The Balancing act of succession
How does management replace a long term employee who has retired? What “stuff” is passed onto the newly hired staff. I do wonder. Sadly, knowledge is still poorly handled in a field that manages human’s history. I often hear stories of how no documents were handed over, no anecdotes, or at worst never meeting the person who left. Therefore, I would like to propose — job share. A revised edition. Especially, when it comes to specialised roles, just having one person is not enough. What happens if, that person falls ill, retires, or dies? The loss of knowledge is far too great of a risk. Yet time and time again, you see it fly out the window.
Procedures and policies do not explain how staff make a decision or how they come to make a judgement call. Some issues are muddy and are not clear cut. Someone has to call the shots in the grey area and sometimes come to a compromise.
How does job share fit into a contingency plan? Job share will become a form of continuity. This type of job share has two acts: mentorship and apprenticeship. A wheel that allow retirees to ease out and new staff to ease into the role.
Where the senior staff teaches the equivalent level or junior staff one-one-one about the unspoken rules, nuances, decision making, and insider resources. When the senior staff member retires, the junior staff member (if qualified) takes over the role, and teaches a potential new person returning back to work (if qualified) the same set of skills. Its a form of paying it forward.
It does sound like a game of musical chairs. I assure you, it is not. Sometimes junior staff leave early, before the journey even begins, this happens, so then you will have to train another one. To management that is a waste of time. Many specialised staff dislike people who have no plans for longevity. However, if you do not try this model, what do you have to go on with? Hiring someone from outside is good and valid, but still, there is no hand over period. The goal of job share is to create a buffer within the workplace should there be a sudden departure.
Let me tell you. I know how bad it can be when there is no buffer. Two weeks into my office volunteering role at a neighbourhood house, the child care supervisor, got up and disappeared. She never came back and she never rang us. Luckily, we had a staff member who is yet to finish their diploma and could step into the role. But we needed the approval of the board and to check if it complied with Victorian legislation. The coordinator of the house had to scramble for casuals to replace that person’s present role. Together we went through booklets and various checklists in preparation for the DHHS inspection that was to take place that same month! None of us knew the pin to the voicemail. We vaguely worked out the diary containing all the bookings. Where the keys were to the room, to the yard, and to the cash box. We were all stressed out of our minds. If it was given to you, how would have handle it?
I believe, that when a new staff is replacing a previous staff member, they need time for deep learning curves. I hate to see anyone left on their own and placed on struggle street. Too bad, I won’t be doing a case study for this blog post. Gosh, it would have been juicy, but no, imagination will have to suffice.
