The hallmark of a good company and great leadership is when business can keep going even if you, the owner or manager, aren’t around.  The method of doing that is making sure that your staff, your employees, are well trained and if need be cross-trained.

Sure, there is a lot of concern about overwhelming staff members or fear that they may not be able to do the job and yes, we are in a financial Depression and they better know how to do the job or they will be replaced but that doesn’t help the day-to-day operations of your business and it can piss off your existing customers who are use to your great service if they suddenly don’t get it.  Even worse is if somebody blows a transaction that could be the loss of a large account or causes a great deal of money to be lost.

The way around the above referenced problems is to take the time and start cross training about half a season before you need the person to handle the coverage and once or twice before the vacations start to let the person do the job of for the person that he or she is suppose to be covering.  Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, companies large and small don’t have the time to spare the extra man (or woman) power to take the time to train somebody.  Folks, you need to bite the bullet to do this.  What happens if somebody gets sick while somebody else, the key employee is on vacation?  You end up with horror stories when the person comes back like, “It was chaos without you here.”

As exciting as it may sound to be a Most Valuable Player (you know, like in baseball, where it is abbreviated as MVP) you run the risk that your business may end up in the ground and you will have to say RIP (Rest In Peace).

No person, including yourself should be so valuable that you can’t step away from your business for a few days or weeks.  Fears of being replaced should be replaced with fears of losing customers, fear of having work backed up so high that it will take additional weeks to crawl out from it.  We don’t want to get into situations like that because it makes for a stress inducing work environment.

Don’t forget to document as well.  There are too many firms that rely on “Good Old Harry” who has been with the company for twenty years and knows the operation of the ice cream machine inside and out and knows just how to repair it.  The problem is that “Good Old Harry” probably doesn’t have his knowledge written done and if Harry wins the lottery or retires – or God Forbid, has a stroke from eating too much ice cream-you will be without an ice cream machine server or repairman.

Managers should bite the bullet and pay a little extra for staffers to stay a little late and document what they do or take advantage of downtime in this current Depression to write up and distribute their duties so people can have the knowledge what to do in case they aren’t in the office or store.

While I am on the subject, don’t forget to make a list of what to do in case of emergencies, contact information and phone numbers.  It is common that sometimes a very high level command decision is needed or you need to reach the owner to let him or her know that a bulldozer is outside the store waiting to plow down the store.  Things like that are important to relay to management.

Building employee depth is one of the keynote factors that business people need to stay proftiable and it goes hand in hand with keeping your contingency plans up to date.  As I talked about before in the blog, a contingency plan is what is needed to keep the business going or what to do if you have some kind of catastrophe.

Remember that employee and customer safety are paramount and you might have to be in compliance with local, state or national guidelines for whatever business you are in.  Play it safe and please play it smart.

And keep your staff cross-trained.  You will appreciate it when you are vacationing in Europe or Las Vegas and don’t want to get a call at 3 o’clock in the morning your local time asking what to do because the ice cream machine is broken.

July 03 2009

Hey, don’t go anywhere yet.  Having some tax issues or tax questions?  Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed?  Please read on.

I am expanding  my practice and taking on new tax clients.  If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.

I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.

I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime. Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Employee Depth