Has One Employee Become Your Business's Unofficial Operating System?
Every business has one. It might be the office manager, the senior coordinator or the colleague who has simply been there longest.
When something is unclear, people tend to say the same thing. “Ask Sam.”
For example, Sam knows which customer prefers a call. Sam also knows where the file really is, and how the process works in practice, not on paper. As a result, the questions keep arriving, and Sam keeps answering them.
This is not a criticism. In fact, the person is usually among the most committed people in the business. However, the business may have come to rely on one person. Yet nobody ever decided that it should.
This article looks at how that happens and what it can cost. It also shows how to share the load without losing what makes that person so valuable.
How one person becomes the unofficial operating system
A computer's operating system sits underneath everything. Most of the time, nobody notices it. Then it stops, and suddenly nothing else works.
Some people play the same role in a business. Instead of running a department, they hold the pieces together.
It starts with being helpful
Someone asks a question. The person answers it. It is faster than writing the answer down, and it builds trust. Because of this, the next question comes to them as well.
Growth adds questions faster than answers
As the business grows, more people need more information. Meanwhile, the answers still live in one head. Eventually, the person becomes the quickest route to almost anything.
Nobody decides it
This is the key point. Nobody chooses to build a business around one person's memory. Instead, it happens one helpful answer at a time.
What it looks like day to day
The pattern is easy to miss, because it feels like good service. So look for these signs.
- Questions from across the business funnel to the same person.
- Colleagues say “let me check with them” before answering a customer.
- Work waits when that person is on leave, in a meeting or unwell.
- They are the only one who understands a spreadsheet, a workaround or a particular customer.
- Their phone also rings on holiday.
- New starters learn by sitting next to them, rather than from anything written down.
Any one of these is normal. However, when several happen regularly, the business may be leaning on a person rather than a process.
What happens when a business relies on one person
There are two sides to this, so both are worth being honest about.
For the business
First, work slows when the person is away. Meanwhile, customers wait while someone tracks them down. Also, answers given without the full picture can be wrong, because everyone else is working from partial information.
The business is also exposed. For instance, if that person leaves or is unavailable for long, much of what they know goes with them.
For the person
Being the one who knows can feel valuable. However, it can also be a lot to carry. For example, constant questions interrupt their own work, and it can be hard to step away. Depending on one person can therefore make that role harder than it needs to be.
HSE workload guidance notes that excess workload can slow performance and contribute to mistakes.
Imagine a small business (hypothetical)
A long-serving office manager knows every customer's preferences and every supplier's quirks. She answers questions all day.
One week she is off sick. A customer asks about an order, and nobody knows where the details are. Another colleague guesses, and gets it slightly wrong.
Nobody did anything wrong. The business simply discovered how much was held in one head.
This is an invented example. It does not describe any real business or person.
Why “write it all down” rarely works
The obvious answer is to ask the person to document everything. Unfortunately, that tends to fall short.
First, documents go out of date, because nobody owns them. People also stop reading them, because asking is quicker. In addition, much of what the person knows is judgement, context and history. That is hard to capture in a manual.
So the aim is not to copy what is in their head. Instead, it is to make the business less dependent on any one head. That means connecting information, ownership and process, so the answers are easy to reach.
How to share the load without losing the person
The goal is not to make the person less important. Instead, it is to make the business more resilient, and their role more sustainable.
1. Start by asking them
They know better than anyone what they are asked. So ask them to note the questions they answer most often, for one or two weeks. That list, then, is the starting point.
2. Move the common answers to one shared place
Next, put the answers where everyone can reach them. For example, it could be a shared document, a knowledge page or a CRM note. What matters is that there is one place, and it is kept current.
3. Make the process visible
Agree who owns each step and what triggers the next one. Then, when ownership is clear, fewer questions need to go to one person at all.
4. Keep judgement human, and share the information
Some decisions will always need an experienced person. That is fine, of course. However, the information behind those decisions should not live in only one place.
5. Test it gently
When it is safe to do so, try a planned period where others handle the usual questions. Then see what is missing. The gaps show you what to capture next.
Where technology fits
Technology can help, but only after you understand what needs sharing.
For example, a CRM can hold customer history, so it no longer depends on one person’s memory. Likewise, a shared knowledge base can keep common answers in one place. Similarly, an AI assistant can answer routine questions from approved information, and pass anything unusual to a person.
In one Davina Connect implementation, for Bridging Loans Broker, follow-up was built to move automatically. It no longer depended on someone remembering to chase it. People still made every judgement call that mattered. Instead, the system made sure nothing disappeared while attention was elsewhere.
Read more in the Bridging Loans Broker case study.
Related reading
- 3 Quiet Signs Your Business Is Becoming Disconnected introduces the early warning signs.
- Why Enquiries Get Lost Even When a Business Is Busy, Not Badly Run shows memory doing the chasing.
- AI Enquiry Assistants: Where They Fit and Where They Don’t looks at one use of AI in detail.
Frequently asked questions
What is key-person dependency?
It means a business relies heavily on one person's knowledge or availability. As a result, when that person is away or leaves, work slows or stops. It usually reflects how the business grew, rather than a fault of the person.
Is it a concern if one person knows everything?
It is a risk, rather than a fault. Because knowledge in one head is hard to reach, it is worth sharing. This is true even if the person is excellent.
How do we share knowledge without upsetting that person?
Involve them from the start. Then explain that the aim is to make their role easier and the business stronger. After all, they know best what is being asked.
Should we document everything?
Not everything. Instead, start with the questions asked most often, and the steps that cause the most delay. Then keep those answers current, with a named owner.
Can AI replace the person who knows everything?
No. AI can help answer routine questions from approved information. However, judgement, relationships and context still need a person.
Understand first, then share the load
A business that relies on one person is not badly run. Rather, it has grown around someone who cared enough to keep it working.
The Davina Connect Business Review looks at people, information, systems and processes together. As a result, it can show where knowledge sits in one place, and where to look more closely next. Importantly, the recommendation never starts with a tool.
