Being indispensable

Posted on | June 11, 2009

Look Right
Image by tomazstolfa via Flickr

From time to time I like to look back and think for a while until I draw some (hopefully smart) conclusions that could come handy when planning the future.

I’ve been thinking about future challenges for a while.

When I started at Marand about three years ago my top priority was to become indispensable for the team I was going to work in. I knew that being indispensable is almost impossible, since anyone can be replaced sooner or later but that goal was more like a distant vision meant to keep me focused on a higher cause than money - which I always believed, should be a consequence, not a cause. Having a higher goal is one of the reasons I was able to stay motivated, keep a good attitude to learning and doing new exciting things. If you want to be indispensable you need to be really good and strive to be better every day.

As time passed my set of skills grew exponentially, but I still do not feel indispensable and I will try to keep working hard in order to get as close to that as possible.

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Comments

  • What I was basically saying is that you have nothing to worry about ;)
  • TS
    @Tadej: Great comment. Since we have been working together for a while now, you can judge yourself what kind of (in)dispensability I had in mind ;)
  • Perhaps the key is in finding balance in a state of meta-indispensability, where you are indispensable through ensuring that none of your activities keeps you irreplaceable for a long time.

    This keeps both you and the organization safe from a status quo of excessive specialization.

    The most dispensable people I know are those who strive for the opposite.
  • TS
    I agree. It is impossible to get indispensable, that is why I said it works more like a vision (not a goal).

    I think that great teams are formed by greatly motivated individuals that all know what their role is. Each member of the team can have his own personal motivators as long as they are aligned in the direction of a common goal.

    Oh, and thanks for the comment :)
  • I think it's impossible to get indispensable, because it's in human nature to find a way of solving problems even in the weirdest, most complex situations (e.g. one of indispensable team members missing). Be careful with indispensability because it can turn against you.

    But... I like your way of thinking :) Pushing harder every day, striving to be better, contributing to the team and to the better world (in a way).

    Future challenges? Be the best team, not a group of indispensable individuals ;) Team is the body that should function even if one of the limbs is missing :)

    But hey, that's my opinion ;)
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