What are some consequences of being over-dependent on one person?
CIO Strategic Advisor in Services (non-Government), 2 - 10 employees
When you have people that are responsible for one particular thing, it's a risk. On one hand, they see that as job security. But on the other hand, it could also be an incredible burden that they're carrying and they may not realize it. Or in some cases they do realize it and it's so much pressure because they're not getting support. There are some telltale signs to look for, but you have to know which situation exists. You have to find and root out those pieces.When I first enter an organization, I use an assessment process where I put people into three buckets. One is people that are along with the program and they get it. In the second bucket are folks who don't get it, but I can help them get there. And the third bucket is for those that either don't get it and have no interest in getting it. And those are the folks you have to work out of the organization. Because they are a risk, not just to my organization, but to the company.
CIO in Healthcare and Biotech, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
From my experience, all it does is create bottlenecks. If this a great employee, he/she/they will recognize that dependence, will speak up, and welcome help and assistance. They know what it takes for the work to be completed better, faster, and share then shares knowledge to elevate those around. If this is a good employee, he/she/they will sit on it and take more on themselves, but that just leads to burnout and will be a matter of time. That person will leave - or will recognize the need for help eventually. If they are not open to collaboration and cohesion, you know what needs to be done and move on.CIO & CEO in Services (non-Government), 11 - 50 employees
Potential consequences which I may enumerate:1. Beholdened by the one person
2. Work bottleneck at the one person
3. Burn-out of the one person
4. Power-centric toxicity if the one person is not of well nature
5. Risk of major business disruption due to the departure of that one person
6. Difficulty of kick-starting KM initiative due to bandwidth of that one person
7. "The capable does more" issue as per Chinese proverb "能者多劳".
=> The one person is being taken advantage of as the de-facto do'er of the job.
8. Job skill proliferation becomes almost impossible
9. Successor planning issue since handling over of deep domain is not trivial
10. Various forms of staff unhappiness due to the "unfair" arrangement
Thanks.
Director of IT in Healthcare and Biotech, 10,001+ employees
In addition to the obvious ones like creating single point of failure, creating performance bottlenecks, one more factor to be considered is that over-dependence on one person is demoralizing for the rest of the team. Other team members may feel their work not being appreciated or feel less valuable to the organization and may be demotivated to put in their best efforts. Assistant Director IT Auditor in Education, 10,001+ employees
Ahh, what a question. I have experience this in a few companies, especially when that person developed an application that becomes critical to the business function. This is a big risk and organization can inadvertently implement/cause, as this person is a single point of failure when he walks out the door.Content you might like
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CTO in Software, 201 - 500 employees
Without a doubt - Technical Debt! It's a ball and chain that creates an ever increasing drag on any organization, stifles innovation, and prevents transformation.Too many active projects at once43%
Poor communication46%
Too many customizations47%
Misalignment with business priorities34%
Skills gaps31%
Lack of resources26%
Other (please list in the comments)1%
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Community User in Software, 11 - 50 employees
organized a virtual escape room via https://www.puzzlebreak.us/ - even though his team lost it was a fun subtitue for just a "virtual happy hour"
From past experience, those folks are toxic because they will play up the political leverage of who they know outside of your organization to better their own position, or entrench themselves even further into it.