Are you dispensable?

Ever eliminated your own job?

I did.

Many years ago, my entire job, with the exception of 2 days per month, was collating data from a range of sources to produce a consolidated report.

Mostly I was rekeying finance figures from print outs.

But I had 2 days per month to work on other projects.

I started playing with macros. And electronic file transfers. I worked on automation in my own time.

6 months later, I ran a parallel process to the manual data entry. The new process took 10 days. The next month I got it down to 5 days.

The following month I stopped the old method, and just ran the automation. It took 3 days.

And then it hit me. I no longer had a job.

I had reduced the effort from 18 days to 3.

But thankfully, I worked for a manager that I later emulated.

He recognized my contribution.

I was promoted. “Go fix other processes!” he said.

A good manager recognizes that the very best talent will not make themselves indispensable. They will make themselves dispensible. They will refine processes, eliminate duplication and reduce risk.

Promote these people. Fire the indispensable ones. They pose the biggest risk to your business.

Are you dispensable?