Being Indispensable vs. Invaluable

Are you indispensable or are you invaluable as a leader?

If you looked up those words in the dictionary, I’m sure they’d have very similar definitions. But when it comes to being an effective leader, I assert that it’s critical for you to move from being indispensable to being invaluable in your role. 

Let me give you some context into where this topic is coming from.

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of co-leading a workshop with Melissa Swink from Melissa Swink and Co. all about learning the power of delegation and building an effective team. We spoke to how this could help you either scale your business or perform better in your leadership role within your organization. 

In the workshop, I talked about acknowledging common self-sabotage patterns that impact your leadership style. Between the workshop and recent client conversations, I’ve learned that being “indispensable” could be a form of self-sabotage. So, to be a more effective leader, you need to work on moving from indispensable to invaluable. 

What It Means To Be Indispensable 

When you make yourself indispensable on a team, it fundamentally means that if you were to disappear – vanish off the face of the earth, go on vacation, have a parental leave – something about the dynamics of your team would be set up to fail. 

You’re so crucial at [insert what you do] that the team can't exist without you. 

This could come from a background of working for other people and having to recover from overachieving, overperforming or always having to be the best possible.

You might be reading this and thinking, “Of course I want to be indispensable because that provides job security, that provides praise, that provides rewards such as raises and bonuses…”

And it's not that that's not true, but there's something about the skills that make you a great employee that doesn't translate super well to the skills that make you a great leader. 

In this scenario, indispensable leaders have set themselves up so that they can never not be on the team. So, you don't get to go on the vacation. You don't get to have an undisturbed parental leave. You don't get to go to a conference that conflicts with a training that you're running and trust that your team isn't going to go up in flames. 

That puts a lot of pressure on you. You may end up becoming the martyr or the goalie or the backstop. And what I find more often than not is that this creates two disempowered experiences: Either you are very resentful or you feel very exhausted, under-supported, and lonely in your role.

Does any of this sound like you in your current position, either as a business owner or a leader within an organization? 

If so, I invite you to consider what it means to move from being indispensable to simply being invaluable.

What It Means To Be Invaluable

Being invaluable obviously means that you bring value. It means that you're brilliant and your team relies on you in some capacity. Because of who you are, people want to follow you. The crucial difference is that an invaluable leader can step away and the team will still have everything under control.

You might be reading this and thinking, “Well that sounds nice, in theory. I can take on the word, but what does it mean to take on the practice?”

How to Move From Indispensable To Invaluable 

Let’s talk about a couple of places that you can look to start shifting from being indispensable to being invaluable. 

1. Talk to Your Team

This is a really practical step you can take. Go to your team and say, “Hey, if I were going to go away for three months, what are the things that you feel like you don't know how to do because I've inadvertently been the one to take it all on?”

The answers you get will include how systems are run, closing sales conversations, managing a calendar, looking towards a greater vision, or completing long-term planning.

Uncover the areas of your business or organization that your team relies on you to know.

2. Look Closer at Your Team

Acknowledge whether or not you sufficiently celebrate the gifts and talents of your teammates. 

I find that leaders who under-acknowledge their teammates create a culture where teammates hold the leader up as being higher than them. It actually creates a power dynamic and hierarchy where the teammate feels like it's their responsibility to either mimic the leader or just stay as a follower.

While this might be a mood you may choose on purpose, let’s challenge it for a moment. We’re considering how to make your team successful if you need to step away. 

So, consider if there's an opportunity for you to help people identify and highlight their unique skills and build their strengths. Encourage them to come up with solutions from those strengths and skills. 

3. Challenge Your Team to Step Up

Take your list from step one and start to challenge your team members to come up with how they would handle some of those responsibilities. 

“If I wasn't here, how would you handle closing these sales?”

“If I wasn't here, how would you go about managing these client relationships?” 

“If I disappeared off the face of the earth for six months, where would you want to see the company in that time?”

Have them start to think of solutions that bring their strengths forward. Then, it's not a catch-up game of “you need to be as good as I am.” Instead, it becomes “you can elevate yourself to be the best performer possible.”

I hope you learned something about moving from indispensable to invaluable. Now it’s time to put it into practice! Once you try some of these steps, shoot me a message and let me know how it goes. 

And if you’re interested in the concept of self-sabotage, or this particular example didn’t hit home for you and your situation, I’d love to help you out one-on-one. Set-up a free discovery call and we’ll hunt down your self-sabotage traits and look at how they might be impacting your leadership.