Be dispensable to be indispensable - Unlock real value

Was meaning to write this piece for a long time. So here it goes. 

People who make it big in a company and in their career are often those who are indispensable to the organisation. Guess what, they have consciously made themselves dispensable and hence due to that virtue, the organisation considers them indispensable. 

Confused? Let me explain. 

There are two kinds of people in any organisation. 

First kind, who make themselves indispensable to the org by making people, systems, and the organisation dependant and overly dependant on them. They have their subordinates go through them for every small or big decision and get offended when the subordinates try and take independent action. This does not infer that they mean bad for the org, as they may be doing it subconsciously. It just that it limits the ability of them to scale up to their potential and also help the org scale up in the best possible way. This may also often stem from the “insecurity” about their position and authority and often try and protect this position. They often want to make sure that they are missed and the org requires them to run smoothly, thereby making their position irreplaceable. 

Second kind, who ensure every part of the way that the org can run same way with or without them and they are only there in the system to add extra value or Alpha. They consciously or subconsciously make themselves dispensable to the org, either by empowering their team members, spending time training them, and or making processes and systems that do not need their intervention. They start an initiative, build on it, pass it over, and move onto a new initiative. They keep a tab on the old initiatives and if they can somehow improve it, but do not get involved in the day to day operations or execution or keep it to a bare minimum. 

A piece of advise that I gave to a colleague of mine, when he told me that he receives 60 phone calls everyday from a region/function about every small thing, is to switch off his phone and take off for a short 3 day vacation. This would result in short term pain and long term gain. This advise stemmed from the following incident. 

Recently, I was feeling overtly stressed for over a week, close to the point of breakdown. I had not taken a proper vacation in the past 3 years, maybe sick days and/ or 1-2 days of family functions. I used to feel that I was a critical element to the functioning of the org, and was starting to realise that it was not healthy for the org and for myself. I immediately took the decision of turning off my phone, took a 3 day vacation starting the same day. I simply sent an email informing the team of the decision, booked a resort, and switched my phone off. For only 20% of the time, I used to monitor the action on emails and WhatsApp without getting involved. Guess what, everything ran smoothly and that could not have given me more pleasure and happiness, for both the org and myself. 

I have had more time to read and develop my leadership skills, implement new initiatives and see the larger picture much more clearly.  I realised I have had more time for introspection, feedback and corrective action, which previously I did not have, as I had got myself involved in every small thing.

No matter how good you are, people will always start as the first kind, but need to transition soon to the second kind to unlock real value. Making your self dispensable will free up immense amount of your time to concentrate on those new initiatives/ areas and help develop yourselves further. This will not only increase the value that you bring to the org, but will help you scale up much faster as you will not be needed for every small thing. Empower your team to take decisions without involving you. 

Make your self dispensable to the org, and then only will the org consider you truly indispensable. 

Nitin

Co-Founder, Ofbusiness