Staffing and Succession Planning at Vacation Time

Summer is upon us, along with vacation schedules.  As many of you know, I’ve been asking you to focus on improving your management of staffing levels.  Vacation time is a great opportunity to observe which employees are doing well, and which are not.  Evaluate the efforts of your staff across the bank when managers or other key employees are on vacation.  Do errors increase? Are there compatibility issues that come to the fore? In addition, look for signs that the vacationing employees or managers have dangerously high concentrations of knowledge . . . inquire as to whether the remaining staff is reaching out to those employees for help during the day or in the evenings.  One key to a high performing organization is a level of cross training that anticipates and overcomes temporary and permanent absences.  Finally, use managerial absences to more fully evaluate staff that you have earmarked for promotions.  Succession planning is important at all levels of the organization, not just Board and C-level.   I’m eager to hear what your learn from your observations.