Back up planning – Some business leaders make the mistake of thinking they are doing succession planning when in fact they are really doing something we call ‘backup planning’. We define backup planning as the process of identifying people in an organization who are best-equipped to serve as backups for current employees, should those people leave.
These ‘backup people’ need to be good enough to keep the business afloat until a more qualified job candidate is found and put in place. Think of backup planning as a short-term way to keep work flowing when someone is out of the office for a relatively short period of time, several days to several months. Backup planning is critical to any organization in supporting unexpected interruptions but should not be used as a substitute for intentional, effective succession planning.
Do you know someone like Carl? Backup planning, by itself, leads to problems. “I don’t know what happened to Carl”, lamented a business owner recently. “Carl used to be the best cost accountant we had. He was a model employee with a great attitude. He was so good, in fact, that when our top sales person retired unexpectedly, we moved Carl into the lead sales position. We even gave him more money. But now he’s a different person. He’s not opening doors and closing new business. When he’s in the office, he snaps at people and complains all the time. His attitude is awful. Our revenues have declined drastically since we moved him. Bottom line is Carl’s not selling.”
What went so terribly wrong with Carl? Chances are there is a ‘job fit’ issue with Carl. Carl’s not doing what he enjoys anymore and he probably doesn’t have the right skill set. What often happens to the detriment of an organization and its backup people is that the person moved to a backup position is made the permanent replacement. After all, if the backup can do an adequate job in the short run, why switch him or her back to their old job? Over the long haul, organizations that rely on backup planning to fill critical positions on a permanent basis will suffer, as will those individuals in the backup.