How to stay Relevant in your Workplace: Five Key Principles to Staying Relevant on a Job

Discovering what you love doing, and enjoying every little bit of it, wherever you find yourself, makes all the difference.

As an employee, what is your greatest fear? Landing that dream job; and kick-starting your career at a company: what is one major concern of yours? From the numerous conversations and small talks I have had with people from different works of life, there is one thing that consciously resonates: staying relevant on the job. A job loss could mean food on the table, bills, and responsibilities - survival. Although you may attempt to be significant, no one is indispensable; it is evident with the downsizing that hit the labour market last year. We attach a lot to a job; therefore lose focus on building what could last for a lifetime. From the very first day of reporting, one is in a state of anxiety, and displaying low self-confidence. Invariably, losing focus on things that will help build your career while in that position. Some of the most important things to consider when working towards keeping a job are; avoiding bootlicking, discovering needs or opportunities, delivering on primary assignments, asking questions, and self-development.

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One of the pressures with a new role is the eagerness to over-impress. In most cases, unfortunately, one eventually burns out long before they start delivering on the job. Most times, the idea of being a bootlicker means desperation or unnecessary apprehension. In most cases, your employers may not feel comfortable advising you to take a chill pill because there is quite a lot ahead. You do not need to be all over the place and be nowhere; be friends with everyone, suck up to people, be known or want to take up all the tasks. A Workplace is a safe space where everyone actively collaborates to make a difference with an open mind. Your first few weeks or months are periods for immersion; studying the environment, getting used to your colleagues, culture, process, and above all, finding your feet. Extra hours at work ought to be by personal choice, not to impress.

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Avoid getting Overwhelmed on the Job

Your ability to discover opportunities at work and fill them sets you on the right track. Remember, you got the offer because the company wanted someone who could deliver on the job and make a productive and impressive impact. I once had a conversation with someone when I got bored at work. I wanted something new, challenging but exciting. One advice I got was to discover those things that needed a second helping, fixing or not getting enough attention at work. It could be as simple as giving a work tool a face-lift, volunteering at something, demonstrating a new tool, etc. These things could make working easy and more fluid. When you must have discovered a gap, and you feel it is within your bandwidth, by all means, go for it. One thing is to verify and get the necessary approval before you make an impact.

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Help out at work

Another factor to staying relevant is delivering on your primary assignments first before taking up other tasks. Know how to prioritize tasks as much as possible. You do not want to shoot yourself in the foot. Having your primary tasks out first keeps you on top of your game. Then, when you realize there are some free spaces on your calendar, reach out to your colleague or superiors to know if there are pending tasks to deliver based on your working relationships and area of assignment. Also, know that there is a downside to this: in some cases, either we find ourselves grappling through tasks that are out of scope or swamped up with the same because a closed task has been reviewed and reassigned; thereby lumping up on secondary tasks. One of the things that could help you here is your ability to work with time and set targets; do not forget to ask for the ETD – Expected Time of Delivery.

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Primary Assignments come first to nothing

One of the few things one learns during onboarding is to ask questions because there is no such thing as a ‘stupid question’. Mind you, there is none, but how will you feel if the answer to the question you are looking for is under your nose, and the person just had to nudge it forward to come into full view? Before you chat with that colleague or shoot that email, attempt to explore some options you have at your fingertips: Google is your friend; YouTube is a goldmine, and if you have the privilege to access previous work repositories, by all means, dig through. Then questions will come in the form of either clarification or consultation. Develop the habit of finding out things: researching and digging through. It makes your work easy, more flexible and faster, boosts your self-confidence, and earns you some respect.

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Learn to Research

For most job opportunities I come across online, there is always a demand for a resource who is a fast learner, self-starter, intuitive, enjoys continuous learning, etc. The demand to be in tune with the ever-changing market is both ways: employers want you to keep up with market trends while you should do yourself a favour by updating with new process systems. Your ability to cultivate the attitude of self-development binds your feet firmly on a career path, while you apply whatever skill gained on the job. Your transferable skills, in combination with your learning goals, paces your intuitiveness while on a job or career path.

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Continuous Development is Key

Have you ever wondered why the next person will rely on your informativeness rather than what they get elsewhere? Why will a company go with one man’s idea or a group? Sometimes, the most valuable things to us are likely those we love to nurture or ‘for keeps’ such as that healthy relationship, employee, company, jewellery, credit card, etc. We discover life is easier with those peers, items, personalities, places, etc. Your focus should draw more toward building ’YOU’ for a career than a job. That way, you become more adaptive in embracing the ever-changing architecture and the inconsistencies with every employment.

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