The temporary absence of an individual in a small business can make a big impact. When documenting procedures (a series of tasks completed by a single person) be sure you identify the backup role. As is the case in most small businesses the owner is the “else” statement. If X then Y, else “call the owner.” The more if/then statements you can document the more solutions can be made without your presence.
In mid-December we had to exercise a backup role of me stepping back into a District Manager role. At the time, our departing District Manager was also in the backup role of General Manager of one of our tool and die shops. When I, the CEO, had to step into the DM spot, I also got the GM spot responsibilities. Because we have a standardized operating system I was able to take up the daily huddles, weekly 1:1’s and weekly team meetings without missing a beat. And, while I’m not proficient at 99% of the technical work we have backup people that create redundancy for those areas.
As our network of companies increase the power of backups grows exponentially. For example, at our autoglass shops we now have our phone system tied together across multiple shops. This means that a customer support representative at one shop can answer all local calls at the best of their ability. If they are on the phone and unable to field the next call, rather than impacting a GM or technician we can roll the call over to another shop where another trained CSR can take care of that customer from end-to-end. This backup within the same role is powerful.