Want To Be Indispensable At Work? Pick Up These 5 Habits

Being a valuable employee is a sign you are indispensable at work. It is important to remember, though, that while a worker becomes irreplaceable in the office because of the value they bring, being a necessary employee and being valuable are not synonymous. You become a valuable team member if you use your skills to improve your performance. However, this is a common trait among other equally effective employees in the office. You set yourself apart by being an expert at what you do. When you show your expertise, you’re ultimately proving your place on the team. Show the company that you are instrumental in meeting workplace goals.

Therefore, strive to be indispensable, not just valuable. The following tips show you how to make your indelible mark in the office.

Know the value of work-life balance.

Some human resource observers say that working to become indispensable will burn you out. On the contrary, being an irreplaceable employee is good if you find a balance. Work efficiently and excellently but, at the same time, know when it is time to pause your email notifications.

The key to leading a balanced life is setting boundaries. When you leave the office (or log off) at the end of the workday, devote the rest of your day to your hobbies, family, or friends. Keep your weekends work-free as much as possible.

This approach accomplishes three things. It helps you live life to the fullest by optimising your personal and professional lives. It also motivates you to be efficient with your time at work. If you want to free up your evenings and weekends, you better learn how to prioritise work tasks and manage your time. Finally, living a balanced life makes you happy. In turn, it makes you an indispensable employee.

Regularly do a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (S.W.O.T.) analysis of yourself.

It is not enough to be cognizant of your strengths and weaknesses. Psychologists recommend you dig deeper to form a more well-rounded understanding of yourself. Once you possess this higher level of self-awareness, you can then work towards excellence in everything you do.

Netflix’s The Last Dance serves as a kind of S.W.O.T. analysis of one of the world’s most celebrated (and indispensable) athletes of all time: Michael Jordan. It showcases his strengths (he is physically strong and is a top scorer) and weaknesses (he gambles to relax). At the same time, the documentary touches on the opportunities on Jordan’s horizon after basketball (his intense work ethic opens doors) and the threats to his success (he is single-mindedly committed to winning, alienating his teammates).

Discover patterns in your work performance by answering the following questions. Then work on capitalising on your strengths, overcoming your weaknesses, grabbing the opportunities, and eliminating your threats.

• Which positive qualities help you maintain your above-par performance at work?
• Which of your characteristics block you from achieving your goals? How can you overcome these obstacles?
• Are there any external resources you can use to help you become an even better worker?
• Which market trends could potentially harm your company’s success?

If your manager thinks no one is indispensable, prove them wrong by becoming an expert in your field.

You grow to be an essential part of the team when your manager sees you as the go-to person for specific tasks. To assume this position in the company, you must put in effort and time. Excellence does not happen overnight.

In his book The Talent Code ,Daniel Coyle wrote about a study on two groups of people. Both groups received a task to do. To master it, one group practised for an hour and a half weekly, but only over a few weeks. The second group had 20 minutes of practice every week but did it over a longer period. They surpassed the performance of the first group by 400 per cent.

Becoming proficient in something needs a long-term commitment. After doing your S.W.O.T. analysis, learn everything you can, especially about work tasks in which you can excel. Find a mentor or join online courses where you can learn more about your speciality.

Come to work with a positive attitude and a willingness to collaborate.

Strive to be a happy, efficient employee who works well with the entire team. As such, you will get noticed for your productivityandyour likeability. So begin your workday with happy thoughts. Done daily, this can influence how you work with your colleagues and supervisors. Ultimately, it will also pull up your work performance.

Think of this habit as a circuit breaker in the Singapore workforce. Payroll software company Employment Hero surveyed 3,000 respondents across five markets. They found employees in Singapore to be the unhappiest. Show them that positivity at workisachievable. Demonstrate that liking what you docanvastly improve your contributions to the business.

Begin with the little things. Every day, think of one good change your work has created in your life. List skills you have picked up from your company. Be grateful for a mentor who is helping you in the industry. Then let these good thoughts motivate you to put 120 per cent of effort into every work task.

Be an innovative problem solver.

Howard Schultz, chief executive officer of Starbucks, describes true innovation as disruptive. “You gotta fracture and break the rules and disrupt,” he says in his business class for MasterClass. However, in an article in ITPro by Keumars Afifi-Sabet, Schultz warns against disruption bordering on arrogance: “Hubris is a carcinogenic disease” for any business. As in everything else, the trick, then, is to find a balance.

Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar gives four steps to solve problems creatively and innovatively.

• Clarify the problem by making observations and developing insights.
• Ask open-ended questions based on what you observe. Then generate ideas. Remember: no idea is too small or too big.
• Explore and develop possible solutions based on your ideas. You are encouraged to experiment and create prototypes.
• Finalise your solution, communicate it with the team, and implement it.

Being a disruptive problem solver is not a job for one person. There is a reason that you are working in a company full of people. If you are solving a company-wide problem, you will likely need the cooperation of colleagues from different departments. Your job is to motivate them to be out-of-the-box thinkers like you, unafraid to venture into the unknown.

Once you understand how to be indispensable at work, you increase your job security tenfold. Furthermore, developing the skills to become irreplaceable adds to your value as a person. It will train you to be self-aware, persistent, innovative, and creative. You will know how to set boundaries and be disruptive without being egotistic. Mastering all these, you are poised to grow into someone whose worth in the company is well-known among your colleagues and managers.

To further cement your indispensability as an employee, find more Career Advice at JobStreet. Even better, download the JobStreet app (available on Google Play and App Store ) for much quicker access.