Key Person Risk
This page explains Key Person Risk and its relevance to business operations.
D02 - Key Person Redundancy
Definition
The quantified probability and operational consequence of losing a specific person who holds critical institutional knowledge, relationships, or functional capability — rated for severity on a scale from 1 (manageable disruption) to 5 (catastrophic, customer-visible failure).
The key person risk is almost never calculated until after the person leaves — by which point the cost of recruiting, operational disruption, and knowledge loss has already begun to accrue. The severity score exists to make the risk visible before the departure, not after it.
Indicators
- A named individual's departure would immediately cause customer-visible operational failure.
- You've never formally rated the severity of your critical roles' single-person dependency.
- A key team member taking two weeks off requires you or another senior leader to actively cover their work.
Quick Win
- Name the person whose sudden unavailability would most damage your operation this week.
- Rate the severity on a scale of one to five.
- If the rating is a 4 or 5 with no tested backup, that's your first priority.
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