6 ways to be IRREPLACEABLE in your company

This is a follow-up post on why I think being irreplaceable is more important than being loyal.

Personally, one of the things I enjoy most about working is being able to work with high performers.

These are the people who keep you on your toes—in a good way, not by playing the politics game 🙊

I wanted to share the traits that I really enjoyed when working with high performers with y’all.

Hopefully it’d help if you’re working towards being irreplaceable. Make your company regret not giving you that pay raise / when you resign! 🤡

1️⃣ 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗮𝘇𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿

E.g. “How do I do XYZ?” vs “I’m trying to figure out how to do XYZ, I think it makes sense if I do A, then B and then C. Does that work?”

2️⃣ 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 & 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆

E.g. Response when chased for a deadline when something is due = “Oh I can’t finish this today” vs “I planned out my schedule for the week & I think I’ll only be able to finish XYZ by [date]. This is how I’m ranking my priorities. Is that ok?”

3️⃣ 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲

E.g. “Actually it’s because [some long story]” vs “This is on me, I’ll [state how you’ll fix it]. I’ll put in some thought on how to prevent this from happening in future & keep you updated.”

4️⃣ 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁

E.g. Rushing to finish all your assigned tasks vs negotiating for & explaining why you need additional time to do your tasks well.

5️⃣ 𝗙𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 / 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸

E.g. “Do you prefer me to update you as and when I finish various tasks for this project or only during our weekly meeting?”

E.g. “Do you prefer updates via project management software / emails / meetings?

E.g. “How do you think I did for [task]? I'd love to know if there's room for improvement—let me know when's a good time to catch up?”

6️⃣ 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀, 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹-𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀

E.g. “Why don’t we do [idea]?” vs “I’ve this idea and would like to do some research / collect team feedback for it. Are you ok with that?”

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If you’re certain you’re a high performer & have validated your opinion (e.g. from manager / co-workers’ feedback), then it makes it much easier to ask for a pay raise 😉

Of course, all companies are naturally different and we all have different experiences.

What are other traits you’ve seen exhibited by high performers that help make them irreplaceable? Let’s chat in the comments?

P.S. I write about home & living, relationships & career on lemon8—follow for more adulting fun 🥲

Also on IG if you wanna be friends: @livingsmall.ig ❤️

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