Sometimes there’s just no way around it. Sometimes there is only one person managing social media, promotions, online chat and ensuring the web store is updated with current products and pricing.

Sometimes your office manager is also your receptionist and business development representative.

Sometimes your team is so maxed out that there is nobody else to pass responsibilities to. Sometimes –  until revenues increase enough to justify additional staff or hiring 3rd-party vendors – you just have to make do and hope for the best.

Three Steps to Navigating a Single Point of Failure

The problem with single points of failure in business isn’t that it’s one person doing a particular job. It’s that typically one person has all the knowledge and information of that job.

If your office manager unexpectedly left, who else in the office knows how to get payroll out?

If your project manager got hit with the flu right before a big product launch, who knows enough about what needs to be done and who is involved to step in at the last minute?

If your go-to, wears-all-the-hats marketing/sales/customer service juggler finally takes that long-overdue vacation, who else on your team will be the one to answer online chat questions, manage social media accounts and knows who to call when it turns out your website password isn’t actually the latest password and you’re locked out of your site?

When your single points of failure are a temporary necessity, how can you navigate them to make sure all those balls that they somehow keep flying don’t come crashing down around you?

1) Identify

First you need to know where your single points of failure are. This can be the most difficult part of the process because we often don’t recognize them when they exist. Often the person managing the task does it so effectively that we never consider it as a potential bottleneck. Other times, we just don’t want to admit that there is too much on one person’s plate.

Second you need to determine which are critical to keeping the business running smoothly.

Your business can probably survive a missed Facebook post or delay in getting the next email newsletter out. (Unless, of course, it’s right before a big sale or product introduction.) But missed sales calls? Delaying a product launch? Missing payroll?

If these balls came tumbling down, chances are there would be a ripple effect that would be more difficult to recover from than missing a scheduled Instagram story.

2) Codify

Once you’ve identified the points of failure that could have the greatest impact on your business, write it down.

Have those responsible for each task, create an outline of everything that is involved in implementing it. No matter how obvious or mundane it might seem. Remember, what is second nature for the person doing the task day in and day out is completely foreign to others.

Include:

• Steps involved
• Links to sites involved and login info (username and password)
• Contact info for any 3rd-party providers that can help troubleshoot

As an example, when it comes to maintaining the company website there are a lot of components involved. If something went terribly wrong (and knock wood it never does!), you’ll need to know:

• The platform for the site (WordPress, Squarespace, custom-coded, etc.): And all login information
• The hosting company for the site (GoDaddy, Bluehost, HostGator, your web developer). And all login information (which is most likely different than your site login)
• Where the latest back-up of your site is stored
• Contact information for the person/company that designed and developed the site

3) Assign

Know who will be able to jump in and take over before it’s needed. You don’t want to miss important deadlines because you were first trying to figure out who could step in to help. Or have important calls go unanswered because everyone thought someone else would pick up the phone.

This can be as formal or informal as you’d like. But it should be something that you, at the very least, think about.

• Your backup for customer service (phone sales, online chat, etc.) should be someone that 1) is good at interacting with customers and 2) knows enough about the product to answer questions, or at least knows who to go to for the information.
• Your backup for project management should be someone who is detail-oriented and is comfortable leading a team.
• Your backup for social media should know where your library of product images is and have a basic understanding of how to construct a post.

Once you’ve identified which tasks are critical to the business running as it should and are potential points of failure, you’ll be better positioned to know which would be best implemented by an outside vendor or consultant when the time is right.

Single points of failure are a reality for most small and mid-sized companies. But they don’t have to have devastating effects. When you know where they are, you’re better positioned to navigate around them.

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Jacqui Genow

Brand & Business Strategist

J. Genow Marketing

Jacqui Genow is the founder and principal of J. Genow Marketing. She works with clients in aligning their brand message, building their marketing roadmap, and helping them stay on track to move their business forward. As a Brand and Business Strategist, her focus goes beyond marketing; making the connections between how marketing decisions made today can impact a client’s business in the future. You can find Jacqui on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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