That Feeling of Creeping Irrelevance is Toxic for You
In our unsettled era filled with the specter of emerging AI and an economic shift to mass layoffs in many sectors, wondering whether you are still relevant in your workplace is the stuff of sleepless nights.
A feeling of creeping irrelevance is toxic for us. After all, feeling relevant goes to the heart of our self-worth and self-esteem. It’s essential to gauge whether your uneasy feeling is real or just a product of an unsettled period in our world, and as needed, to take action.
At Least Eight Signs of Creeping Irrelevance
- Have you been passed over for multiple promotions?
- Are you skipped over for the high-priority initiatives and projects?
- Has your position been dramatically reduced in scale and scope?
- Is your input no longer sought out for issues or initiatives where you have deep expertise?
- Are you increasingly on the receiving end of decisions you used to be involved in making?
- Do you have a new boss who seemingly isn’t taking an interest in you or your work?
- Are your requests for one-on-one time with your boss delayed or dodged?
- Do you see others invited to situations where you were historically an essential resource?
Experience one or more of the above, and your sense that something is wrong might be valid. As the late Intel CEO Andy Grove intoned, “Only the paranoid survive.” It’s time to move into damage control. Start by seeking more evidence.
Situation Assessment—Five Ideas to Help Confirm Your Suspicions
1. Ask one or more trusted advisors.
What do your trusted advisors say? Do your advisors have any insights or evidence that suggests that the winds of your relevance have shifted in the wrong direction?
2. Has a strategic or organizational shift left you behind?
Has your business or group moved in a new direction that requires different skills and experiences? A shift in strategy or a decision to pursue new markets or customers might mean that management views you as part of the legacy business (the past) rather than a vital component of the future.
3. Have you stepped on any toes lately or rubbed someone important the wrong way?
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.
4. How’s your relationship with your boss?
If you’ve 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.
5. Are your skills current?
If your skill set is viewed as increasingly obsolete, it’s definitely past time to take action. Are you tuned in to the latest advancements in your field? Is your field being rendered obsolete by creeping AI? Get some help to objectively assess this one.
Ideas for Regaining Your Professional Relevance at Work
Your situation assessment will drive your actions, but here are some approaches for dealing with the 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 uncomfortable, but repairing broken relationships may be the right move. There’s no guarantee that you will succeed, and you’re liable to have to showcase your humility for a while to make things work. 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. If your boss is new, chances are they have only a cursory perspective on you and your abilities with no context for your past successes. Find a way to break the ice and showcase your energy for your work, team, and the organization. Make sure this boss knows you are there to help them as well.
4. Manage and strengthen your network and build powerful coalitions.
Those with the strongest networks succeed. 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?
5. Upgrade your skills.
If you’re not learning and growing, you’re moving backward at the speed of change. As part of your Situation Assessment, make sure it’s not your skills that are no longer valid. If they are growing long-in-the-tooth, it’s time to get back to learning.
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 every day, and ignore it at your peril. If you sense something is wrong, it probably is. Get engaged, assess your situation, and get moving or expect someone else to make a decision on your career for you.
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