In the previous Cornerstone Moment, I discussed Management Succession. This time I want to discuss developing cover for absent employees and about employee development to allow the former to be possible.
Cover Development
When we are absent from the fold on travel, vacation, illness, jury duty or abroad on business, who can answer the questions normally asked of us? We are best advised to have someone who can take over for us at that time. Speaking personally, I am intentionally working with my teammates to prepare them to run meetings, make decisions and execute plans without my intervention or permission. I am also intentionally transparent to the degree permissible in my position and always coaching and teaching. Giving away what I know is one way I can help prepare them to cover for me when I am not around. When our children were small we did everything for them. As they got older we taught them how to do it for themselves. At some point that enables them to go out on their own. In our business, we need depth and breadth to be optimally effective and successful. We must have self-sufficient people around us to provide that. We are not only not self-existent, we are not self-effective if needed when not present, unless we have built depth into our organization.
At every level of the company there is a need for depth. From the CEO to the janitor, companies need depth. Without it, they stall, drift, or make major mistakes when someone is missing from active duty. Football teams have backup quarterbacks for a reason. If the starter gets sick or injured, they have someone to take over for them. Companies must do the same and they must do it at ALL levels. If I don’t have cover the next time I am on vacation, I am tethered to my phone and the internet, while also irresponsible. So just stay tethered we say. Wrong answer! That is doing the company a great disservice because we are then putting the company in a potentially compromised situation if something happens to us. Imagine what can occur if one person is in total control of a process such as proposals and RFP responses and then leaves the company. There will be a mess to clean up by those who remain behind. That is not the legacy that I fancy leaving behind, and since I can’t take tomorrow for granted, I must be at work building depth on my team today.
If I am an individual contributor and not a manager, it is still my responsibility to make sure someone else on my team can provide me cover when I am not available. So, if I let go of ‘self’ I am able to give away some of my knowledge to others, helping them improve and fill any void I may leave when absent. That to me is not only essential, but it is in itself a form of leadership. Through the years I have gained a deep appreciation for letting go and giving away to my teammates. The results can be quite remarkable at times, but at the very least will help facilitate a more efficiently functioning business environment, with more inspired employees and happier customers.
Employee Development
Because nothing happens automatically, conducting succession planning or building cover for us and our team requires effort. In the past, I have developed what I then called an Academy of Excellence within my team. That label simply became a framework for continuous improvement for the team in the form of on-going education. I tied Management Business Objective (MBO) incentives to the successful completion of Associate, Degree and Masters levels of achievement within the framework of the Academy. It was nothing formal or fancy, but was part of our goals and performance evaluation each year. Everyone was very aware of it and made certain that they successfully completed the curriculum. The end result for them and our team was a higher level of domain expertise, a greater capacity for supervisory responsibility and happier and more productive teammates. It was by no means perfect and could have surely been better than it was, but it was something that helped build depth that benefitted our team members, company and customers.
Regardless of methodology, when leading as managers or leading as individual contributors it is our responsibility to build succession and cover into those we work with. A proud moment for us should be when a good employee gets recruited into a position equivalent to our own in another company. Surely, we would hate to lose them, but the reward of helping them get to that ability level should be very gratifying for us. It will mean that we are doing some things right and able to bring others along in the same way. It also means that we can take the vacation, attend the special graduation ceremony, and relax while playing a round of golf. In some ways, succession and cover planning are also good time management. So instead of me moving my commercial team meeting to another day or time due to travel, I can let someone else lead the meeting and then I can later listen to the recording to catch up on what I missed. Amazingly, the meeting will take place as planned, the strategies will be developed and the dissemination of information will take place – even without me leading the charge. At the same time, I will have teammates empowered, encouraged and inspired to grow and improve. How could that possibly be a detriment to the progress of the company, or for that matter, a detriment to me?