Say NO to the Star Employee Syndrome

Small businesses are full of dependencies and a star employee shouldn’t be one of them. You rely on your small and growing team, a slim pool of resources and a changing market.

Now what happens if your star employee decides to leave? Imagine this scenario…

Your Super Star has worked with you for years – he started as a junior, showed up diligently everyday, worked hard and smashed every task given to him.  After a year he started getting more responsibility, and he stepped up, and up and just kept on winning. Fast-forward a few years and the company has grown and Super Star is still the poster child. Every performance review has been glowing, with regular salary increases and promotions. And then one day, in your peak season…Super Star says they have gotten an offer at a new place…..

We have worked with entrepreneurs who never expected and never imagined that it would destroy your business. That’s not your portion so lets get in front of it!

Here’s how:

1. Every position is replaceable, you first need to accept that. Never rely on one person solely.

2. Build your company with redundancies. This is the concept of ensuring that there is no one staff who knows it all alone or is so critical to the business that you can expect failure of some sort of they left.

3. Cross – Train. Institute a policy where your team has to pick up extra skills in another department every quarter. This will save you during a period where you have a gap.

4. Create Standard Operating Procedures. These documents will enable someone to pick up and continue where a vacant position is.

The nature of entrepreneurship is growth and adaptation, so you must always be prepared for a change. Put some fail safe conditions in place now.

Extra Tip: If you are ever on the flip side and have to Manage Poor Performance, check out this guide.