The strongest businesses often have written plans for how to address unexpected events and mitigate risk, known as business continuity instructions. Their owners ask questions like, “What happens if a co-owner or I die?”, “How do we protect key employees from competitors?”, and “How do we address interruptions in our supply chain?” Here are three major items to consider as you create your own written business continuity instructions.
Focus on Yourself First
Much like an emergency on an airplane, you need to focus on protecting yourself before you can begin protecting others. One of the most important questions to ask at the outset of your planning is, “Can this business survive without me?”
If the answer is “No,” business continuity instructions can help you begin the process of figuring out how to make yourself dispensable to the business.
If the answer is “Yes,” business continuity instructions can answe
Successful businesses require many types of employees to succeed. But it’s vital to know which employees are key employees, which are important employees, and how to properly motivate the latter group. Today, we’ll share a process to help you motivate important employees who aren’t key employees.
Key Employees vs. Important Employees
You likely have more important employees than key employees at your business, which makes it critical to know how to motivate them. Before you can properly motivate important employees, it’s essential to know the difference between them and key employees. Key employee: An employee who has a talent or skill that’s difficult to replace, whose absence would tangibly harm the business, and who can take the business to the next level. Important employee: An employee who has institutional knowledge and an understanding of the business’ processes, but who isn’t willing or able to take the business to the next
E pluribus unum—out of many, one—is a concept that runs deeply in the blood of many people, especially successful business owners. You likely expect that your co-owners, advisors, and employees all work toward a common goal of business success. However, when it comes time for the business to run without you—by your choice, death, or otherwise—there’s a much more appropriate concept.
Ex uno, multi: Out of one, many.
Your skill set as an entrepreneur is vast. You’re likely a good communicator who knows how to listen as well as sell. You have a focus that keeps you from making rash, emotional decisions. You know how to learn and how to plan. You understand business processes from marketing to operations.
Finding all of these skills in one person is rare. And if you were to find that person, they’re likely already running their own company. This often means that to find a replacement for yourself to position your business for future succes