Over the years our company has collaborated with organizations to provide workshops on succession and transition planning. We do workshops on this topic for two main reasons. First, because we are aware of the economic and organizational impact of the Silver Tsunami, and we want our clients and communities to plan accordingly. Second, from a project management and program sustainability perspective we have seen large initiatives stall due to unplanned staffing transitions and we want our clients better prepared.
As a part of those workshops, we include a segment on back up planning. This blog post is intended to give you some tips related to that.
Why Your Entity Should Create Back Up Plans
Whether you are running a small business or leading a team within a government entity, have you ever experienced a program stalling or operations slowing down when a key team member is out of the office or on an extended leave? Alternatively, have you ever desperately needed a vacation but feared that going out of the office would just put you further behind and more stressed out? If you answered “Yes” to one or both of those questions, then you most certainly should consider making back up planning a key part of your team structure. When back up planning is incorporated proactively into how your team functions it has the opportunity to minimize or eliminate operations stalling and can minimize stress when team members take time off.
What Do I Mean By a Back Up Plan
When I reference a back-up plan I mean more than, “When I am out of the office my out of office says team member ABC can be contacted for an immediate issue.” I mean an intentional strategy that includes standard operating procedures; tools and templates; and proactive cross-training.
When Do You Start Working on It
I encourage people to start crafting back-ups for every team member for every key responsibility / tasks that each team member holds. The back-up planning may begin during the onboarding period when new team members are brought in and being trained. If new hires are starting in a group or in pairs, this presents a great opportunity to create back-ups for team members tasked with similar responsibilities.
How Do You Operationalize It
A plan is not good unless it is executed and operationalized. A key part of the back-up planning process is to ensure team members are comfortable taking on the role of a back-up in such a way that operations continue to run smoothly; the team member out of the office can take time off with peace of mind; and the team member serving as the back-up does not feel overwhelmed by a last-minute addition to their plate.
How We Can Help
Please check out our “Workshops” page in the Resource Portal for past and upcoming Succession & Transition Planning workshops. If you would like to request a workshop, please complete and submit “Contact Us” form on our website at the bottom of each page. These workshops provide attendees with tangible tools they may download and save to use during and after the workshops.
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