We’ve all heard the legends of Steve Jobs starting Apple in his garage, or Zuckerberg creating Facebook from his dorm. But as small businesses grow and evolve from basements and kitchen tables to boardrooms and broader teams, they run the risk of being overly reliant on the founder or a few key individuals.

So what’s the problem? To start, this key person dependency (KPD) creates a real risk to the stability and continuity of the business if a crucial team member leaves or becomes unavailable, not to mention hampers the development of other team members.

Is your business overly reliant on key individuals? And if so, how can you navigate your way out of this dynamic? Read on as we delve into how process mapping is the game-changer in mitigating key person dependency.

The pitfalls of KPD

Key person dependency is the phenomenon of one individual or a select few team members holding the critical knowledge, experience, skill or reputation of an organisation. They are often the go-to person or people for a particular core process or system – and if they leave – take with them the crucial business know-how.

As businesses start out and budgets are tight, it’s normal to heavily rely on just a few key personnel. But as they (hopefully) grow, build their reputation and position within the industry, this structure poses critical issues for organisations – financial, cultural and reputational.

The pitfalls include:

• Lack of knowledge transfer leading to the loss of critical knowledge areas if a key member leaves, particularly where processes aren’t well documented.
   
• Business interruptions if that person is off sick.
   
• Operational inefficiencies when the burden of work or decision-making is carried by one person, causing a bottleneck of output and process.
   
• Pigeon-holing that member as the “guru” of a particular thing and stifling their innovation (and the company’s).
   
• Hindering the development of other team members who may themselves become reliant on someone else having the answers or become resentful of being denied the chance to cultivate their skillsets.
   
• Deficient succession planning when a key member retires, quits or suddenly departs can lead to a leadership vacuum and destabilising effect within the organisation (and to external stakeholders).
   

Process mapping – the secret to breaking down KPD

Just as it sounds, process mapping is a method that helps organisations identify and understand the key steps within its critical processes, from beginning to end.

It can come in the form of a written guide or visual diagram (like a flowchart) and is aimed at breaking down information barriers, recording and standardising your critical business processes and sharing knowledge across the organisation.

To implement a map:

1. Identify the important tasks and processes in each team.
   If resources are limited, start with the process(es) with the biggest impact on your business.
    
2. List each step of the process – from conception to completion. Include decision points and alternate paths.
   This will help reveal any gaps in the process.
    
3. Include phases or timing.
    
4. Ask, who has the passwords?
   If one person is the gatekeeper for logins or folders, this is a KPD.
    
5. Consider running a simulation to make sure you’ve covered all steps.
   For example, a sales team might run a simulation of dealing with a customer complaint.
    
6. Get feedback from other team members – this is a chance for innovation and optimisation.
   Things might have been done one way, but could they be better?
    
7. Identify who is responsible for each step in a process.
   If one person’s name consistently comes up, that’s a KPD.
    
8. Consider the competencies required of the task and who might be a good fit to take ownership.
    
9. Evaluate the need for further training.
   Remember, this is an investment in your organisation’s future.

Case study: SEEK

Organisations with strong process mapping will benefit from greater efficiencies and employee satisfaction, shorter onboarding times for new team members, clearer understanding of roles and responsibilities, less risk of variability and error, and a breakdown of information silos.

Take SEEK, as an example. The company recognised that certain processes were highly dependent on the expertise of specific team members and undertook process mapping to identify their points of failure. This allowed them to develop training programs that enabled other team members to step into critical roles and create knowledge-sharing practices to distribute its critical knowledge base across relevant teams.

No employee should be an island. By addressing key person dependencies, your business can develop and sustain a resilient workforce that relies not on the strengths of the individual, but the power of the collective.