by Matt Boltz
Every organization is at risk of the “Lottery Winner” scenario. One or more of your employees hits the lottery jackpot and doesn’t ever have to show up to work again. They are gone but the work still has to get done. Do other members/managers of the team know how to do that person’s job? Are processes documented and are the process documents up to date? Are other members of the organization cross trained on the lottery winner’s tasks? If you answered ‘No’ to these questions then your organization may have an issue with Single Points of Failure.
Single Points of Failure (SPF) are a problem that every organization should work on resolving immediately. Lottery winners are rare but people resigning their position to take a role at another company is extremely common. Most people give a notice of two weeks so that means the remaining team members have 10 business days to determine how to do the person’s job that is leaving. The team will also have to determine how to shift workload around to get these tasks done in the short term until a new employee or contractor is brought in as a more permanent solution.
How do Single Points of Failure get created in the first place?
I’ve seen organizations that consistently have layoffs or reductions in force (RIF). Employees in these types of environments will hoard information in order to better their chances of not being laid off. The mindset is “I’m the only person who knows how to do this job so they can’t get rid of me.” They are not willing to cross train anyone and will rarely document their processes in order to survive the unstable work environment. This brings us to another reason why SPF get created – lack of process documentation and cross training. Most people don’t like to create process documents. It can be tedious, boring, and time consuming. If you already have a full plate and tight deadlines where are you going to find the time to create detailed desktop procedures? If everyone on the team has a maxed-out workload who has time to cross train other people?
How do you protect against Single Points of Failure?
The best way to mitigate Single Points of Failure is through process documentation and cross training. If your teams are too busy to document processes you can bring in a contractor at a reasonable rate to complete the documents for you. Process docs don’t have to be complicated. A simple Microsoft Word file with step by step instructions and screenshots is sufficient in most cases. Another benefit of having an independent contractor create your process docs is that the employee will have to ensure they know their job to explain the process. The contractor may also see ways to improve the process since they are not living it day in and day out. Cross training and process documentation is also a great way to incorporate the 3 Principles of an Effective Workplace (Individualism, Collaboration, and Education). Have someone from Business Analytics that wants to move into Financial Planning and Analysis sit with the FP&A team and learn what they do and document the work. Or you can switch up tasks within the team if you have an Accounts Payable Accountant that wants to eventually transition to the General Ledger Accounting team.
Single Points of Failure can create short- and long-term problems within organizations. Use SPF as an opportunity to retain and promote talent at your company. If everyone says they don’t have the time to cross train or document processes, you need to find out why. If all team members are so busy and stressed with their work then they are not in a state of flow. Managers may need to re-balance workload or help with uncovering inefficiencies that are taking up time that could be used to resolve SPF. When someone resigns their position and leaves an organization it creates measurable costs but also hidden costs. The stress that can be created on the remaining team members can be too much for some people to handle which can make them also want to leave the company. It is wise to get out in front of these inevitable situations and eliminate SPF now before they create more harm down the road.