The term “emergency succession” is a stuck-up way of talking about what happens if a key member of your organization is unexpectedly unavailable. The common way of talking about this is “What happens if “So and So” is hit by a bus?”
Organizations should have this conversation frequently. The way I document emergency succession is with a chart detailing who backs-up each of the key employees on the team.
So, let’s say that John is backing up Bob. John needs to have a general idea of what is going on with Bob all of the time. John needs to know how to do every important task that Bob normally does. He needs to know where the passwords are located for items like voice mail and the office computer. He needs to have access to Bob’s schedule. Bob’s obligations include making sure that John is up to date with what is going on and that when new tasks come his way that he trains John.
Accidents and illnesses to staff members do occur but disruptions in service and loss of revenue can be avoided with a little planning.
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