ResourcesWhite paper
The one-person risk
In most associations and nonprofits, the way the systems really work lives with one staff member or one contractor. That person is usually the reason things still run. This paper is about how to see the risk, write the knowledge down before anyone leaves, and share it in a way that honours the person who holds it.
In short
- Name the risk as a property of the organization, never of the person.
- Map who knows what before you write anything.
- Start with the processes where a mistake reaches members, donors or money.
- Make the expert the author and the teacher, not the subject.
- Test the writing: someone else does the task from the page.
- Put it in job descriptions, contracts and the calendar, so it lasts.
ForAnyone who depends on how their systems really workTime to readAbout 25 minutesUse itBefore anyone gives notice
- Why it happens, and whose fault it is not
- Six signs you already have it
- Mapping who knows what
- The conversation, and how to open it
- Writing it down so others can use it
- Spreading it without a reorganization
- The knowledge-capture plan
- When someone has already given notice
Rather talk it through?
A 30-minute conversation about your systems and what's getting in the way. You leave knowing what would help.