Do not leave knowledge in people’s heads: handing a role to a new employee
The previous lesson ended with the strongest practical test of a written procedure: could a new hire carry out the step from the file alone? This lesson is about that test. Documented procedures, assigned ownership and clear approval paths do not prove their value the day you write them — they prove it the day someone joins the team, or someone experienced leaves it.
In most small and mid-sized organizations the real knowledge lives in people's heads, not in files. The employee of three years knows which customer needs early follow-up and which supplier usually runs late. That knowledge is valuable, but it is also a risk: if it walks out of the door with its owner, you pay for it twice — in lost time, and in mistakes that start repeating.
Why shadowing alone is not enough
The common approach is to sit the new hire next to an experienced colleague and let them watch. It is fast and comfortable, but it has three gaps:
- It transfers habits, not the procedure: the new hire learns one colleague's personal style, shortcuts included.
- It only covers the routine: rare cases do not occur during a shadowing week, so the new hire meets them for the first time while alone.
- It leaves no trace: a month later there is nothing to go back to, so they keep asking — and two people stall instead of one.
A written procedure does not replace shadowing; it makes it shorter and deeper. The new hire reads the step before seeing it, which turns the session from basics into a discussion of the hard cases.
The role file: what a new hire actually needs
Every role should have one file that whoever holds it opens. A concrete example: a small services company, a customer-service employee leaving after two years. Their role handover file contains:
| Item | Practical example |
|---|---|
| Procedures the role owns | Receive the request, follow up on delivery, close the request |
| Access and accounts | System account, mailbox, WhatsApp channel, permitted discount limit |
| What they approve, what they escalate | Approves a one-day delay, escalates anything longer to the manager |
| Counterparties | Main supplier, accountant, maintenance technician |
| Fixed commitments | Open-requests report every Thursday |
| Known exceptions | Urgent request after hours, customer asking for an amended invoice |
All of these already exist if you followed the earlier lessons. The role file is not new work — it is what you already wrote, gathered under the name of the role.
A plan for the first two weeks
Spread the handover over stages instead of dumping it all on day one:
| Stage | What the new hire does | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1-2 | Reads the role file and its related procedures | Understands the picture before executing |
| Days 3-5 | Handles simple real cases under review | Practises without risk |
| Week 2 | Works alone with a short daily review | Becomes independent gradually |
| End of week 2 | Review session: what could you not find in the file? | Update the procedure with what was missing |
That last step matters most and is usually skipped. Every question the new hire had to ask out loud is a gap in the file, discovered for free. Record it and close it immediately — after two weeks they forget they ever struggled.
When an employee leaves: handover in reverse
A planned departure is an opportunity; a sudden one is a loss. Keep the handover list ready at all times:
- Inventory open work: what is in their hands right now, and who each item is waiting on.
- Update the role file: the departing employee writes down what actually changed in the procedure and was never documented.
- Transfer accounts and access: close their access on the last day, and never leave a shared account under their name.
- Notify external parties: a supplier or customer who deals with them personally needs to know their replacement.
- A questions session: an hour with the person taking over saves weeks of guessing.
A practical test: a day without questions
Want a single measure of how good your documentation is? Ask an experienced employee to carry out another role's procedure using the file only, without asking its owner. Every point where they stop is a gap with a known location — far cheaper than discovering it on resignation day.
Checklist
- Does every core role have one up-to-date handover file?
- Is access tied to the role rather than to the person?
- Do you know which role, if absent a week, would stall the work?
- Do new hires' questions feed back into the procedure?
- Do you have a handover list ready before anyone resigns?
In short: knowledge that lives in people's heads leaves with them. Turn every core role into one handover file covering its procedures, access, approval limits, counterparties, commitments and known exceptions; stage a new hire's first two weeks and end with a session that exposes what the file was missing. Tie access to the role, not the person, and keep a handover list ready before you need it.