What's Your Bench Strength?

Photo by Amine rock hoovr on Unsplash

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.