Wondering whether you are still relevant in your workplace is one of those topics that many think about but few discuss. The “R” word after all is at the heart of our self-worth and self-esteem as professionals.

We tend to perform best when we perceive that our skills, talents, ideas and involvement area sought after and highly valued.  Our sense of belonging and our active involvement in situations where our input counts, feeds our psyches.

However, miss out on a few plum assignments and high-visibility projects or, get passed over for a promotion, and our self-confidence tends to fade and our survival instincts kick into gear.  Appropriately so.

Indicators of Creeping Irrelevance:

  • You are repeatedly passed over for promotions.
  • You’re not invited to participate in high-priority projects.
  • Your position and your power are diluted through restructuring.
  • Your opinion is not actively sought on topics that have historically been your domain.
  • Decisions are made about you and for you without your consultation.
  • Your requests for resources and your request for face-time are delayed or dodged.

Experience one or more of the above, and you’re to be excused if paranoia rears its ugly head.  As Andy Grove opined, “Only the paranoid survive.” It’s time to move into damage control.

Assess: What’s Moving Your Relevance Rating in the Wrong Direction?

  • What do your trusted advisors say? Seek input from trusted internal advisors. Emphasis on the word “trusted.” Try to determine whether your concerns have any basis in reality. Do your advisors have any insights or evidence that suggests that the winds of your relevance have shifted in the wrong direction?
  • Strategic shift? Has your business or group moved in a new direction that requires different skills and experiences? A shift in strategy…a decision to pursue new markets or customers might mean that management views you as part of the legacy business (the past) and not a key component of the future business.
  • Stepped on any toes lately? In your drive to contribute, have you stepped on toes or taken on some political battles that might be over your pay grade or beyond your power and influence level? Replay recent situations and try to isolate the point in time when you started losing the political popularity contest.
  • How’s your relationship with your boss? If you’ve under-managed or even directly or indirectly undermined your boss, now would be a good time to figure it out. Some bosses will share their aggravation if you ask.  That’s healthy. Others will ignore you, because they’ve already written you off. That’s bad.

Take Action-4 Ideas for Managing and Regaining Your Professional Relevance at Work

Obviously, your situation assessment will drive your actions, but here are some approaches for dealing with the various scenarios above.

1. Join, don’t fight the move in a new strategic direction. The perception that you are fiercely loyal to your legacy business (“Hey, we pay the bills!”) will work against you. It may be true that the traditional business lines and products are paying the bills today, but management is looking at growth and paying the bills in the future. Don’t get caught up in what you know about what you did. You’ve got to position yourself as someone interested in and willing to help build a new future, even if it means starving or shooting the business you just spent years building.

2. Find the broken fences and try to mend them. This one might feel dirty, but, repairing broken political relationships may be the right move. There’s no guarantee that you will be successful, and you’re liable to have to showcase your humility for quite awhile to make things work. This is delicate, but if you like your job and your company, it’s worth taking a crack at making up. Beware that a simple apology is unlikely to accomplish your goals. Be prepared to provide the other party with ample evidence in the form of support over time before you experience a thaw in relations.

3. Make your boss a hero. This is a good strategy all of the time. Remember, someone has to choose you to be successful, and it usually starts with the boss. Redouble your efforts to learn and support your manager’s priorities.

4. Manage and strengthen your network and build powerful coalitions. While never wanting you to compromise who you are and what you stand for, for the sake of internal politics, you would be naïve to ignore the topic. The most successful professionals work hard to strengthen their internal networks, create value for stakeholders, and align themselves with individuals and groups that are propelling the business forward. Why would you do anything less?

The Bottom-Line for Now:

The point in time when you feel your relevance slipping away at work is uncomfortable at best and frightening at worst. This happens to people everyday, and you can choose to accept and ignore it, or you can be pro-active about trying to fix the situation.

Managing yourself involves managing the political environment. Sadly for many, the recognition that social intelligence is often the most critical factor for survival and success in the workplace comes at the end of a tough lesson.

If you sense that something is wrong, it probably is. Get engaged and get involved in managing your own relevance.