How do you stay relevant? 4 ways

A 33-year-old ex-Goldman Sachs employee (I'll call her "Jane") recently came to me wondering: How can I be a transformative leader? How can I be more relevant in my role?

Like a lot of people, Jane feels somewhat isolated, but her boss is happy with her.

Depending on what you might be facing, here are four ways you can make yourself more relevant on the job:

Be a part of the key strategy - I asked Jane if she could intersect herself into her company's biggest challenge or goal. "Is it sales? More revenue? Key partners?", I asked. "Surely, there's something consuming your boss. Dig in, find out, and play a role."

Sure enough, the next days she called me, "Jen, guess what? I met with my manager today, and the company has a big initiative for early next year. I'm going to play a role in executing. It'll raise my visibility with others. It's perfect."

Go with the trends - As one example, data is hot, and very powerful whether you're working for a company or considering a start-up. Going with the trends can play into so many areas - new products, your marketing message, the way you communicate with consumers. In my own role, I just made a shift to change our tag line fro "Next generation leaders" to "NextGen Business & Innovation Academy." Why? It more clearly speaks to our program and the focus on innovation.

Keep your skills current - A mid-career woman took a job. Within the first week, she said it wasn't a fit due to her struggle with some common "tech" skills. The company convinced her to stay on, committing to train her and saying "you'll need these skills to succeed wherever you go." After hours guiding and training, her manager said: "it would take months to get her current at this pace." She volunteered to leave.

You can't stay relevant if your skills aren't current. You don't have to be a coder but you do have to be able to use today's popular programs (Microsoft suite, a CRM, Google), conduct smart online research, be current with LinkedIn, and be adaptable to quickly learn how to use a new database or program.

At 60, my father transformed himself from traditional engineer to one who could use the CAD program. I was so impressed. But he understood why: to be relevant and keep his job, he had to stay current.

Have a 'continually self-improving' mindset -- Jane is thinking about earning a certificate to beef-up her knowledge and transformative skills. But what really impressed me about Jane is how she ended our second call.

"One more thing," she said. "Is there anything you noticed during our time together that I could improve upon?"

It's a question most people don't even think to ask. Do we really want to know our flaws? It's a bit scary... but feedback might just change your future.

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