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July 7, 1998: 11:21 a.m. ET
In tenuous times, learning to be an invaluable employee is important
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Whether it's trussed up as "downsizing" or more realistically defined as "job cuts," today's tenuous workplace makes it imperative employees do all they can to make themselves as valuable to their employers as possible.
The reasons for improving yourself as a worker number in the thousands. Well, actually the hundreds of thousands. So far this year, more than 270,000 job cuts have been announced.
Still, the power of worker inertia is strong, said Dan King, principal at Boston-based Career Planning and Management, Inc.
"Many people say they got into their career by accident," explained King. "The other side of that is that your career is an accident waiting to happen."
Many workers are content to sit back, seemingly sure any new job skills they need will be taught to them by the company at the appropriate time.
However, companies during the 1990s are looking to trim expenses whenever possible. When the time comes for the ax to fall, it will be too late for you to prove you're vital to the company's performance.
Workers find themselves faced with a confusing challenge. Growing up, they were presented with an job environment where a worker stayed at one firm for decades, with solid raises and a myriad of middle management jobs ahead of them.
Technology and a more global economy changed all that. Business moves faster, incorporating new methods and technologies constantly. According to a recent study by the National Research Council, it now takes only three to five years for 50 percent of the average worker's skills to become obsolete.
Stop thinking about yourself
Start by setting some goals for how you can become an invaluable employee to your company. You can do that as soon as you stop thinking about yourself.
All too often people are focused on their own needs, such as money or opportunity. Instead, you'll need to interpret that in terms of what an employer in transition might need.
"Realize what skills are going to be needed and what the gap is and try to fill that in," said Lynn Berger, career counselor with her self-named firm in New York City.
The ever-changing pace of the workplace is a legitimate obstacle toward learning new things but people can be their own worst enemy as well.
"People often believe the answer comes in trying harder. So much of the time that's not the case. It comes in trying different," according to Price Pritchett, author of "The Employee Handbook of New Work Habits for a Radically Changing World."
Pritchett explained under times of stress -- such as when downsizing rumors are flying -- people tend to stick with their strengths. For instance, if someone tends to be structured, they will try to enforce that structure even more.
However, a workplace in transition requires you to learn on the fly. "In today's work world, where you have to play faster and looser, the person who tries to get it all buttoned down will probably struggle more," said Pritchett.
Adopting a commercial mentality is the best way to approach becoming a more valuable employee.
Think of your boss and your co-workers as customers. When you look at them that way, you'll come up with the smartest, most direct way to deal with their various needs. Just as an experienced waiter discerns the best way to serve and please the most customers, so you too will be able to juggle the various demands on your time.
Spinning your web
While you might feel like you're on your own when attempting to increase your importance to your company, the opposite is, in fact, true.
A quickly-changing workplace, by definition, will require many more short-term assignments. Those assignments -- and the opportunities they bring -- will be under the control of other people.
Because of this, you will want to build a web of contacts with as many people as you can. As you create a larger web, you add more and more people who could at some point in the future help your career.
Don't rely on personal likability as the key reason others will want you around even if they're cutting jobs. Know your job. Know other people's jobs. Competence will most likely be foremost in their mind if they are looking to go forward with less people. In this way, you can look like someone who could wear many hats in a shrunken workforce.
Additionally, you don't want to just be seen as a taker who expects things from your contact.
"If you become a giver, you'll make them feel like they want to reciprocate," said Pritchett.
Maybe they have an opportunity where you can pitch in and help them out if they may not finish a project on time. You'll most likely have to make some sacrifices to do this, perhaps skip lunch, stay late or even take some work home, but you'll create a situation where people would like to help you out at some point.
Even if you're just doing extra work or learning new things on your own, you'll want to get the word out. If you've learned a new skill, made an improvement in your workplace process, e-mail the boss and let her know.
And don't be shy, said King. "Touting accomplishments doesn't come easily to many people but we need to get those things out there."
Other ways of getting noticed may be less worrisome. Joining company task forces, writing for the company newsletter and introducing yourself in your day-to-day work are also good ways of letting people know who you are.
You may be concerned you'll earn the scorn of your co-workers by raising your profile, but they can actually help you in this process.
Berger explained being a valuable worker means contributing to your place of employment. If you have learned a new skill, teach it to those around you. You'll get recognition as a mentor and probably increase the productivity of your own unit.
Embracing change
One day you may walk into work and your life will change. You'll hear your company has been bought by another. Soon afterward, transition teams will be sent in to make changes.
Rather than recoil, however, you'll want to embrace the change. "So much energy goes into resistance," said Pritchett.
"We need to help the company reorganize. If they're merging, we need to help them merge. If they're implementing a process, we need to help them do it."
And above all, keep learning. "Ask yourself what you're doing differently than you did one year ago," said Pritchett. "If you're still doing the same things, you can take it to the bank that you're being left behind."
-- by staff writer Randall J. Schultz
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