Indispensable? Fire them now

If you have a staff member who you think is indispensable, the best thing you can do is fire them right away. If they think they are indispensable, fire them even faster. If you think you are indispensable, stop it now. There are a number of reasons for this.

The first, and most important, is that by firing them you will almost invariably find that they were not, after all, actually indispensable. They made themselves appear so, but in reality they can be quickly replaced, or other people can do what they did at least adequately: in fact, often the indispensability is due to what their own staff do, not them.

Secondly, people who think they are essential will sooner or later hold you to ransom. They will demand pay increases and/or other benefits with the implied or actual threat that they will leave. And usually, they will do this when they think their loss would cause the most damage. Fire them now, and get it over with. That way you are in control.

Thirdly, anyone who is a manager or supervisor with the power to make decisions who does not ensure they have not just succession planning in place, but that there are others who can replace their work is a failure. They themselves can never be promoted, because they are indispensable in their present role.

Fourthly, a key responsibility of a manager is to support, mentor, encourage, train and enable their staff to realise their maximum potential, and make the maximum contribution to the organisation. A manager not doing that effectively is not doing the job they should be doing.

Fifthly, if someone really is absolutely Indispensable, you need to know that for sure, because you may lose them for some other reason, such as illness or accident, or a competitor, at any time. Might as well fire them as soon as you can put in place arrangements that render them dispensable, and before they hold you to ransom or drop you into something nasty by walking out at a bad time.

And if you think you are indispensable, consider that your manager will be considering these things about you.