Part one and two of this series introduced the concept of a culture of honor. The first recommendation was to use environmental design for optimal wellness. Second, nurture abilities of those with special needs. The next recommendation in this series is to focuses on how succession planning may contribute to a humane environment.
Since 2008 layoffs have become common place. In addition, many companies did not replace employees that changed positions or retired. Therefore workloads often became more oppressive which leads one to conclude this is not a humane work environment.
Succession planning asks who can fill key positions with little or no notice or ramp up time. It assumes the employee is adequately trained, but is not authorized to step into a roll unless or until the current resource in unavailable to serve. It may be due to a temporary change such as military duty, vacation leave, planned leave or an acute crisis rendering a resource temporarily unable to serve. .
When acute events occur forcing an employee to step down, it can send the management team scrambling for solutions. It is more humane to allow a trained person to step in and continue without disruption than to dump work on employees who are not trained to perform new functions. Succession planning makes it much easier to fill future vacancies, or handle a surge in business. It is not honorable to oppress employees, give them no power over their lives, or perpetuate anxiety caused by poor planning. It is honorable to expect well trained employees to flexibly step in and help out during periods of change. The last topic in this series is on resource management.
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