Bottom Line Up Front
If you’ve been passed over for promotion opportunities or you find yourself relegated to less-than-strategic initiatives in your organization, that creeping sense of irrelevance you are feeling might be real. As the late Andy Grove offered, “Only the paranoid survive.” Let’s channel this paranoia into some focused actions to regain your relevance.
First, Assess Your Situation—Are You Experiencing One or More of These?
- You’ve been passed over for promotions.
- You’re left off the high-priority projects.
- A restructuring initiative diluted your position and responsibilities.
- Decisions are made about you and for you without your consultation.
- Your requests for resources and face time are delayed or dodged.
Now, Let’s Find Some Ground Truth
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?
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 critical component of the future business.
Are your skills current?
It’s easy and career-killing to get lulled into the daily grind and ignore the need to upgrade your skills constantly. People who decide what gets done and who does what look for the best and brightest, and part of that perception comes from their view of how hard you work to develop yourself.
Have you 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?
In a perfect situation, your boss is your sponsor for more significant and strategic opportunities. However, if you’ve not carefully cultivated this relationship and visibly become an advocate for your boss’s agenda, you might be off their radar screen or, worse, on their target list.
What does the sticky note on your back say?
In the Leap to Leader, Adam Bryant suggests we all have a sticky note on our backs that reads something like, “X is great at this, but… .” It’s what comes after the “but” that we need to tune into. Ask your boss, look for input from your trusted advisors, and ask peers and even team members for some input on you.
Diagnosing Your Situation
Based on your research, what’s your diagnosis?
One client completed this exercise and concluded: Our firm recently merged with a competitor, and all the energy is put into pursuing a new direction. I’m part of the legacy business, and we’re the cash cow. Yet, my new boss comes from the competitor and is less concerned about maintaining the old versus building the new. Additionally, I haven’t done much to upgrade my skills or grow my network in this newly merged organization. Few of the senior managers know who I am. No wonder I’m feeling irrelevant.
Spring Into Action—Seven Ideas to Strengthen Your Relevance at Work
Tailor your actions based on your diagnosis. Here are some options to choose from:
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.
The phrase, “This isn’t a popularity contest,” is a misnomer. It is in many ways, and it’s particularly healthy not to have adversaries. If you perceive you’ve burned or scorched a bridge or two, it’s time to see if you can at least neutralize those relationships.
Eat some humble pie and reach out to those who might not be charter members of your fan club. Ideally, bring something that supports or helps them with their efforts. Acknowledge prior bumpiness in the relationship and share your commitment to remedying this moving forward. Play the long game and strive to find new ways to engage and support them. Some will soften, a few might become valued network partners, and a few will keep that dartboard with your picture on it. The only mistake is not to try.
3. Make your boss a hero.
Pay more attention to the boss. Ask to understand their priorities better so you can align your activities accordingly. Strive to understand their vision for their part of the organization. Tune in to their goals and frustrations. And find ways to help.
Encourage or schedule regular one-on-ones where you highlight accomplishments and calibrate with their priorities. Ask questions on organizational issues and offer ideas for strengthening the group’s impact. While there’s a time investment here, it’s well worth the effort.
4. Manage and strengthen your network and build powerful coalitions.
The most successful professionals in our organizations have the most robust networks. Building relationships inside your group, across your organization, and up and down is imperative.
I encourage clients to map the organization and identify individuals who impact them/their area and those who are visible in leading significant initiatives. Set weekly targets on relationships you are interested in starting and develop a strategy to approach them. A simple way is to compliment one of their team members or ask about an initiative or recent presentation. One client used what they learned from suppliers to approach senior executives and share insights.
5. Find a sponsor
Mentors help us grow, but sponsors help us go. Who in your environment can support you in becoming involved in more significant initiatives? Cultivate a relationship with that individual, showcase your abilities and successes, and express interest in contributing to other important activities.
6. Upgrade Your Skills
Run, don’t walk to learn about AI. If you are a technical expert, read, study, and engage with leaders in your domain. If you’re a manager or in a role responsible for the work of others, seek leadership development and coaching. Work hard on your soft skills. Don’t let yourself sit still, or you will be moving backward at the speed of change, and everyone will know it.
7. Learn to Lead in the Gray Zone
Leading in the Gray Zones is one of my favorite approaches for turbocharging relevance. You can learn more about it in my article here. The short form is:
- Identify a problem that is creating inefficiency or generating friction between groups.
- Gain the support of your manager to build a coalition to fix the issue.
- Recruit and collaborate with coalition members.
- Shine the spotlight on them.
There’s a lot of goodness in this approach. You are increasing your relevance by spotlighting and facilitating a solution to a vexing issue while generating a nice reciprocity debt by showcasing their contributions!
Fight Back Against Creeping Irrelevance & Reinvent if Necessary
Relevance is earned, not given. In the words of Marshall Goldsmith, “What got you here won’t get you there.”
If you feel that sense of creeping irrelevance, do your diligence, write your diagnosis, and spring into action. And if your current situation has moved beyond you, accept that everyone will be challenged to reinvent multiple times in their careers. Don’t lament the past; embrace defining a new future for yourself and get to work.
Leave A Comment