No One Is Indispensable

How does this relate to HR? The moral of the story here is that no one is indispensable. Everyone can be replaced, even a great leading actor. I continually hear leaders and employees say, “They can’t get rid of me. I know too much and have very unique skills that can’t be replaced.” Everyone likes to know they are needed and valued and you are, but the truth is – your skills may be unique, but you can be replaced.

I often talk about having a set of tools to do your job. As you progress in your career, you gain more tools and your tool bag gets larger and more complete. Having a larger tool bag allows you to do more complex jobs and move into different and often larger roles within an organization.

Remember that if you aren’t gaining new skills (adding more skills or tools) you are going backward! A great exercise to go through every year is to think about your resume or career. What new skills or tools have you added this year? If the answer is none – that is not good! This becomes more challenging, of course, as you have been working longer, 20 – 30+ years, and moving into the plateau of your career.
The lesson here is to be a lifelong learner. Whether it’s books, podcasts, professional organizations you belong to, writing a book or speaking engagements, etc. Always be looking for ways to add to your tool bag or sharpen the tools you already have. Be intentional about doing this and set specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) goals around this.
Possibly this is a worthwhile goal to set as we start the second half of the year soon. There is no time like the present to reevaluate your goals for 2023! Wow, where did the first 6 months go?
Watch the
Latest Episode of
HR Problem Solver

Perfecting Performance Management

Thank you for liking and subscribing to our podcast!
 It helps us grow our audience!
Schedule a Call
Small and medium-sized businesses may not have the time or expertise to implement the necessary people strategies for business success. The ideas above can be easily implemented by you to help improve the performance of your employees which leads to increased employee engagement and increasing the bottom line.

We are here to help you with the people side of your business: employee engagement, retention programs, performance management, vision, and strategic plans, leadership development, selection & onboarding, compensations programs, organizational design, employee handbooks, core values, and all things HR-related.