I work closely with an absence management system, more specifically the developers, administrators, and UX-types. They reach out sometimes and ask for feedback or insight into certain issues/concerns that other clients, or potential clients, have about their service. I give them my honest feelings about their product, their team, and how they manage their service; they hopefully secure more clients.
They reached out the other day with a situation that I (believe) I fully understand, and unfortunately, I think it’s a situation that all of our businesses have encountered at one point or another — some are probably experiencing it now:
- They had one employee who knew how to use a system inside-and-out
- That system integrated with their payroll/accounting system, but only after a bunch of manual cleanup of the data (which that one employee did)
- They’ve been concerned about how difficult that “integration” had become, and are looking into alternate solutions (i.e. another service provider)
- That one employee suddenly turned in their 2-week notice
Before going forward I want to mention that I am not attempting to downplay the potential client’s situation, nor am I advocating that they immediately jump ship (lots of boat analogies ahead, sorry), or be fiscally irresponsible.
In my reply to our absence management system’s representative, I never suggested that the prospective client simply move from their current service provider to their team (even though I do enjoy their product). It became more of a thought exercise.
All aboard the sinking ship
That business was aware of the faults; they knew they disliked the original provider, they knew the “integration” has been failing them. However, that one employee was able to compensate and do their job very well, resulting in that integration’s failures to be minimized. Now the business has more problems they started with (at no fault of the incumbent, either):
- An already-broken payroll process that will likely remain broken (just in time for the next payroll!)
- 2 weeks until the only person that knows how to make that integration “work” goes away
- A vacancy which they need to fill, yesterday, in hopes that the previous employee can try and impart all their knowledge into their replacement (lest they rely on the service provider to train the new employee)
When a member of our absence management system’s team reached out to me to describe the issue of this potential client, I was struck by the last bit of their email. They summarized the potential client’s concerns as reluctance to move to a new system because they were afraid that implementing a new one isn’t as easy as it seems. Which is a valid concern, though I don’t believe I came to the same conclusion. I took a different approach to my response and instead focused on exploring the current situation versus the potential situation.
Be your business’ life raft
No, I don’t mean dig them out of every hole they will (inevitably) dig. In my opinion, and in my response, I outlined what I believed to be the causes of this panic:
- A single point of failure (one person knowing how to do a process)
- A process they knew wasn’t working, but continued using
- The will and want to correct the process, now hampered by both the inevitable and the unknown
Cross-train your employees — they don’t all need to know how to do something, and they all don’t need to know how to do it as well as the subject matter expert (SME). More than one person needs to know how to do it in a pinch. Not only that, but in giving more people more business knowledge, you’re giving your employees more tools in their toolbelt! Why would you not want your employees to be more capable in their daily discourse? As a business, as a manager, supervisor, or leader, the more general knowledge you give to people, the more capable they are to handle their own jobs. Isn’t that what you pay them for?
Guess who gets into trouble when one of them leaves and suddenly no one else can fill their shoes? Not the person who retired. You. You failed to prepare a life raft for your department, your boss, your business, and worst of all, your stakeholders.
It’s broke but it works
No it doesn’t.
If you know something isn’t working, and you’re already looking for new solutions, and you have what you believe to be a solution to your current problems looking at you in the face, why be concerned about your perceived difficulty of implementation? You’ve literally admitted that you’re in too deep (save the Sum 41 jokes for later); now someone’s throwing you a floatie when you’re in the deep end of the pool and drowning.
If you need to compensate a solution’s failures by throwing manpower at it, you’re wasting money, and deceiving yourself. Imagine trying to mop the deck of a ship at sea in rough waves — you know it isn’t working and won’t work. But then imagine being told to continue doing it because it’s the only way to get the water off the deck. Feels bad right? You wouldn’t do that on a boat, so why do you do that in your business?
But I can’t swim
I’m running out of water-related analogies at this point.
You’re kicking your feet trying to stay afloat (perpetuating a business process that barely works) when your feet finally go numb and begin to succumb to fatigue (employee leaving). When that rescue boat comes along and throws you a rope to drag you home, would you say, “But I’m afraid it’s too hard!”
The answer is hopefully no, else my article is sort of useless.
You have everything to lose, and everything to gain — so why not choose to try and gain? Would you really dig your heels in and keep treading water in hopes that you can swim yourself to shore?
I’m scared
Good, you should be.
Your current situation further highlighted, and proved, what you knew to be wrong. From how I see it, you have two choices:
- Keep doing what you know is wrong/isn’t working, and stick with the same service provider
- Take a chance and make a change with a new service provider
The outcome of the first choice should be predictable, given the history. The outcome of the second isn’t predictable, however, the result is either good or bad. If it’s bad, you’re no worse off than you were before. If it’s good, you’ve actually managed to survive.
It’s in your best interest as a business, manager, supervisor, or leader, to make your own life rafts. Teach your sailors how to tend to them, how to manage their upkeep and how to actually sail them when the time comes.
You have everything to lose, so stop losing it.
