When one employee becomes irreplaceable, ask them to step away while a peer shadows and documents their work. Frame it as a promotion opportunity, not a replacement strategy. This builds continuity and lets the key person move up.
So here's what you do anytime you have an employee that's too valuable, and you know what I mean. It's the kind of person that if they were to quit or get hit by a bus, the entire business would come crashing down. You need to go to them and you need to say, currently the work that you do is incredibly important, it's incredibly valuable, but I want you to actually be able to step away. I want you to actually be able to go on vacation. So the next time that you do insert really critically important thing here, I want Jim or Jan to watch you, to record it, to document it. Not because we're trying to replace you, not because we're trying to get rid of you. Obviously, we think that you're awesome, but just so that we've got some duplication again so that you're not stuck. This is also what it looks like to get a promotion at this company. If you can frame it around, we want to make sure that you're not stuck. If we want to frame it around, this is how you grow and get promotions. Good people get that and good people are excited to document what they do.
