Who Could Replace You?

If You Can't Be Replaced, You Can't Be Promoted!

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If you’ve become the only person who can do a critical task in your team, then you may well be limiting your own leadership career progress.

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It’s all very well being valued for your capabilities as team leader, but if you’re the only person able to do something, then it becomes a risk to promote you or move you onto something new, when there’s no-one else ready and able to fill your shoes.

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For the organisation, training someone up at that point is inherently risky, time-consuming and creates unwanted pressure trying to replace you at a specific crunch moment. Far easier and less risky to leave you where you are.

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Ironically, being indispensable - in the wrong way - can kill off your career prospects!

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You need to have at least one person in your team who is capable and willing to take on your role. And there should be a proper plan for their development, scheduled over a period of time, to equip that individual with the skills to step up.  Then when the opportunity comes along, both of you are primed and ready.

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Yes, you absolutely should develop yourself, take on some stretch tasks to ready yourself for the next career move. But don’t do this at the risk of leaving your team weaker when you step away.

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Organisations can’t promote you if it means they’ll see a drop in business performance. And anyway, good team leaders build and nurture the team around them, making them stronger and building capabilities. They don’t make the team’s success dependent on them.

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Delegate for development; build systems others can run; get your team involved in improvements; coach and upskill people; share information and keep communication lines open with your team members.

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Then when the opportunity arises, you – and the team – will be ready to step up!

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