Preparing for the Bus

We all know one, or maybe we are one. You know – the person that plans for all eventualities, including the most unbelievably improbable situations or opportunities.

I like to think I’m that person now, but that wasn’t the case many years ago. For me, this was a lesson presented over and over and over again by one of my favorite bosses. For every new idea, project or policy suggested for implementation, she would ask, “What happens if you get run over by a bus? What happens then? How do we pick up where you left off?”

The Bus; what happens after The Bus?

How do you prepare? How far in advance do you prepare? Where are these instructions kept? Who maintains/updates them? What is the basic plan if Employee A is unable to perform their job unexpectedly? Employee B? Employee Z? How do we mitigate the negative aspects of the loss of a staff member? How do we, as an organization, react publicly and to the family?

These are some the questions that constantly run through the mind of a planner.

The answer to that proverbial question is to write down the procedure, logon/password, instructions, etc., so anyone on the staff could step in if necessary during an emergency situation; even if that staff member is you.

This does not mean that everyone on staff knows every aspect of everyone else’s job. It just creates a starting point for those who need to step in when circumstances require.

Some people are inherently opposed to writing everything down for a variety of reasons. Some like to think they can keep it all in their head and act when necessary using just their knowledge. Others feel like writing it down opens the door to being replaced by a younger, less expensive employee, while some just don’t think it is important for anyone else to know because they like to control access for security (or other) purposes.

On the other hand, there are those who write everything down; what time they went to lunch or on break, and what day and time they spoke to "Mark at Intellimedia" about correcting a flaw in the system. This can be helpful, but in some ways it could also be just a little too much.

Over the past few years my team has been working on a project that took much longer to produce results than we anticipated. In the initial planning stages, several options for success were discussed and plans were devised. Over time it became apparent that success would be achieved when least expected; sure enough, it did.

Were we ready? Yes.

Did everything work out the way we planned? No, but we had Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D to pull from as circumstances quickly changed. Eventually we ended up with a combination of every plan that had been devised, and a significant amount of documentation to fall back on as new challenges appeared.

A leader’s job is to lead (no kidding!).

So, lead!

Sell the idea of documenting the key elements of each role in the organization to your staff so that if The Bus hits your organization, those tasked with ensuring the ship is not circling around rudderless have sufficient information to keep it moving in the right direction.

Perhaps working in teams to identify areas where members depend on others to perform their own work is the best place to start. For instance, if Sam depends on data from Kay, Sam should know how to get the data, where it is normally stored, or to whom he can go for assistance so that he can get what he needs if Kay is unavailable for any length of time.

I know this all sounds so simple, like Management 101, but how many of us actually have this system in place? How many actually have a plan for the eventuality of The Bus?

It’s not something we want to think about, but we should – and plan for.

Dawn is the Deputy Executive Director for the Academy for Eating Disorders in Reston, VA. Before founding her own consulting firm in 2013, she served as a respected project management and administrative operations professional in the military, higher education, and women’s healthcare fields for almost 30 years. As a volunteer, she currently serves as the Past Chair of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's Women's Council. 

Dawn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Management from Trevecca Nazarene University, as well as a Master of Business Administration degree and a Graduate Certificate in Organizational Management from American Public University, and a Lean/Six-Sigma Green Belt. 

End of the Year Management 101

Photo Credit: Bing Images

The end of any given year is always a challenge. Even if your fiscal year runs contrary to the Gregorian calendar, managing time, people, expenses and other resources in December can leave you waiting with bated breath, and perhaps a serious lack of patience, for the New Year holiday.

So, how did the end of the calendar year become such a challenge to manage? After all, you still have staff to do the work, and many of them come to work this time of year in a festive mood. This should translate to more work and less stress, right?

That’s not necessarily true since many employees save a significant amount of time off for the end of the year, and in our undeniably now global society, not everyone celebrates the same holidays, requiring the use of different vacation or PTO days than the traditional Christmas to New Year’s week. Couple that with the increased demand of customers and clients who also want things done before their holidays begin, and you generally end up scrambling even more than usual to make staffing assignments and provide resources to meet that demand.

Don’t get me wrong – this is not a bad thing in any way, shape or form. I, for one, enjoy celebrating the various holiday traditions and exploring those for which I have very little knowledge or experience. I guess it’s the one-time-sociology-major coming out, allowing me to revel in the opportunity to explore different ways of looking at life and business.

Over the years, I have picked up a few tidbits here and there about meeting end of the year management challenges, and have listed three of them.

Make Company Holidays Flexible. As I mentioned earlier, different cultures celebrate different holidays. If your company’s annual holidays include 2 or more days for Christmas, make them floating holidays that can be taken by employees of different faiths when their holidays fall. This provides your company with staff coverage for clients during traditionally slow periods. Global companies staff their offices 24/365 because they recognize the importance of being there for the customer when they are looking for something. Having flexible authorized holidays makes this possible.

Choose and Support a Nonprofit All Year Long. Resource allocation, including staff, is one of the greatest challenges in December. If your company supports a nonprofit by allowing staff to volunteer during work hours, implement a program to encourage staff to do so every month of the year, rather than just December. Having worked in the nonprofit community for almost 30 years, I can tell you that they need your support on a consistent basis; not just on Thanksgiving and Christmas. In fact, the need for those supporting the homeless and less fortunate is often greater in the first quarter of the year once winter really sets in.

Be Flexible in Managing the Generations of Your Workforce. Although I've written about this before, I think it still bears repeating. There are at least four different generations in the current workforce, all with differing needs and means of communication. Yes, you can teach an old dog a new trick, but that doesn't mean he likes it, or embraces it willingly. Likewise, puppies have boundless energy and their own ways of doing things that an older dog can’t fathom. However, that doesn't mean that one way of doing something is better than the other; they are just different. Don’t forget to keep that in mind when confronted with a management decision.

All in all, the end of the calendar year can be an exciting and busy time with its own unique management challenges. Although I've only listed three, I’m sure there are many, many more ideas, so please feel free to share yours.

Editor's Note: This blog post also appears on LinkedIn.

Before founding her own consulting firm in 2013, Dawn Gannon served as a respected project management and administrative operations professional in the military, higher education, and women’s healthcare fields for 25 years. She holds a Masters of Business Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Organizational Management from American Public University, is a contributor on LinkedIn, and the author of the Management in Motion blog.

Dawn currently serves as the Past Chair of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s Women’s Council, and teaches health and safety classes for the American Red Cross. As an infertility survivor she has been a featured speaker within the Fertility Community, and written numerous articles on the topic of childfree living. 

Taking a Chance on the Unknown

Have you ever hired someone even though they did not meet all the job description requirements, but you just KNEW that they had the potential to be a great fit for the job?

Think about it for a moment. Who gave you your first big break, and were you truly qualified for the position? I know I wasn't.

Over the last 30 years, I can point to at least three instances where someone was promoted or hired, and the current staff shook their collective heads and asked why. And yet, each and every time the answer became apparent as time moved on. In each case, the hiring official saw something in that applicant that was not reflected in their resume or obvious to others.

They took a chance on the unknown.

Over the weekend, I watched several programs about the Apollo 11 moon landing 45 years ago. Having watched it take off from the Cape live on the shores of eastern Florida as a child, I was curious about the back story I could now better understand as an adult. The most interesting comment to me was the fact that the crew had determined that they only had a 60% chance of succeeding, and a 40% chance of dying in the attempt.

Talk about taking a chance on the unknown!

This chance, however, began taking shape in 1914, when R.H. Goddard from Massachusetts received two patents for rockets, one based on liquid fuel and one for a multi-stage rocket. Like the hiring official who hires or promotes someone who seems unqualified for the job, Goddard was ridiculed for his absurd notions, and yet, he is now seen as the father of the space age.

Leonardo da Vinci also developed a few ideas that were “out there,” such as designs for machines that eerily resemble modern tanks and helicopters, just to name a few. The only challenge he didn't overcome for these machines was identifying a power system to enable them to operate (Encyclopedia Britannica).

The bottom line for all of these examples is that someone (or a group of people), saw something that others could not – or would not – and took a chance on the unknown that paid off.

This is not to say that you should hire every unqualified person who applies for all of your open positions. As we all know, the success of finding a job these days is found more often than not in networking; having someone you know introduce you to someone they know and provide an outstanding reference, while asking them to consider this new person for a position. In a sense, they are asking their friend or colleague to take a chance on the unknown – another friend or colleague for whom they will vouch.

I saw this happen recently, and while my friend wasn't qualified for the position as it was listed in the job description, once hired, he thrived in the environment, and has just received a promotion simply because someone took a chance him - they took a chance on the unknown.

Granted, in business you have to be careful and weigh the risks against the possible rewards of embracing the unknown before making a decision. But consider where we would be today in terms of scientific discovery and modernization if people like da Vinci and Goddard had not taken those chances on the unknown.

Just suppose the person you are asked to consider doesn't have the 2 years of experience in that particular position, but has offered to take a lower-paying salary until they can reach specific goals you set together. Is your only hesitation that they don’t have that experience, but they have great references who support their ability to handle the job?

If that’s your only hesitation, go on; take a chance on the unknown today, hire them, and then let me know what happens! My money is on them exceeding your expectations.

 Editor’s Note: This post also appears on LinkedIn.

Before founding her own consulting firm, Dawn Gannon served as a respected project management and administrative operations professional in the military, higher education, and healthcare fields for 25 years. As a Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt, Dawn’s commitment and personal mission to improve the lives of others through service to the community focuses on providing administrative and volunteer management, consumer education, public outreach, event planning, relationship-building efforts, and strategic planning. She is a contributor on LinkedIn, the author of the Management in Motion blog, and has written a number of articles for RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association on the topic of childfree living.