Unexpected events come, well, unexpectedly. Caring for family members, healing from extended illness (or bus mauling), property destruction from fires, floods, and the apocalypse—life often forces professionals to take unexpected leaves of absence for numerous reasons. While you can’t know when you might have to step away from your office for a while, it’s a good idea to have what we’ll call a hit-by-a-bus plan ready for someone to take over your tasks while you’re gone.
Who should have a hit-by-a-bus plan?
Every single employee at your school should have this contingency plan, because disaster can strike anyone, at any time, from the School Head to a teacher’s aide. Start with yours, figure out what works best, and then move on to the rest of the administrative team and go from there.
Even if such plans aren’t used—and we all hope they won’t be—they’re a great professional exercise to see exactly what you do on a daily basis and what your job encompasses without either dismissing your work or inflating it.
What should your hit-by-a-bus plan contain?
- A broad overview of what your job entails. This section is where you put the “big idea” pictures of your role's place in context of the overall school.
- Your primary responsibilities. These functions are the reason why you were hired, and what must absolutely be completed for life at school to proceed as close to normal as possible in your absence. These primary responsibilities are probably no more than two or three items out of your day—though they may require smaller tasks and long time investments. Don’t categorize everything you do as a “primary responsibility.” Take the time to identify the core parts of your job that make you essential to running the school.
- Any secondary responsibilities. These are tasks that you’ve taken on during your tenure at the school, and could be assumed by someone else. These responsibilities should only be assumed by your replacement once the primary functions are seen to. They will not “make or break” the school during your absence if they’re done later than usual or put off until you return altogether.
- A sample daily schedule. It doesn’t need to be exact or down to the minute, but a general idea of how much time you spend on your primary (and secondary) responsibilities and when you generally accomplish them could be useful for someone trying to adopt your work groove.
- A list of important documents, files, software, and contacts. Whoever will be doing your job (or parts of it) while you’re away needs to know where to go to get the resources he or she will need to complete the work. This master list of what’s where should also have known quirks and anecdotal context added where it makes sense. Your temporary doppelganger should know, for example, that you need to stay on top of your payroll accountant for her to complete the checks on time, or that the Development Director prefers to communicate through email than over the phone or instant messages.
What should your hit-by-a-bus not have?
- Passwords, keys, and other ways to access sensitive or proprietary information. If your temporary replacement needs those items, he or she can go to the School Head or another supervisor to receive what’s necessary to complete the task. Putting access codes that unlock sensitive information on a public file or printout is a security risk that can have grave repercussions on your school.
- Every task you’ve ever been called on to complete. Your “hit by a bus plan” is already going to be a thick document; don’t hit someone over the head with every minute detail of what your job might entail, no matter how unlikely. Yes, you might have been called to sit in on interviews and weigh in on marketing strategy, but your replacement might not have to do that. To mention it is only tempting trouble and burdening an already overwhelmed employee. Try hitting the major highlights of what needs to happen, and let go of the tiny details.
While you can’t be prepared for every possibility or eventuality, having a hit-by-a-bus plan can grant you some piece of mind while you’re away from school. The vital parts of your role won’t slip through the cracks, and your teammates can properly plan knowing exactly what’s important and what can wait. So get to it! It’s a time investment, but one that can save a lot of heartache down the road.
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for Risk Managers Vol. 4 No. 6 Q&A With ISM’s Risk Manager (Reverse Evacuation)
The Source for Risk Managers Vol. 1 No. 8 A Protocol and Script for Calling 911
The Source for Private School News Vol. 10 No. 1 When Disaster Relocates Your Campus
The Source for Risk Managers Vol. 1 No. 3 Managing Risk With Basic Drills
The Source for Business Managers Vol. 11 No. 4 After a Tragedy
The Source for Risk Managers Vol. 3 No. 1 Crisis Planning—It’s Your job
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 30 No. 12 Disaster Planning: What Are Your Insurance Options?
I&P Vol. 30 No. 12 Lessons From Katrina: Disaster Planning for Private-Independent Schools
