ID-692-Christine Matus

Q: I had a question about cross training among your current staff members. So right now I am still in the process of finding the associate. And in June, remarkably, two of my key employees had medical conditions so they were suddenly out. But now thinking forward while I find that associate in the meantime, if I were to cross train some of my staff members do I use what you have here about shadowing? What is your opinion on that? Do I just build my policies and procedures or maybe some other method rather than cross training?
A: Yes, the paralegal should work with the secretary and say to the secretary _if something happens to me I need you to keep this under control. I need you to take care of these things._ You go to your paralegal and say, _if something were to happen to you, what do you need us to do so you don’t come back to a pile of crap?_ And let them tell you. The way you present it to them is _if God forbid something were to happen to you, we want you to be able to go away with a moments notice. I want to be able to go take care of your family. Don’t worry about it, we’ve got it covered. Do you want that?_ The person should hopefully say yes. And you say, _Good, then let’s work together on a plan. You tell me what you need us to do in the event that you’re gone for a day, a week, a month. If you have a real emergency we will let you be gone for a month and we’ll keep paying you as long as you make sure that we know what we need to do to keep your job functioning._