Become Valuable in Your Career

When dealing with an extremely difficult economic climate where thousands of people lost their jobs, it’s important to try and put yourself in the strongest position possible to remain in employment in such a situation.

Here are a few powerful ways to make you indispensable at work. Next time there is a restructuring; you want to make yourself “restructure-proof” to ensure that you keep your job.

Focus on developing yourself

Managers love it when they can see that a member of their team is constantly developing and learning new skills. Those who are able to rise in the midst of a crisis and can be lent on heavily often become invaluable.

We live in a digital age and there are literally thousands of blogs and resources that you can read to help widen your understanding on particular areas. A good habit to get into is to set aside an hour each day to keep up to date with the latest industry news. You’ll find that you start to develop new skills in no time!

If, through continued development, you can establish yourself as someone that your manager can rely on, you’ll find that you’ll become indispensable should the company have to go through a restructuring.

Build strong relationships with key decision makers

As the old saying goes, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” It is not unheard of for someone to be able to climb up the ladder if they have built strong relationships with higher-level management.

With this in mind, make sure you are sociable and if there is a chance to help a key decision maker within the business, grab it with both hands! It again goes back to making yourself seen as someone who can be relied on; it is through this that you can be seen as truly indispensable.

Use your initiative

One thing that many employees fail to do is use their initiative. If you can see that your manager would benefit from your help on something, don’t be afraid to use your initiative and knock on their door to present an idea.

Let’s say that your company is going through a restructuring and they need to find a new office. Why don’t you go in and suggest that they look into serviced offices. Serviced offices are fantastic if you are looking for a sociable space that comes fully furnished. Your manager won’t need to worry about having to find Internet providers or search for a maintenance man; the office is ready for your company to move into.

Treat your colleagues with respect

This could seem like an obvious one, but if you don’t show your colleagues respect and are potentially detrimental to the success of the team, you can guarantee that your name will be one of the first on the list if the company has to think about making redundancies.

No manager wants their team to be unhappy and if you are seen as the person who is causing the boat to rock, you won’t be seen as indispensable at all. Learn to show others respect while being accountable and it will come back to you in more ways than one. Treat people like they matter, what they say and do and your business relationship will improve immensely!

Show a passion for the company and what you do

If you are working in a position that can be considered more of a career than just a job, it is important to show that you are passionate about what you do and that you genuinely care about the well being of the company.

If there is the opportunity to do a bit of extra work that will benefit the company, don’t shy away from staying a little later that evening to get it done. Even if your manager doesn’t come over and tell you, they will notice that you are staying late and appreciate the extra input. Good people who are genuinely passionate about the company they work for are hard to come by, and your manager will know it. Therefore, it is essential that you show your boss how motivated and passionate are, it will certainly help you in your goal to become indispensable.

If you make a conscious effort to implement the things mentioned within this page, you’ll put yourself in a strong position to become indispensable in the workplace.

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How To Be More Charming

Sure, everyone knows blunt, impolite, and even rude people who are somehow extremely successful. But since we're all more likely to do business and build professional and personal relationships with people we like, we're naturally drawn to people who are polite, modest, agreeable, kind. In short, people who are charming. I know a bunch of them too, and here's how they do it:

1. They always show they're genuinely glad to meet you. When you feel someone "gets" you, respecting your opinion, your point of view, your experience--whatever you're communicating--then you naturally feel more important. The other person doesn't have to agree with you; they just have to show they respect you. How? 

They maintain eye contact. They smile when you smile. They frown when you frown. They nod your head when you nod. In simple, nonverbal ways, they mimic your behavior--not slavishly, but because they're focused on what you're saying. That feedback loop helps two people bond--and the ability to bond is the essence of charm. 

2. They sometimes show a little vulnerability. Two Masters of the Business Universe meet for the first time. Instantly, they play an unstated but nonetheless obvious game of "Who's More Successful?" They work hard to one-up the other. After all, life is about winning, right?

Charming people don't try to win any unstated competitions with people they meet. In fact, they actively try to lose. They're complimentary. They're impressed. They're even willing to admit a weakness or a failure.

It's really easy. Say you meet Admiral Trump and he says, "I just closed a fabulous deal to build the world's best golf course on the most amazing oceanfront property on the planet." Don't try to win. Instead say, "That's awesome. I'm jealous. I've wanted to build a small recreation facility for years, but can't line up the financing. How did you pull off such a huge deal?"

Charming people are confident enough to be unafraid to show a little vulnerability. They know that while some people may be, at least temporarily, impressed by what's artificial, everyone sincerely likes and appreciates the genuine.

3. They consistently search for agreement instead of contradiction. We're trained to discuss, to challenge, to advocate for the devil, because exchanging opinions, especially different opinions, is how we separate the wheat from the idea chaff. Automatic agreement doesn't help.

Unfortunately, going contrary is an easy habit to fall into. It's easy to automatically look for points of disagreement rather than agreement. It's easy to automatically take a different side. And it's easy to end up in what feels like an argument. 

Charming people don't actively (or unknowingly) look to disagree; they look for points of agreement. Then, if it's appropriate, they gently share a different point of view--and in that way, help create an outstanding conversation.

4. They (selectively) use the power of touch. Touch can influence behavior, increase the chances of compliance, make the person doing the touching seem more attractive and friendly, and can even help you make a sale.

For example, in one experiment the participants tried to convey 12 different emotions by touching another blindfolded participant on the forearm. The rate of accuracy for perceiving emotions like fear, anger, gratitude, sympathy, love, and disgust ranged from 43 percent to 83 percent--without a word being spoken.

Say you're congratulating someone; shaking hands or (possibly better yet, depending on the situation) patting them gently on the shoulder or upper arm can help reinforce the sincerity of your words.

5. They often dine out on their foibles. Charming people willingly admit their mistakes. They don't mind serving as a cautionary tale. They don't mind being a source of laughter, for others and for themselves.

And they're also not afraid to look a little silly. Skating in a cowboy outfit may be a little extreme, but charming people don't mind occasionally being in a situation where they aren't at their best.

(And oddly enough, people tend to respect them more for that--not less.)

When you own your foibles, people don't laugh at you. They laugh with you. And they realize it's OK to let down their own guards and meet you at a genuine level.

6. They're masters of social jiu-jitsu. Some people have a knack for getting you to talk openly yourself. They ask open-ended questions. They sincerely want to know what you think, and that makes you open up to a surprising degree. You feel like the most interesting man (or woman) in the world. And you like them for making you feel that way. 

As soon as you learn something about someone, ask why they do it. Or how. Or what they like about it, or what they've learned from it. Charming people ask sincere questions that make it easy to answer in a thoughtful, introspective way. They make you think, in a good way, about yourself, and in the process make you feel charming too.

7. They always pass the waiter test. Some people put on a great show in certain situations, but they don't try nearly as hard when they think a person is beneath them. I like to call it the waiter test: If you really want to know how an individual treats people, take him to lunch. How he interacts with the waiter is a much better indication of his interpersonal skills than how he interacts with you.

Charming people treat everyone the same way: as deserving of respect and kindness.

8. They're great with names. If there's anything worse than that sinking feeling you get when you forget someone's name, especially someone's name you really should remember, it's realizing that another person has forgotten your name--and maybe doesn't even remember who you are.

Charming people remember names and even small details, often to a surprising degree. The fact they remember instantly makes us feel a little prouder and a little better about ourselves. And that makes us feel better about them.

Charming people remember names, but...

9. They never name drop. I have a friend who somehow manages to squeeze the fact he once met Jeff Gordon into every conversation. "I'm planning to weather treat my deck this weekend," I'll say. "You know, I was sitting on my deck last weekend listening to the race...Jeff Gordon was leading for a while but he had engine trouble. If I know Jeff Gordon--and I do--I bet he was really disappointed."

Charming people may know cool people, but they don't talk about it. And that only adds to their charm.

10. They always say less. Charming people already know what they know. They want to know what you know. And that makes you feel important. Because you are!

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 Source: Inc