Map Who Depends on Your Work to Show Your Value

The first two days focused on documenting what you do. Today you document who needs what you do.

Your value to the organization isn't just about the tasks you complete. It's about the relationships you maintain, the people who rely on your work, and the gaps that would appear if you weren't there. When layoff decisions happen, managers consider not just individual performance but organizational disruption.

A stakeholder map shows the web of dependencies around your role. It makes visible the connections that might otherwise go unnoticed when someone is deciding who to cut.

Why Dependencies Matter During Layoffs

Managers making layoff decisions ask themselves: "What breaks if this person leaves?" If the answer is "nothing significant," you're vulnerable. If the answer is "three different teams lose critical support and two processes stop functioning," you're harder to eliminate.

Some roles have obvious dependencies. A department head manages ten people who would lose supervision. A sales representative owns twenty client relationships that would need reassignment. The dependency is clear and documented in the org chart.

Other roles have invisible dependencies. You support colleagues across departments who would struggle without your expertise. You maintain systems that would deteriorate without your attention. You coordinate between teams that would miscommunicate without your facilitation. These dependencies are real but undocumented, which makes them easy to overlook.

Creating a stakeholder map makes invisible dependencies visible. It shows decision-makers that your work connects to more people and processes than they might realize.

Identify Your Direct Stakeholders

Direct stakeholders are people who regularly receive work from you, depend on your expertise, or need your coordination to complete their own responsibilities.

List everyone who falls into these categories:

People who receive your work output - Colleagues who need reports you generate, analysis you provide, documents you create, or systems you maintain. They can't complete their work without your deliverables.

People who request your expertise - Colleagues who ask you questions, seek your advice, or need your specialized knowledge to solve problems. You're their go-to resource for specific capabilities.

People you coordinate between - Colleagues in different teams or departments who need you to facilitate communication, resolve conflicts, or ensure alignment. You're the bridge that keeps work flowing smoothly.

Internal clients you support - Teams or individuals who depend on services you provide, whether that's technical support, administrative assistance, or specialized skills they lack.

External contacts you manage - Clients, vendors, partners, or other outside relationships where you're the primary point of contact. These relationships would need transfer if you left.

Write down names in each category. Be specific. "Marketing team" is vague. "Sarah in marketing who needs weekly analytics reports" and "Tom in marketing who depends on my help interpreting data" are specific stakeholders.

Aim for at least ten names. If you have fewer than ten, you're either missing people or your role has limited organizational integration, which is itself useful information.

Document What Each Stakeholder Needs

For each person on your list, write down specifically what they depend on you for. Use this format:

[Name] - [Role/Department]
Depends on me for: [Specific work, expertise, or coordination]
Frequency: [How often they need this]
Impact if unavailable: [What breaks or slows down without it]

Example:
Sarah Chen - Marketing Manager
Depends on me for: Weekly website analytics reports and interpretation of traffic patterns
Frequency: Every Monday morning
Impact if unavailable: Marketing team can't make data-driven decisions about content strategy; campaigns run without performance insights

Example:
James Rodriguez - Operations Director
Depends on me for: Troubleshooting the inventory management system when issues arise
Frequency: 2-3 times monthly
Impact if unavailable: Operations team can't resolve system errors independently; inventory tracking becomes unreliable

This specificity transforms vague relationships into documented dependencies. Someone reading this understands exactly what would stop working if you weren't available.

Map Cross-Functional Dependencies

Some of your most valuable dependencies span departments or organizational boundaries. You might be the person who ensures sales and operations communicate effectively. You might facilitate coordination between technical and non-technical teams. You might be the translator who helps different parts of the organization understand each other.

Cross-functional dependencies are particularly valuable because they're harder to replace. Finding someone with your technical skills might be straightforward. Finding someone who has your technical skills and the relationship capital to work effectively across departmental boundaries is more difficult.

Identify any stakeholders where your value includes the relationship itself, not just the task. These are people who trust you, communicate openly with you, or rely on you to navigate organizational politics on their behalf.

Note these relationships specifically: "Facilitates communication between engineering and product teams who have historically had friction" or "Has working relationship with procurement that speeds up typically slow approval processes."

Visualize the Dependencies

Create a simple diagram that shows you at the center with lines connecting to each stakeholder. Group stakeholders by department or function. Use different line styles or colors to indicate frequency of interaction.

This doesn't need to be elaborate. A hand-drawn diagram or simple document with your name in the center and arrows pointing to stakeholder names works fine. The visual representation helps you see the scope of your connections at a glance.

The diagram also serves as a tool for conversations with your manager. If you're discussing your role or contributions, you can reference this map to show how your work connects across the organization. It's harder to dismiss someone whose connections span multiple teams and functions.

Identify Critical Single Points of Failure

Review your stakeholder map and look for dependencies where you're the only person who provides this support. These are single points of failure where your absence creates immediate problems.

Mark these with a star or highlight. These are your strongest arguments for indispensability. If you're the only person who knows how to maintain a critical system, the only point of contact for an important client, or the only person who coordinates between teams that must work together, your absence creates risk.

Document these specifically: "Only person who maintains the customer database system - no backup trained" or "Sole point of contact for three major vendors representing 40% of supply chain."

Organizations don't like single points of failure. They create vulnerability. But eliminating you to reduce one vulnerability while creating multiple other vulnerabilities doesn't make strategic sense. Highlighting where you're irreplaceable, even temporarily, makes you harder to cut.

Update Your Work Log With This Information

Return to the work log you created on Day 1. Add a section for stakeholder dependencies. Include the names of your key stakeholders and what they depend on you for.

When you document your daily work going forward, note when you support these stakeholders. "Provided Sarah with weekly analytics report" connects your daily task to a documented dependency. This reinforces that your work directly serves multiple people across the organization.

Share Strategic Parts of This Map

You don't need to show your manager the complete stakeholder map with the explicit framing of "here's why you can't fire me." That's too direct and creates defensiveness.

Instead, use this information strategically in normal work contexts:

When discussing your workload: "I'm currently supporting the marketing team with analytics, helping operations troubleshoot the inventory system, and coordinating between sales and product on customer feedback."

When updating on projects: "This work affects Sarah's team in marketing, James's operations group, and the customer success team who depend on these insights."

During performance reviews: "My role connects to teams across five departments who depend on my work for their own deliverables."

These statements make your cross-functional value visible without explicitly arguing for your job security. The information enters your manager's awareness naturally.

Complete This Map Today

Open a document right now. List your stakeholders by name. Document what each person depends on you for, how frequently, and what impact your absence would create. Identify cross-functional dependencies and single points of failure.

Create a simple visual diagram showing yourself connected to these stakeholders. Save this with your other documentation in a location outside company systems.

This map won't prevent every layoff, but it makes your organizational value visible in ways that help during subjective ranking decisions. You're documenting the disruption your absence would cause, which is information that matters when managers are deciding who to cut.