The Bus Book – Knowledge is Power
Recently in ASAE Collaborate, I’ve seen the conversation again about “The Bus Book” scenario. I say again because this is an evergreen topic and we should all be thinking about it on a regular basis. The Bus Book, if you are not familiar with this term, is the book that SHOULD exist that contains all the information others will need if something happens to you like you get hit by a bus. Or you win the lottery. Or you take a new job. Or you retire.
The Bus Book is important across a lot of scenarios and not just someone’s death or dismemberment. All individuals are vessels of knowledge and experience and most of it never gets recorded. We all pick this up along the way as we do our work, and sometimes we don’t even realize how much we do or how much we know. All of us evolve in our work the longer we do it. Anyone who has had a job at an organization for more than 3 years knows that the line in your job description, “and other duties as assigned” means you will take on responsibilities that are not included anywhere official.
Whether it’s knowing where to hit the copy machine when it refuses to work or making sure there are donuts at the staff meeting, this is knowledge that other people need to know should you not be around. Do you really want to get bothered on vacation because no one can find the number to the cleaning service?
I am always rolling my eyes at people who say they don't have time to put a good system in place yet they always seem to find the time to fix the problem that was created because they didn’t think ahead. I usually hear this when I recommend to people that they do board training monthly. I usually hear the reply “we don't have time for that” but again, they always have time to clean up the mess that is created because the board is not well educated. Think about conflict of interest or self-dealing in this scenario.
This is why “the bus book” is important – you don’t know what is going to happen. Thinking ahead and planning minimizes disruption to the system. Individuals should take the time to record what they know, what they do, and how they do it.
When it comes to creating a bus book, a great place to start is your job description. Read through it and fill in information that relates directly to your areas of responsibility. For example, add in your project schedules, especially if these are annual or quarterly. This could relate to committee work you support, preparations for sending dues invoices, or items you are responsible for handling at the annual meeting.
Your bus book should also include links to the important documents needed for your work, like committee meeting minutes, project schedules, documents supporting projects, and correspondence. If there are passwords required to access these documents add those too!
Think through what you do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. Write it out like a project management schedule and then add the details. Using the 5 basic questions is a great place to start: who, what, where, when, how will get you the outline of the work. Answering “why” will help those coming behind you understand the work and why it’s done a certain way.
Relationships are knowledge that people rarely think to pass along as information. When someone leaves an organization, all their relationships go with them – unless they are communicated to someone else to continue the relationships. This could be volunteer leaders (and their staff that help coordinate activities), reporters, donors, advertisers, and peers at other organizations. Document these relationships with the person’s name, organization, contact information, and the “why” of the relationship. Explain how the person likes to be communicated with and how often, if they have special requests, or if they do more than one thing in the work of the organization (whether as a volunteer or staff elsewhere).
The tips I’ve shared so far are for individuals but how can an organization create a system that handles this? Great question and the answer is Knowledge Management.
A few years ago, I was invited to speak at a conference on Succession Planning. My research for the presentation helped me realize that a lot of succession planning is knowledge management. It’s capturing the knowledge, experience, and relationships your team carries around with them. You need to put a system in place that is run regularly to capture this information BEFORE people leave.
An organization needs to create a Knowledge Inventory. Here’s some steps to get started:
Collect information on:
Who does what
Who knows what
Who shares how
Who knows when
Identify the “hidden” tasks: those things someone “just does”
and you don’t think aboutConduct a skills inventory
“What is a Skills Inventory?” by Robert Tanner, MBA
After identifying the Knowledge and who has it, you need to share it.
Cross-training is a great approach. Accomplish this by:
Employee-led education sessions
Employee contributions to the Department Book of Knowledge
Employees interview each other and memorialize the information
Capture the knowledge before it walks out the door.
Then, evaluate the Needs of the Organization:
Businesses and other types of organizations have needs to support success and their mission.
Assess your needs by:
Who do you serve?
How do you serve? Inventory the work your department does
What do you need to do the work? List the skills and knowledge for each of these areas
Look ahead: is there any new area you will add?
Creating a Knowledge Inventory gives you more than a Bus Book – it gives you the power of information that supports your organization’s mission. More importantly, it will give you a powerful tool for adapting to an ever-changing environment.