How do you become an irreplaceable asset in your company?
If you recall from the last blog post, becoming an irreplaceable asset is the best way to reduce risk and eliminate the fear of losing your job.
Sounds great, right?
The last post also gave you an introduction to discovering the “how” for your organization: identifying patterns in your valued peers.
But what if you didn’t see any patterns?
Or what if you think you saw some patterns but you’re not 100% sure?
No worries.
Let’s dive into the two fundamental actions you can take to become an irreplaceable asset.
What Does “Asset” Mean to Your Organization?
In financial terms, an asset is a resource with economic value that a company “owns” with the expectation that it will provide future benefit.
If we use this definition to guide us in becoming an asset, it simply means we must provide value now and be seen as being able to provide value in the future.
Unfortunately, most employees do everything they can today so that they have permission to relax tomorrow, allowing their performance to fluctuate and be inconsistent.
This isn’t you though, especially if you are trying to stand out and fit in.
You’re not working hard and then relaxing.
You are just simply working hard.
Why?
Because you want to fix things today so you feel safe that you actually have a career tomorrow.
You tell yourself that you can’t think about tomorrow’s work.
Not because you don’t want to, but because you are unsure if there will be a tomorrow for you in the organization.
Herein lies the problem.
Ask yourself this: Who are you fixing “today” for?
You or the company?
When you focus on saving your career, are you focused on being an asset to the company?
The hard truth is no.
Focusing on saving your career makes the company an asset to you, not you an asset to the company.
Two Actions to Become An Irreplaceable Asset
To become irreplaceable, you must:
- Stop focusing on yourself and your fears. Focus on giving, serving, and helping other people and the company.
I know this is hard to do when you are scared.
It’s scary to think that your paycheck may be gone at some point.
It’s hard when leadership tells you your gifts are putting you at risk and yet you don’t know how to solve for it.
But when you only focus on fixing your career problem, it only makes you less of an asset.
Can you see that now?
What you’re doing today is actually making you more of a risk.
Shift your focus from yourself to your organization.
- You must be seen as not only solving today’s problem but focused on solving tomorrow’s as well.
This may sound like extra work but I promise you it isn’t.
You are already solving today’s business problem, just keep going.
Don’t wait for feedback as a means of ensuring it wasn’t “too much.”
Because if you really let yourself think about it, this is exactly what you did before.
You solved the future problems too, which is why you felt so secure in your career before.
You didn’t wait for approval, you pushed forward, you focused on the company, and you solved problems before they became problems.
This was you being an asset!
To get back to that mentality simply ask yourself, What issues are on the horizon for my company and industry?
Then solve those problems.
Change your focus from self-preservation to innovation and you will find yourself with the security of being an irreplaceable asset.