I discovered Ivan Walsh on LinkedIn. After following some of his comments, I realized he was really good at what he did. I’ve been writing for a long time and agreed with most of what he writes about not only in the forums, but on his blog as well. Well not everyone can be perfect.  So I asked him to write a guest post for us and he kindly did. So, read on and find out how you can make yourself indispensable!

Are You Indispensable?

Seth Godin in his latest book introduces the concept of a linchpin, someone in a company who is indispensable, who cannot be replaced, who is too unique and valuable to be let go.

For technical writers, this raises some interesting questions:

What can I do to make myself indispensable?
What tools must I learn so that I cannot be replaced?
Who will recognize this and see the value of my efforts.

and

Is it really possible to be indispensable in my current job?

Here are seven ways you can be more indispensable:

1. Take responsibility – Look for ways to take ownership of an area, for example, the company newsletter, and make this your own. Stamp your personality on it. Pull others into the project. This small act is the first step in stepping out from behind the cubicle and drawing attention to yourself. Consider it part of your own personal branding exercise.

2. Champion a ‘cause’. For example, look for ways to improve the quality of food, how to improve your colleagues’ health (ergonomic keyboards?), or introduce concepts that most employees had not thought of, for example, mind mapping.

3. Arrange after hours classes for employees who want to learn a foreign language, a sports activity or some other skill. Most everyone wants to learn a foreign language but don’t always find the time/place to do so. If you can arrange an hour after work, that might work. Again, it helps raise your profile. You make new friends and increase your network.

4. Align yourself (and your role) with the company vision. Look for ways to demonstrate that you & your team have embraced the values upon which the company was built. Transmit this to your customers, end users and partners.

5. Develop a ‘cult’ following – make yourself the person people come to when they have an idea on how to improve the company, change a broken process, or to flag something that’s not working thru the ‘proper’ channels. Once you have the trust of your colleagues, you can become the conduit between the employees and the next management layer.

6. Identify trends – look at areas where the company should be heading, for example, Social Media, video blogging, new markets or identify threats. Take ownership and learn as much as you can. Try to get a small budget and built upon this. While you may not get a pay rise for this (immediately), you may get the opportunity to try new software, go to conferences, or meet people outside your usual circle. Again, you’re building your network, raising your profile and developing more confidence in yourself.

7. Strategy – take a long-term view and see where/how you can add more value. If the company lacks a coherent content strategy, see if you can help define this. Most small companies have a very muddled content strategy; if you can put some shape on this, you instantly become more valuable that the guy/girl that writes that user guides.

There is nothing remarkable (or new) in any of this. You could choose one of these, invest energy into it for a month, and then see what happens. If you keep pushing forward, something will begin to change. It has to.

In fact, I think it’s the act of making a decision to change, of wanting to progress, of wanting to be the linchpin that makes the difference.

Can everyone be indispensable?

I don’t know. What works in one organization won’t work elsewhere. But if you start to redefine your role, you’ll be more valued and receive better rewards. That’s a given.

And if your organization stops you realizing your goals? Well, you know what to do.

What do you think? What do we need to change?

Ivan Walsh helps people write, publish, distribute and extend information assets.  You can find him at his blog.