Being irreplaceable at work can derail your career -- Career Center Blog

November 27, 2012

Being irreplaceable at work can derail your career

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By Lisa Quast
NWjobs

(Photo: Microsoft Free Clip Art)

Early in my career I was given an interesting piece of advice from an older, male co-worker who had been with the company for many years.

"You need to learn to hold back some of your knowledge and not share it with others so management will see you as irreplaceable," he warned me. "You tend to give away too much of your knowledge and your ideas to other people."

"Hmm," I thought. "Should I really believe him?"

At the time, I was new at the company and had jumped into my job wholeheartedly. After time spent learning and observing, I determined ways we could re-engineer some of our processes that would improve the department's efficiency. I pitched my ideas and implementation plan to the department director and received his approval to move forward.

So there I was, training the team on the new procedures and demonstrating how it would make their jobs easier while increasing efficiency and productivity. My co-workers were excited about the positive changes and began asking me a lot of questions. It was right after this training session when my colleague offered me his advice about making myself irreplaceable. I listened -- and then disregarded his advice.

Time went by and I received a promotion, eventually working in another department. When I saw my former colleague in the cafeteria one day, he looked dejected. I'd heard that he had unsuccessfully applied for several other positions. His approach of trying to be irreplaceable had stalled his career progress. Soon after, he was let go; the rumor was it was because management didn't understand what he did for the company.

Over the next 20-plus years in corporate America, I saw a pattern emerge: Employees who eagerly helped others, shared ideas and proactively trained potential replacements received the vast majority of promotions. Why? Because companies don't want irreplaceable employees -- they want employees who can demonstrate their value and grow with (and within) the company. This includes identifying and training potential successors.

I'm glad I didn't listen to my co-worker's advice about trying to make myself irreplaceable in my job. As he found out, trying to make yourself irreplaceable can make your career irreparable.

Lisa Quast is the founder of Career Woman, Inc., a career-coaching and business-consulting company. Email her at lquast@nwjobs.com.

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Maxentius | November 27, 2012 11:59 PM | Reply

That was stupid. God I wish I hadn't read that.

Lisa Quast | November 28, 2012 10:47 AM | Reply

Maxentius, I appreciate that you took the time to read the blog and post a response – thank you. I welcome constructive criticism and would appreciate any specific feedback you’d like to share.

RedHawkk | November 29, 2012 6:48 AM | Reply

I liked this. It's a blog, Maxentius, what do you expect?

We're living in a world where trying to "go off and do your own thing" isn't just going to cut it. We see everyday the results of when people don't work together (our environment & government to name a few).

So rather than trying to go solo, proving your abilities seems like the much smarter thing to do.

BizGuy | November 29, 2012 6:18 PM | Reply

I agree with this writer's blog about the importance of not trying to be irreplaceable in your job.

This is behavior I've seen more and more as the recession took hold and layoffs began. What workers need to understand is that trying to be irreplaceable is not a good way to guarantee you'll be able to keep your job.

SaintSinner | November 30, 2012 9:06 AM | Reply

I do find that simply through doing a good job, you often do become irreplaceable. Not because you hold all the secrets, but because you do such good work that you cannot be replaced.

This can also tend to derail your career if you're not careful. As I've been told: "We can't afford to lose you."

Anonymous | December 2, 2012 7:55 PM | Reply

That is a crock of bull, At my company, we have managers that are such control freaks and they hold everything in their head and won't share any information. Their answer is it will take longer to explain so better if I do it myself. And managers that take credit for other peoples answers when he or she dont' have the answer right away.

DrAriafya | December 3, 2012 5:51 PM | Reply

Interesting read. The issue is about negotiation. If you don't mind having your ideas stolen from you and just share because you love what you do and are a happy go lucky kind of person, then by all means, don't hoard it in the corporate setting. But if you are at a place where it lacks leadership, it is cutthroat, and is about destroying one another -- an old form of corporate structure and is no longer conducive to the global economy and really is why several corporations are failing, then yeah, being irreplaceable as a concept is the name of the game -- albeit not realistic these days.

Anonymous | December 7, 2012 11:30 AM | Reply

The column was based on a false premise. There is no such thing as irreplaceable, and everyone knows it.

Brian | December 24, 2012 9:47 AM | Reply

I think the point of the article is that people that seem to hold back knowledge are not viewed as team players, which is important to any organization.

What the co-worker that held back on knowledge could have also found is that the organization may have felt like it would take too long to train a replacement since that person was such a pivotal person in that role.

The problem with being seem as irreplaceable in a role is that if the role changes, you are no long irreplaceable, but now irrelevant.