What's Your Bench Strength?

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Many companies focus on their A players to the exclusion of almost everyone else. There's nothing wrong with A players, but failing to focus on bench strength is a serious mistake. 

Do you have depth on your bench? Will a customer get the assistance they need if an employee is out of the office for lunch, sickness, or vacation? Will the loss of a key employee (whether short or long-term) have a significant negative impact on your organization? What about your succession planning? Do you have more than one person who is being prepared for each position? It may not always be possible on that last one, but we should strive to make that happen. After all, we never know what might happen tomorrow.

If your bench is shallow or has gaps, it's time to address the issue. What are some actions you can take to build your bench strength?

• Have a training plan. On-the-job training in many organizations is haphazard at best. 
• Cross-training is essential. Set up a matrix, identifying the major tasks, and assign names. Who has the primary responsibility for this task? Who is their backup? For critical tasks, it might be a good idea to add someone who is expected to at least be able to muddle through.
• Plan for succession. Who do you have with the potential to move up? Once you identify them, get them on a development plan to prepare them for future responsibilities.
• Build a learning culture. Teaching people how to learn is critical and builds capacity for quick reskilling.
• Set up a support structure that captures knowledge in some fashion. Documenting processes can help train tasks more quickly or as a last resort, make it possible for someone to step in and figure things out much more quickly.

Yes, it's great to have some stars on the team, but personally, I would prefer to have a full bench of solid players.

 

It's All Funny Until It's Not

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Let's talk about professionalism in the workplace. There is nothing wrong with having fun at work--you can still get your work done and enjoy the people you work with. However, I am fairly strict about keeping the fun within certain parameters. 

I have done many workplace investigations for sexual harassment and discrimination of various types. A large percentage of the time, the complaints have come about because people were "joking around" and everyone thought it was funny until it went too far, or a new person came in who didn't find the banter funny, or it reached the point where a person no longer felt they could pretend they thought it was funny. Yes, I do know some people seem to get offended over what seem to be very minor things, but often these microaggressions are very hurtful. We don't recognize them because we have different life experiences.

So my general rule of thumb is that it's okay to have fun but certain types of humor are out of bounds, and that is humor relating to sex or gender or any other protected class. Slurs, name-calling, or other types of personal attacks are also not okay. Boundaries for physical contact also need to be clear. Texas is the hugging capital of the United States, I think, but as a rule, unless you know the other party is open to that, control yourself. Even if hugging is accepted, there is a matter of degree.

Managers should set the example and correct behavior that crosses the line. Have fun, but be responsible. (Think drinking--one or two drinks is usually acceptable, but too many can land you in trouble.)