Deep Bench
Discover more from How to Lead Everybody (with their permission)
Take a look at the people on your team. Now imagine that one of them won Powerball this week.
Would the people still in the office have the knowledge, skills, and experience to keep things going if that person just stopped showing up?
Consider getting every person on your team to train someone else to do what they do. It’s good for covering in emergencies. It’s good for when a team member goes on vacation. It’s good for growing the skillset of other people so that someone can get promoted (and won’t be held back because they are “irreplaceable” in their current role).
This can involve training, coaching, and mentoring. It can also involve a “What the team needs to know” document that lists where you keep the key to the storage room and the wifi password, among other info that your right-hand person would need if you were, for example, suddenly hospitalized and unable to speak.
Don’t leave your team unprepared.