Your performance review praised your teamwork, your reliability, your positive attitude. It mentioned several projects you completed successfully. You left feeling good about your standing. Six months later, your position was eliminated. Why this matters now: Performance reviews document contributions, but not all contributions carry equal weight during budget decisions.

Your last performance review praised your collaboration, your project completion, your professional development. You felt good walking out of that meeting. Three months later, your department announced restructuring and your position was among those eliminated. Why this matters now: Performance reviews document contributions, but not all contributions carry equal weight

Your team has capability gaps. Tasks that take too long because no one knows how to do them efficiently. Work that gets sent to other departments because your team lacks the skill. Problems that sit unresolved because the expertise doesn't exist. Someone will fill these gaps eventually. The

You attend meetings. You participate in discussions. You contribute to decisions. You assume this means you're valued and secure. Then restructuring happens and you discover your participation mattered less than you thought. Why this matters now: Not all workplace conversations carry equal weight. Some conversations include you because

Your manager schedules a meeting about "organizational efficiency." Your stomach drops. You start mentally listing everything you do, hoping volume equals value. It doesn't. What matters during layoffs is not how many tasks you handle but which tasks would cause immediate problems if they stopped. Companies

When layoffs happen, leadership asks around about who should stay. They talk to managers, check with other departments, and gather opinions about who adds value beyond their job description. The people who would vouch for your work quality matter before anyone asks them for a reference. This isn't

Helping an overwhelmed colleague builds the kind of goodwill that matters during layoffs. When leadership considers who adds value beyond their job description, they remember people who helped the team function when things got difficult. This isn't about becoming everyone's problem solver. It's about

Complaints damage your reputation even when they're justified. The person who constantly identifies problems without offering solutions gets labeled as negative, regardless of whether they're right. Reframing a complaint into a solution-oriented observation positions you as someone who solves problems rather than creates them. This matters

You work near someone but rarely interact beyond project handoffs. You know they're busy. You know their workload overlaps with yours in some way. You've never looked for opportunities to help them specifically. Strong work relationships aren't built through small talk or networking events.

You're the only person who knows how to export the monthly sales data. You're the only one who understands the workaround for the vendor portal. When you're out sick, work stops until you return. This feels like job security. It's actually career

Your colleague asks if you can take on part of his project. Your manager suggests you join another committee. Someone emails asking if you can review their proposal by tomorrow. You're already working evenings to keep up. Saying yes protects relationships in the short term. Saying yes when

Making yourself valuable at work often comes down to one behavior: offering solutions instead of listing problems. Your manager announced another process change. The team groans. Someone lists three reasons it won't work. Another person mentions the failed attempt six months ago. The meeting stalls. This is your

Last week you observed, mapped influence, and analyzed decision-making. All information gathering. This week you start building and maintaining relationships intentionally. Today's action is simple: identify one colleague who did something well recently, and tell them. Not to manipulate them. Not to get something in return. Because workplace

Last week you built documentation habits - work logs, paper trails for invisible contributions, stakeholder maps. You know what you do and who depends on it. This week you make sure other people know too. Visibility without politics means your work gets noticed for the right reasons, not because you&

The first two days taught you to observe communication styles and identify influential people. Today you map how decisions actually happen. Org charts show formal authority. They don't show the actual path decisions take from idea to implementation. Understanding the real decision-making process helps you navigate your workplace

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

Org charts show formal authority. They don't show actual influence. The person with the most power in your department might not be the one with the manager title. Real influence comes from relationships, expertise, or control over resources that other people need. Understanding who has informal power helps

Most of your work exists only in your memory and in the results you produced. If someone asked your manager to list your contributions from six months ago, they'd remember the big projects but miss the smaller work that kept things running. This creates a problem during layoffs.

When companies make cuts, the people deciding your fate don't see your daily work. They rely on what's documented, what's visible, and what managers remember under pressure. If your contributions exist only in your own memory, they won't factor into those conversations.