Customer commitments
List the jobs, delivery dates, changes and promises due in the next two weeks. Name the person who can confirm a date or call a customer.
WHEN YOU STEP AWAY
If you step away for five days,
what stops with you?Customers still need answers. Payments still need approval. Your team still needs to know what is theirs to decide. Make the ordinary work visible before an absence makes it urgent.
This is the practical companion to If you could not work for five days, would the business keep running?
Start with the work that would land back on your phone.
You do not need a large manual to prepare for a short absence. You need the people around you to see the commitments, limits and contact points that keep a normal week moving.
Money and approval limits
Set the payment run, access needed and an amount that someone else can approve. Put any higher amount on one escalation route.
Daily work and handovers
Put the schedule, supplier contacts, key files and routine deadlines in a place the team can reach without asking where they live.
Decisions that can wait
Write down the decisions that need your judgement but do not need an answer this week. That stops routine pressure becoming a false emergency.
Run a small test before you need one.
A planned test shows where the business depends on memory, access or a decision only you hold. It gives you something concrete to repair.
Name the routine
Choose an ordinary week. Include customer updates, payments, scheduling and supplier questions.
Give each person a lane
Name one lead for each routine decision. State the limit of their authority in plain language.
Take one day away
Turn off routine notifications. Leave one contact path for safety, security or a matter outside the agreed limit.
Repair the gaps
Review the calls, delays and missed information. Fix the one gap that created the most avoidable pressure.
For a solo operator: a continuity plan may mean planned closure dates, clear customer notices, scheduled payments and a trusted professional contact. The honest answer may be that some work pauses. Make that visible to customers before it becomes a broken promise.
You are still responsible. You do not have to carry every routine decision alone.
Use this check before a holiday, illness, a major project or a busy period. It helps you see where one person holds too much of the operating picture, so you can give the right people a clearer way to act.
This resource provides general operating prompts. It is not HR, legal, tax, cyber-security or employment advice. Use the appropriate qualified professional where your obligations, contracts, systems or people require specialist advice.