[2022-01-22] Irreplaceable
The second-last job shift in my career was a difficult choice to make. I was offered a lateral transfer from my EX-03 position in Natural Resources Canada's policy branch to one in the department's communications branch.
There was no burning reason for me to make the change. I knew my job in the policy branch well, having done it for three years. I had a good boss, pleasant colleagues and some wonderful staff. The new position wasn't a promotion. So I hesitated.
What tipped the scales in favour of the new position was the realization that taking the job would allow me to continue expanding my skills and potentially advancing in my career. (Indeed, the communications position did turn out to be a stepping stone to my final position as Assistant Deputy Minister of Communications for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.)
Once I had made the decision to accept the offer to transfer to the communications branch, I was surprised—and a little saddened—at how quickly it appeared that life in the policy branch would simply continue on without me. On one of my final days with the policy branch, I said to a colleague—with a few tears in my eyes—that I felt so replaceable. I'll never forget what she said: "Jen, you are irreplaceable," she assured me.
It was so kind of her to say that. I think she meant that Jen the human being was irreplaceable, not Jen the director general. Of course, the policy branch did replace me, as did the communications branch when I would leave the new job to move to Health Canada.
Leaving jobs never fully impressed upon me how easily I could be replaced in the workplace. For that, it would take developing a life-threatening illness.
Before getting cancer, I often thought of myself as essential to the smooth functioning of whatever organization I was with. That feeling of being indispensable led me to work long hours, use few sick days, and take time off only in the summer and at Christmas.
But once I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I concluded (though, admittedly, it took me a week to do so) that my organization would just have to make do without me. And, of course, they did—admirably so.
My family, on the other hand, was much more impacted by my diagnosis. To them, I could never be replaced.
I've often thought that I would have made different career decisions had I been able to foresee the cancer that would arrive just four and a half years after I made the transfer from policy to communications. Perhaps I would have finished my career in that EX-03 position in the policy branch.
My story may serve as a cautionary tale to those who think that they must give everything to their jobs because they possess unique skills and experience that no one else can bring to their tasks.
Yes, we each have a unique combination of abilities and background that make us well suited for our jobs, but someone else—with a different set of competencies—could be equally proficient at our jobs, particularly with the benefit of a few months of experience.
To our work colleagues, we may be unforgettable. But to our family members, we are irreplaceable.
