What if you get sick?

What if you have a family or health emergency and need to be away for extended period of time?  Could the company operate without you? Can you take the time to deal with the issue?

Preparing a company for a long tern illness in some ways is more difficult than if you die for two reasons; there is no life insurance to compensate the company for your lost services and you want the company to survive until you can return.

I once had a health emergency. As it turned out it was over in a matter of days but it could have been much worse. As I lay in the hospital bed instead of worrying about the issue at hand I was trying to figure out what was going to happen on Monday when I was not at the office.

Your company will likely perform best under stress if the employees are already accustomed to making day to day decisions. If they need to bring every problem and decision to you then they are not likely to easily slip into the decision mode.  Unfortunately it is more common for small business owners to make all the decisions and deal with all crises personally.

 You need a plan and you need to empower the employees that will need to carry on with the authority to do what needs to be done.

The trusted employee that you count on to take over for you might not be capable or willing if you have not trained this employee in decision making and the general operation of you business.

Begin to set up the company so it runs without you.

·         Clearly define lines of authority. Everyone reports to you will not work if you are not there.

·         Set op processes and systems to perform all functions in the company so everyone knows what to do and how to do it.

·         Bring key employees into the decision process so they are accustomed to making decisions and know how to do it. Empower these employees to make routine and even none routine decisions.

·         Make sure you key customers and suppliers know your key employees so that if they get a call from someone other than you it is not a warning sign.

·          Make sure that key employees have access to all the tools and resources to run the company while you are ill.

If your key employees are accustomed to the company running well on a day to day basis with minimum input from you when you are available then they can rise to the occasion when you are not available.  You will still worry but you will have the “luxury” of being sick and the time to get well.

Original Material (c) Thomas Robinson