As an employee, are you disposable?

It's human nature to put a lot of effort into a new job (or other new experience) and then, after we're established, back off. We all tend to coast in certain areas of work & life. However, especially in this economy, those who coast are beginning to discover that their job security is at serious risk.

Are you coasting? If so, you are most likely at risk of becoming disposable. (As in the next to be unemployed.) That being the case, how can you go from disposable to indispensable? (And, before we go any further, keep in mind that merely being good at what you do does NOT prevent management from tossing you into the dumpster with everyone else.)

Want to up your odds of surviving the next purge? Try this. Make a list of all the skills and abilities you bring to your job. Once you complete that list, make a second column showing the number of those skills your employer has tapped into. Now, create a third list of the skills your employer - or future employer - genuinely values. The difference between what you know and what they value is your new target of opportunity (or maybe your target of survival).

Let me give a simple example. One of the absolute key elements of some jobs is the ability to dispassionately create and communicate a cost-benefit analysis (CBA). Unfortunately, few people can effectively create a CBA - and even fewer can communicate the resultant information to their business environment. Could you do this? If not, here's a very easy add-on to your personal-professional toolkit.

How about increasing your employment possibilities? Are there other simple skills (such as a CBA) that you could add to your toolkit that would help you become more valuable to your employer? Make a list and go after them. Also, understand that there may be no need to attend a costly course or training program. Many of these basic skills can be self-taught.

Wait... Self-taught? Isn't that something like taking control of your own professional growth? Or maybe taking the initiative? Could those two skills also be listed in among the needs of modern businesses?

Try this - It's easy! I just gave you three options for improving your employment capacities. How many more can you locate? Keep in mind that sometimes "merely" keeping a job isn't going to suffice. Sometimes you need to take control over your own options and (even though you "feel" secure) ensure that you are prepared for the worst.

Still coasting? On the other hand, you could just kick back in the recliner and wait for the next big surprise. Then you can stumble back onto the unemployment line with no advance preparation...

Nah! You're smarter than that. How can we help you improve? That's what we do.

Obama invites the CEOs of major corporations to the White House for advice!

These folks are seen as the potential vehicles for reducing tech-related costs of big government. Hopefully we'll gain a few new answers on how to enhance services and efficiencies, too. Here's the article I'm referring to on the Washington Post site.

OK... This makes a certain amount of (non)sense: Invite the top corporate CEOs in for advice on how to reduce costs. Granted, their companies have grown and they ARE successful. But, were these executives the ones who brought the original intellectual property, or the knowledge, or the capabilities to the table? Were they the ones actually managing the projects that built the enterprise? Doubtful. Instead, perhaps many of these folks were hired for their 'pretty' factor, or their abilities to connect the enterprise with other major corporations. (Or maybe to connect with political figures?)

However, if this government is serious about reducing costs I think it's time to start asking the small- to mid-sized business owners how they execute effective and rapid change. These are the business people who survive or fail based on their abilities to streamline costs while continuing to deliver value to their customers. There is no multi-billion dollar infrastructure for these folks to rely on as a parachute. There is no bailout in their future business forecasts.

Wait just a second: I could be wrong but weren't the enterprises we recently had to bailout once ranked among these "major" corporations?

The individual people on the front lines of America made this country what it is. They sweat and bled to build this dream. Maybe we should listen to some of their common sense ideas for stepping up to the productivity plate and stepping back from the “me first” buffet? Maybe the core message we're searching for isn't so much how we can go about patching the ship of state. Maybe, instead, we should be asking, “In what ways can we get serious results?”

Perhaps we need to look to Einstein's definition of insanity: “Doing things the same way every time and expecting different results.”