Some of these suggestions for indispensability are great. Simple civility. Saying “Good morning” and “thank you” are always appreciated in the workplace (although I’m remembering that GhostGirl hates getting thanked for each email).
And then others of the suggestions… Well, I don’t ever suggest that women make coffee or fetch it for others regularly unless it’s in the job description. Likewise with refilling toner in the printer. I mean, if you want to make coffee and refill toner, that’s great. But becoming an expert means it will be your job from now on. Good if you want it….
January 26th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Over my career (health system CFO) I’ve noticed that the people who are most indispensable to me are also the ones who go out of their way to not make themselves indispensable.
They document their work; they write spreadsheet templates without undue complexity that others can easily follow; they willingly share what they know.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:54 am
That’s exactly right. My first contracting job was helping Indian IT staff. I replaced the permanent employee who refused to help the new off-shore staff. I realize there are lots of other issues with this scenario. The point is that this particular gentleman thought he had made himself indispensable. You are never indispensable.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:06 am
In small businesses, being touchy about things like making coffee is definitely counterproductive. I remember an exchange between my boss of some years ago and a new employee: He,”would you make some coffee?” She, “I didn’t study for four years and get a degree to make coffee.” He,”I didn’t invest 3/4 of a million dollars to clean the toilet, either, but that’s what I’ll be doing later this afternoon. Make the damn coffee.”
January 26th, 2009 at 10:12 am
@ Joel It’s hard to make general rules about coffee. It definitely seems touchy.
@ JC Yes, you’re never indispensable. Even if you make coffee.
@ Charlie Yes, those folks are great. I love it when people actually make how they do their job transparent.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
There’s a fine line between wishing to keep the esprit du corps of the office place high and seeming like a suck up.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Yes, absolutely. Good point. And it seems more in the “spirit” of the workplace if it’s a team effort for much of this behavior.
January 26th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I refill toner because an idiot can do it and otherwise I have to wait an hour for building services to do it.
I don’t care about thank yous or good mornings (in fact, leave me the hell alone.) I just want you to get your job done, keep me informed, and don’t freak out at every little thing.
January 26th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
You make a good point about tailoring your politeness to the needs of your manager.