Succession Planning Is Not Just for Business Owners.

What Happens When You Leave Your Desk?

For some time now, I have been talking about business continuity, succession planning and what it means to build something that can thrive beyond you. Much of these conversations have centred on African entrepreneurs, family businesses, SMEs and corporations. In my book, Beyond You, I make the case for building businesses, brands and institutions that do not collapse simply because the founder or a key person is no longer actively involved.

But there is another side of this conversation that I think we sometimes overlook.

Succession planning is not just for business owners. It is not only for CEOs preparing to retire, founders thinking about their children taking over, or corporations putting structures in place for the next generation of leadership.

It is also for you. Yes, you, the individual working in that department, school, ministry, bank, hospital or small organisation.

The question is simple: If you are no longer at your desk tomorrow, can somebody else continue the work you have been doing without having to start all over again?

Think about that for a moment. You may be a manager, administrator, lecturer, accountant, secretary, supervisor or even the person responsible for handling a particular process in your organisation. Whatever your position, there are things you do every day, every week, every month and every year that contribute to the functioning of that institution.

Now, assuming you are promoted tomorrow, transferred to another department, resign or decide to pursue another opportunity, what happens to all the knowledge, records, processes and experiences you have accumulated over the years?

Can somebody simply step in, pick up where you left off and possibly do even better?

Or will the organisation have to start calling you every other day to ask where certain documents are, how a particular task is done, who to contact or what happened three years ago?

This, to me, is also succession planning.

Let Me Share an Experience

Some years ago, I worked with an institution where certain documents were required to be submitted periodically. For example, examination questions and other academic records would be requested, compiled and filed.

Every year, we went through the process. Documents were submitted, records were kept, and the understanding was that these materials had been properly filed for future reference.

Interestingly, after some time, the institution would come back requesting the same documents. Can you resend the examination questions from the previous year? Can you provide the records from two years ago? Do you still have copies of what you submitted some time back? And I kept wondering, but haven’t we submitted all these documents already?

What happened to the ones we filed?

Were they not properly stored? Was there no system for retrieving them? Or perhaps the documents were there, but the people responsible did not know where to find them?The interesting part was that this continued even after I had left the institution. There were still requests for documents and information covering previous years.

Now, I understand that sometimes institutions may need to verify records or request updated copies for legitimate reasons. That is perfectly understandable. But when an institution consistently asks for information that has already been submitted and archived, it raises some important questions about its internal systems.

What exactly are we keeping? Where are we keeping it? Who has access to it? How easily can it be retrieved? And when somebody leaves, who takes responsibility for what that person was handling?

In this particular situation, some of the records had been kept both physically and digitally. So the problem was not necessarily that the information did not exist. The concern was whether the systems and people responsible could effectively retrieve and use it.

And that got me thinking. An institution can have records and still have a serious continuity problem.

Because keeping information is one thing. Making that information accessible, retrievable and useful to the next person is another.

Your Position Is Temporary, but the Work Must Continue

One thing we must understand is that no matter how important our roles are, we will not occupy those positions forever.

You may be doing an excellent job today. You may even be the only person who understands how certain things work in your department. People may depend on you for almost everything.

But what happens when you are no longer there?

Sometimes, we unintentionally build our relevance around being the only person who knows how to do something. We become the walking database of the organisation.

Ask for a particular file, and everybody says, “Oh, speak to Madam Lovia.” Need to understand how a report was prepared? “Please, call Mr. Asare.” Looking for the password to a particular platform? “Only the former administrator knows.”

And so, even after somebody has left the organisation, they are still virtually working there because the institution keeps depending on them for information that should have been properly documented.

I have seen situations where people who have moved on from their roles are still contacted months or years later to explain basic processes. There is nothing wrong with occasionally consulting someone who previously held a position. Sometimes their experience can be valuable.

But when an organisation cannot function effectively without constantly calling former employees, then something is missing.

We need to move beyond building individuals who are indispensable to building systems that make continuity possible.

And this is where personal responsibility comes in.

What Are You Leaving Behind?

Let me bring this closer to you.

As you sit at your desk today, what have you documented about the work you do? If someone were assigned to take over your role next week, what would you hand over? Would you simply give the person a laptop, a few files and tell them, “You will figure things out as you go along”?

Or would there be a clear record of your responsibilities, ongoing assignments, recurring activities, important contacts, reporting schedules and the processes that make your work easier?

For example, if you are an administrator in a school, there are certain activities that happen every academic year. Admissions, examination preparations, reporting, parent communications and other administrative processes.

These are not entirely new activities every year. So why should every new administrator struggle to understand what the previous person was doing?

If you work in finance, there are reports you prepare monthly, quarterly or annually. There are procedures, approval processes and recurring deadlines. If you work in marketing, there are campaign records, client histories, brand assets, previous strategies and performance reports. If you are in human resources, there are onboarding processes, staff records, policies and training schedules.

The question is, how much of this knowledge exists only in your head, and how much has been properly documented for somebody else to work with?

You see, your experience becomes more valuable to the organisation when it can be transferred, not only when it can be remembered.

The Little Things We Often Ignore

When we talk about systems and standard operating procedures, or SOPs, some people immediately think about huge corporate manuals and complicated documents.

But it doesn’t always have to be that way. Sometimes, it begins with the little things you do repeatedly. For example, you prepare a particular report every month. Instead of starting from scratch each time, why not create a standard template that can be updated?

You organise an annual programme. Why not document the planning process, suppliers, budget considerations, challenges and lessons learned so that the next person does not repeat the same mistakes?

You manage a department. Why not create a simple folder structure that makes it easy for authorised colleagues to locate important documents?

You handle a particular software platform. Why not document the steps involved in completing recurring tasks, including the appropriate process for transferring access securely?

These may look like small administrative decisions, but over time, they make a huge difference.

And this is something I believe we need to pay more attention to, especially in our institutions here in Ghana and across Africa.

We sometimes have a culture of keeping information with individuals rather than building institutional knowledge. Someone retires, and years of experience virtually retire with them. Someone resigns, and the department begins to struggle.

Someone gets transferred, and the new person spends several months trying to understand processes that should have been documented long ago. We shouldn’t have to keep reinventing the wheel every time somebody changes position.

Technology Has Made This Easier

Today, there are many digital tools available to help us document, organise and retrieve information.

You don’t necessarily need an expensive enterprise software system to begin. A well-organised shared drive, properly maintained spreadsheets, digital archives, simple process documents and secure institutional access systems can make a significant difference.

Tools such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and other document management platforms can help teams collaborate and preserve important records. Of course, not every document should be accessible to everybody. Confidential records, personal information and sensitive institutional documents must be protected with appropriate permissions and security measures.

But the point is that information should not disappear simply because one person is unavailable.

Technology should help us reduce unnecessary repetition, preserve knowledge and make work easier for the people coming after us. And importantly, the system must be understood and used by the people responsible. Because you can invest in all the technology in the world, but if nobody knows how to retrieve information from it, you have only created a more expensive filing cabinet.

Make It Easier for the Next Person

I think one of the ways we can measure our effectiveness at work is not only by how well we perform our duties, but also by how well we prepare others to continue those duties.

Imagine being promoted to a higher position and the person taking over your former role is able to settle in quickly because you left proper records, clear procedures and useful information.

That is a form of leadership.

It shows that you were not only concerned about your own performance but also the long-term effectiveness of the institution.

And I think this should become part of how organisations assess performance and prepare people for promotion.

Before somebody moves into another role, what has been documented? What knowledge needs to be transferred? What unfinished assignments need attention? What important relationships or processes must be explained?

Even a simple handover document, regularly updated, can prevent many unnecessary problems.

In my work on brand legacy, I often emphasise the importance of systems and structures. These principles do not only apply to founders and CEOs. They apply at every level of an organisation.

A good system should make the work easier to repeat, improve and sustain.

And good structures should ensure that responsibilities do not become permanently attached to one individual.

A Simple Exercise for You

Perhaps before the week ends, take some time to examine your current role.

Think about the five most important things you do regularly. Ask yourself whether another person can perform them with the information currently available.

Look at the documents you have created over the past few years. Are they properly organised? Can they be retrieved without your personal intervention?

Consider the recurring activities in your department. Are there templates, checklists or simple procedures that could save time and reduce mistakes?

And if you were asked to hand over your position tomorrow, what would be missing?

You don’t have to solve everything immediately. Start with one process, one folder, one document or one recurring task.

Then gradually build from there.

The goal is not to make yourself irrelevant. Far from that.

The goal is to make your contribution sustainable.

Because when you build systems that allow others to succeed, you create room for yourself to grow, take on greater responsibilities and contribute at a higher level.

Beyond You Begins Where You Are

As I continue the conversation around succession planning and business continuity, I want us to broaden our understanding of what it means to build beyond ourselves.

It is not only about handing over a company to your children or preparing a successor for the CEO’s position.

It is also about the records you keep, the processes you document, the people you train and the knowledge you make available for others to build upon.

Every department needs continuity. Every institution needs institutional memory. Every role needs some level of succession preparation.

And every individual has a part to play.

So, the next time you hear someone talking about succession planning, don’t immediately think about the business owner preparing to retire.

Think about your own desk. Think about the work you are doing today. Think about the person who may occupy your position tomorrow.

Will that person inherit a system they can build upon, or a collection of problems they must spend months trying to understand?

Remember, the real value of the work you do today is not only in what you accomplish, but also in what others can continue and improve because of what you have put in place.

Let’s make future decision-making easier by keeping the right records, building the right systems, and preserving the knowledge that institutions need to grow.

Beyond you, check www.bkc.name/rebrand

The best is yours!

For examples of grooming, records and systems supporting continuity, explore these Ghanaian brands and their legacy lessons.