Key person dependency
Loss of an individual critical to operations or customer relationships.
The risk event
Unplanned departure of a person critical to operations
An individual whose knowledge or relationships are disproportionately important leaves with little notice.
What could cause it, and what stops it
The left-hand side. Each cause is a plausible pathway to the event; the controls beneath it are the barriers that reduce the chance of that pathway completing.
Resignation / better offer
Voluntary departure to a competing employer.
- Retention bonusesPreventive · Limited
Time-bound retention compensation for critical roles.
- Market salary benchmarkingPreventive · Effective
Annual benchmarking of critical-role compensation.
Health or personal emergency
Sudden inability to work due to health or family circumstances.
- Cross-trainingPreventive · Limited
Documented backups for each critical role.
- Succession plansPreventive · Limited
Named successor with development plan in place.
Burnout
Sustained workload pressure leads to disengagement and departure.
- Workload monitoringDetective · Limited
Manager check-ins on workload and capacity.
- Mental health supportPreventive · Effective
EAP and on-demand counselling.
- Sabbatical policyPreventive · Planned · 6 to 12 months
Formal sabbatical option after tenure threshold.
Internal disagreement
Conflict over direction or recognition prompts departure.
- Skip-level 1:1sDetective · Limited
Regular skip-level conversations with leadership.
- Exit interview learningsDetective · Limited
Trended exit feedback acted on by leadership.
What happens if it occurs, and what limits it
The right-hand side. Each consequence is an outcome the event could produce; the controls beneath it are what contains or recovers from that outcome once the event has already happened.
Loss of institutional knowledge
Tacit knowledge held by the departing person is unrecoverable.
- Documentation standardsPreventive · Limited
Required documentation for critical processes.
- Knowledge management systemPreventive · Limited
Searchable corpus of how-to and decision records.
- Recorded handoversCorrective · Planned · 0 to 3 months
Mandatory recorded knowledge transfer on departure.
Project delays
Critical projects slip while a replacement is found and ramped.
- Project resource matrixDetective · Limited
Visibility of single-points-of-failure across the portfolio.
- Contractor backup planCorrective · Limited
Pre-vetted contractors for critical roles.
Team morale impact
Departure shakes confidence and triggers further attrition.
- Transition commsCorrective · Effective
Open communication on the transition plan.
- Team support programCorrective · Limited
Manager coaching on supporting the team through change.
Customer relationship gaps
Customer relationships anchored on the individual weaken.
- Account team coveragePreventive · Limited
Multi-person account teams on key relationships.
- Relationship handover protocolCorrective · Limited
Structured handover playbook for key accounts.
Where this template starts you
Ratings are a starting position, not a finding. They describe a generic organisation with the controls above in place; yours will differ, and the point of opening the template is to make them yours.
Make it yours
Opening the template loads it into the editor with everything above already in place. Rename the event, cut the causes that do not apply, and re-rate against your own matrix. Exports to PNG, PDF, Excel and PowerPoint are built in.