have multi roles in our company. We strive to learn new ways to make us effective.
We want job security, if there is a company even with lesser pay that can offer that perhaps it is an antractive choice.
Education is a wise investment that can never be taken away from a good industrious worker.
- Gaga
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