An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). Gary is asked what happens when Narelle takes leave. The pause says everything.
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Transcript:
What happens when Narelle takes leave?
Narelle doesn’t really take leave.
She took four days in 2021. We don’t talk about that.
An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). Gary reads out Narelle’s job title. Then keeps going.
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Transcript:
Narelle’s official job title?
Membership Manager.
Although she also does the finance reconciliation. And the event registrations. And she set up the website contact form.
And the SQL thing. She learned SQL.
Her title is Membership Manager.
An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). New staff join the membership team. Narelle trains them. The retention rate is not great.
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Transcript:
What happens when new staff join the membership team?
Narelle trains them.
It takes about six months before they’re useful.
Two of them left before they finished training.
Narelle trained them again. The next ones.
An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). Knowledge management is a board priority. Narelle has agreed to document her processes. She’s very busy though.
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Transcript:
Is there a succession plan for Narelle’s role?
Absolutely. Yes. Knowledge management is a board priority.
Narelle has agreed to document her processes.
She’s very busy though.
An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). Gary is asked whether anyone has talked to Narelle about the fact that she’s carrying the organisation. The answer leads somewhere unexpected.
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Transcript:
Have we talked to Narelle about this?
About what specifically.
About the fact that she’s carrying the organisation.
…No.
She’d probably agree.
She’d probably also say she doesn’t mind.
An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). Gary walks through the contingency plan for Narelle leaving. There are two options. One is harder than the other.
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Transcript:
If Narelle did leave — what’s the plan?
Okay so. We’d need to document everything she knows. Which would take… a while. We’d need someone who understands the membership system AND the spreadsheet AND the workarounds AND the history of why the workarounds exist.
An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). Everyone loves Narelle. That’s part of the problem.
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Transcript:
How does the rest of the team feel about Narelle?
They love her. Everyone loves Narelle.
They also rely on her for things they should be able to do themselves.
Which isn’t really fair on Narelle.
Or on the organisation.
An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). Gary tries to describe Narelle’s role. It starts with “Membership Manager” and keeps going.
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Transcript:
Narelle’s role. Can I describe Narelle’s role.
Narelle is our Membership Manager.
She also does the renewals when the system plays up. And the event registrations. And she knows which members are actually financial because the system’s a bit… it’s fine, it’s just a bit…
An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). Gary is asked to consider the unthinkable. The series one finale.
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Transcript:
What happens if Narelle leaves? Have I thought about that.
Narelle’s not going to leave.
…Is she?
An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). Gary is asked about the organisation’s biggest operational risk. He doesn’t hesitate.
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Transcript:
What’s our biggest operational risk right now?
Narelle getting a better offer.
Which she will. Eventually.
Because she’s exceptional.
And exceptional people get better offers.
An interview with Gary Ashworth-Phillips, CEO of the Federation of Australian Knowledge Enterprises (FAKE). Gary does the maths on Narelle’s value. The answer is uncomfortable. The tone shifts.
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Transcript:
Is Narelle good value?
Narelle is extraordinary value. She does the work of three people.
That’s actually the problem.
She does the work of three people. Which means three people’s worth of institutional knowledge lives in one person.