I’ve been reflecting on the value of employees in large organizations — the “human” in the concept of human resources. This reflection began with a simple premise: comparing the value of a janitor to that of a senior executive. While context is critical in determining value, the core idea is that every role holds intrinsic worth within its specific context. Often, this value becomes starkly evident only when things go wrong — like when a janitor is absent, and the accumulating dirt and rubbish disrupt the smooth functioning of the workplace.
Organizations are vast and intricate systems, and employees often feel like just one small cog in a massive machine. Job titles and hierarchical positions have long been used as proxies for an individual’s value, with the assumption that senior roles inherently contribute more to success. But is that really true?
A simple look into organizational dynamics will reveal that two less-visible forces — redundancy and momentum — profoundly shape how critical a position truly is. Redundancy determines whether a role can easily be covered in the event of disruption, while momentum keeps the organization moving forward, sometimes masking individual contributions or failures.
Consider this: A frontline worker managing a unique, specialized task might have a greater immediate impact on operations than a senior executive, whose absence is buffered by layers of redundancy and systemic momentum. This dynamic challenges traditional notions of value and urges us to rethink how organizations assess the criticality of each role.
In this article, we’ll explore the interplay of redundancy and momentum in large organizations, uncover how these factors influence employees’ perceived and actual value, and offer practical takeaways for both professionals and leaders. By the end, you’ll see that the question isn’t just about whether you’re valuable — it’s about how and where you make the most impact.
Redundancy and Momentum in Organizations
Organizations are complex systems where success depends on the seamless interaction of various roles, processes, and individuals. Two key concepts — redundancy and momentum — are central to understanding how employees contribute to these systems. Let’s break them down:
Redundancy: The System’s Safety Net
Redundancy refers to the intentional overlap of roles, functions, or processes within an organization. It’s a strategy designed to ensure resilience — when one component fails, others can step in to prevent disruption. There are three primary types of redundancy:
Functional Redundancy: Multiple individuals or systems can perform the same task, providing backup if one fails.
Structural Redundancy: Duplication of pathways or processes, ensuring continuity even when one route is disrupted.
Component Redundancy: Additional units of critical resources to maintain operations during malfunctions.
The Dual Nature of Redundancy
While redundancy enhances reliability, it can also obscure the importance of individual roles. If your tasks are easily covered by others, your role may be seen as less critical — even if your contributions are essential to overall stability. Conversely, a role with no redundancy might be deemed indispensable but vulnerable to burnout or operational failure.
Momentum: The Invisible Force Driving Continuity
Momentum describes an organization’s ability to maintain forward movement due to established routines, processes, and systems. High momentum ensures stability, allowing operations to continue despite minor disruptions. However, this same force can delay the detection of problems or the recognition of exceptional performance.
The Dual Nature of Momentum
Positive Effects: Momentum supports efficiency and stability, especially in large organizations with multiple moving parts. Established routines reduce the cognitive load on employees and promote consistency.
Negative Effects: Momentum can mask malfunctions or diminish visibility. When processes are running smoothly, the contributions of individual employees — especially those in less visible roles — might go unnoticed.
The Interplay of Redundancy and Momentum
These two forces are deeply intertwined. In high-momentum organizations, redundancy can amplify resilience, allowing operations to continue seamlessly even during disruptions. However, this interplay can also create blind spots: roles that are highly redundant or operate within routine-driven systems may be undervalued despite their importance.
For example, consider a technician maintaining a niche system. If the role lacks redundancy and the technician steps away, the system might grind to a halt, highlighting their criticality. Meanwhile, a senior executive’s absence might go unnoticed for weeks due to the layers of redundancy supporting their role.
By understanding redundancy and momentum, we can start to see how they shape the value and criticality of roles — not based on hierarchy, but on their function within the system. This insight forms the foundation for reassessing how employees contribute to organizational success.
Critical Roles in the Shadows
In any large organization, some roles shine brightly under the spotlight of leadership meetings, while others operate quietly in the background, often unnoticed. Yet, these “shadow roles” can be the glue holding critical processes together. While it’s easy to assume that high-ranking positions have the most impact, the reality is that a role’s criticality often lies in its function, not its visibility.
Here are some hypothetical examples to illustrate this dynamic:
The Network Technician in a Fast-Paced Bank
Imagine a mid-level IT technician responsible for maintaining a legacy server system in a global financial institution. The server supports a legacy application that processes thousands of daily transactions.
Because the organization operates at high momentum, no one questions the system’s reliability — until something goes wrong. The technician’s specialized knowledge becomes critical when issues arise, as no one else has the expertise to troubleshoot the outdated system. Despite being “just another IT staffer,” their absence could halt operations and damage the bank’s reputation.
Roles with unique, specialized knowledge and no redundancy are often far more critical than their hierarchical rank suggests.
The Compliance Specialist in a Manufacturing Firm
In a manufacturing company, a compliance officer ensures that the plant’s operations adhere to strict environmental regulations. On paper, their job seems routine: monitoring processes, completing audits, and filing reports. However, their work prevents costly penalties and shutdowns.
When momentum drives the organization to prioritize output over compliance, the officer’s role might appear non-critical — until the company faces a surprise audit. In that moment, their diligence becomes the difference between smooth operations and a multimillion-dollar fine.
Compliance roles are often undervalued in high-momentum organizations, but their impact becomes glaringly obvious in moments of crisis.
The Shift Supervisor in a Retail Distribution Center
Consider a retail distribution center operating 24/7 to meet high demand. A shift supervisor on the night shift oversees operations, handles last-minute scheduling adjustments, and ensures deadlines are met. While their work occurs behind the scenes, any lapse in supervision could result in delayed deliveries, stock shortages, and dissatisfied customers.
Despite their relatively low hierarchical position, the supervisor’s role is integral to the organization’s ability to fulfill its promises to customers.
Frontline roles with immediate operational impact often have outsized importance, even when their contributions are not publicly recognized.
The Pattern Across Shadow Roles
In all these examples, the roles share common traits:
Low Redundancy: There’s little to no backup for their tasks.
Specialized Knowledge: Their expertise isn’t easily replaceable.
Delayed Recognition: Momentum often masks their importance until something goes wrong.
These traits underscore the hidden criticality of roles that don’t always command attention but are essential to organizational success.
By recognizing these shadow roles, both employees and leaders can reassess their contributions and better align organizational structures to ensure resilience. After all, a system is only as strong as its most indispensable — and often invisible — components.
The Relevance to You
Understanding the hidden dynamics of redundancy and momentum isn’t just an abstract organizational insight — it’s a practical lens through which both employees and leaders can reassess their contributions, priorities, and strategies. Here’s why this matters to you:
For Employees: Advocate for Your Value
If you’ve ever felt like your work is undervalued or misunderstood, this framework can help you:
Recognize Your Impact: Map out how your role connects to critical processes in your organization. Are you the only one who knows how to manage a particular task or system? That lack of redundancy makes your role inherently valuable.
Proactively Communicate: Don’t let high momentum mask your contributions. Use performance reviews, team updates, and metrics to regularly highlight your achievements and show how they align with organizational goals.
Prepare for the Unexpected: If your role lacks redundancy, consider advocating for cross-training or creating documentation that ensures operational continuity. Ironically, demonstrating this level of foresight can further showcase your strategic importance.
For Leaders: Rethink Role Valuation
Leaders often focus their attention on highly visible or senior-level roles. But overlooking critical “shadow roles” can create vulnerabilities in your organization. Here’s how you can apply these insights:
Go Beyond Hierarchy: Instead of defaulting to hierarchy as a measure of value, evaluate roles based on redundancy, momentum, and their connection to key operations. A frontline worker in a low-redundancy role might be just as critical as a senior executive.
Prioritize Resilience: Identify positions with low redundancy and high criticality, and ensure they’re supported with resources, backups, or succession plans.
Foster Visibility: High momentum can obscure the contributions of essential team members. Create opportunities for these employees to showcase their work and receive recognition for their impact.
For Everyone: Drive Organizational Success
Whether you’re an employee or a leader, embracing this perspective can lead to:
Improved Collaboration: When everyone understands the interconnected nature of their roles, teamwork becomes more cohesive.
Better Decision-Making: Leaders can allocate resources more effectively, while employees can align their efforts with organizational priorities.
A Culture of Value Recognition: Shifting focus from hierarchy to criticality creates an environment where contributions are appreciated based on their actual impact, not just their visibility.
Ultimately, the dynamics of redundancy and momentum give us a richer, more nuanced understanding of how organizations function — and how each role matters. By applying this lens, you can unlock new ways to contribute, grow, and lead within your organization.
A New Lens for Understanding Value
What if we’ve been looking at value in organizations the wrong way all along? For too long, value has been tied to hierarchy and visibility, assuming that those at the top or in the spotlight are inherently the most critical when, in fact, the real story is far more complex.
Rethinking Value Through a Systems Lens
Consider this: In a complex system, like a massive organization, the failure of an overlooked but critical role can create ripple effects far beyond its immediate scope. The IT technician who ensures the legacy system runs smoothly, the compliance officer who protects against unseen risks, or the frontline supervisor who prevents bottlenecks — each of these roles may operate under the radar but has the power to sustain or derail the entire organization.
This perspective forces us to ask new questions about value:
Are we overinvesting in roles that look important but have high redundancy?
Are we undervaluing the roles that prevent crises but only become visible when things go wrong?
Are we designing systems that allow every role to contribute to its fullest potential?
Bridging the Gap Between Perception and Reality
The gap between perceived and actual value in organizations isn’t just an intellectual exercise — it’s a practical challenge that can have real consequences. Imagine the untapped potential of recognizing and supporting shadow roles before crises force their importance into the open.
Imagine the cultural shift that would occur if value were measured by function and impact rather than titles and office locations.
Whether you’re an individual contributor or a leader shaping an organization, the questions of redundancy and momentum offer a framework to reflect on your own role, your team, and your decisions:
For yourself: Where do you fit within the system? Are you the glue that keeps things running smoothly, or the driving force that propels the organization forward?
For your organization: How are you ensuring that critical roles — no matter where they sit — are recognized, supported, and resilient to change?
For the future: How might your organization look if roles were valued not by where they are on the org chart but by the criticality of their contributions?
Redefine What Matters
The greatest insight we can take from redundancy and momentum is that every role matters — but not in the same way. Recognizing the diversity of contributions in a system allows us to unlock hidden strengths and build resilience.
As you reflect on your role or team, ask yourself:
What’s the one thing that would stop functioning if I — or my team — stepped away tomorrow?
How am I ensuring that my contributions are both visible and sustainable?
How can I help my organization value roles based on their true criticality, not just their perceived importance?
By embracing this shift, you’re not just redefining value — you’re transforming how organizations work, one role at a time.
So, Here's the Key — Rethinking Value, One Role at a Time
In the intricate systems of today’s organizations, value isn’t simply a function of hierarchy or visibility. Instead, it’s shaped by the unseen forces of redundancy and momentum — forces that determine not only how critical a role is but also how its contributions are perceived and appreciated.
By shifting our lens, we uncover a deeper truth: the roles that sustain and protect an organization often work quietly in the shadows. Recognizing and supporting these roles can enhance organizational resilience, create a culture of equity, and ensure every individual has the opportunity to make a meaningful impact.
Whether you’re a frontline contributor wondering how to showcase your value or a leader striving to build stronger systems, this perspective empowers you to rethink what truly matters in the workplace.
Continuing the Conversation
What’s your take on this new way of looking at value?
Have you experienced — or observed — roles that were undervalued until a crisis revealed their critical importance? Or have you successfully advocated for the recognition of hidden contributions?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, stories, or ideas in the comments. Together, we can explore how to better align value with impact and create workplaces where every role is truly seen and appreciated.
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