On Thu, Mar 5, 2015 at 10:58 AM, Barbara Wyton <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> This question is primarily addressed to those of us who are “one person
> departments” but I would love to hear all comments.
>
> Are you responsible (in whole or in part) in planning for your own
> successor?   How are you/would you go about doing this?    This plan may
> not go to the level of saying “Joe Smith” will be the next Records Manager,
> but more along the lines of detailed requirements for your particular job.
>


There is a term that comes form process charting and technology that may be
of use here, when explaining to whoever your function reports to that might
give them "pause for thought".

The term is "Single Point of Failure" and while that may SOUND like a
horrid way to refer to your position, it REALLY isn't.  A SPoF is an
integral part of a system that, if it fails, will stop the entire system
from working.

When organizations take a HARD LOOK at themselves, their focus should be on
identifying each and every one of these, and then to determine "How do we
bridge this if it happens"? Unplanned things happen... people get injured,
family members may experience a medical emergency, someone might win the
lotto or the horrible scenario of someone dying while in their job can
happen.

Few organizations do as much as they should when it comes to succession
planning, and as mentioned by others, about the best thing you can do is
document your role in great detail... because as many of us in RIM know, we
spend as much (or more) time doing things that are outside the actual scope
of our position descriptions as we do doing the actual job.

And it's GREAT that you are thinking about this proactively, but your
MANAGEMENT is really who should be thinking about this. I only say this for
one reason.... and that is DO NOT allow them to take advantage of your
generosity.  Instead, I'd suggest you approach someone and open up the
conversation by saying:

"I was thinking about the role I play here and the function I'm working in.
I realize that I've been the only one in my role for X years and there is
no succession plan in place for someone to replace me.  And while this role
may not be thought of as mission critical, there are aspects of this job
that if left undone, could do damage to the organization's effectiveness."

If your comments resonate with the person... drop the "single point of
failure" concept on them, and explain what you mean when you say it. And
once you get "buy in" on that, then you can decide on a plan.  Until they
do, don't spend a ton of effort on detailing your duties... it should be up
to them to commit that it needs to be done before you offer it up.



-- 
Larry
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*----Lawrence J. MedinaDanville, CARIM Professional since 1972*

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