Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer & Financial Projections
What Is Bench Strength, and Who Steps In If You Can’t?
If the Owner Is the Only One Who Can Do It, the Business Has No Bench.
After 1,000+ clients, business plan writer Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, sees this one all the time. Your busiest season is coming, and one key job depends entirely on you. You have never written down who could step in, because you have never needed to. Below: how to build a simple bench chart, put yourself on it, and make sure the business keeps running if you cannot.
Last Updated: 11/08/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Definition
How Would You Define Bench Strength?
Short Answer
Bench strength is the depth behind each critical role in a company, meaning a backup who could take over immediately or after some training, and that includes the owner’s role. A bench chart shows every critical role with its current holder, its immediate backup, and the person in training with a target date.
Bench chart = each critical role + its holder + its backup + its trainee and date
Doctor Owl, in Plain English
“You ran the first lap four lengths ahead. Then you looked back, and there was nobody to hand the baton to. Put every key job on a chart, including yours.”
How This Guide Works
Need the answer fast? Read the Short Answer above and the numbered steps. Want the full picture? Follow Frankie, a fox with four pizza trucks from Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series, as he realizes nobody can run his catering season but him. His story shows up in a few short gold notes along the way. The math sits in one section, clearly marked.
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Meet Frankie Again: Nobody Behind the Baton
Some lessons stick better as a story. Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series teaches business through a forest full of small business owners. Doctor Owl, a dry-witted consultant who lives in the Lone Oak, helps them fix the same problems real owners face.
Today he is at the meadow for a relay race between local businesses: six teams of four, one wooden baton each. Fast Frankie goes off the line like a fired cork and leads by four lengths at the first bend. Then he comes round to hand off the baton. Harvest, Frankie’s biggest catering season, starts next week, and only Frankie knows how to run it.
Why It Matters
Why Do Lenders and Buyers Care Who Runs the Business Without You?
Most people decisions are about one employee at a time. Bench strength is about what happens when someone is missing, including the owner.
A business where key jobs live in one head is fragile. Illness, a family emergency, a resignation, or a busy season can stop it. Lenders, investors, and buyers know this, which is why they ask about key-person risk. Bench strength is the answer.
In the Fabled Forest
Harvest was Frankie’s biggest catering season. Every farm wanted pizzas for its crew at noon, in the fields. Frankie took every catering call, planned every order, and knew every farm. Nobody else had ever done any of it.
Build the Chart
How Do You Make a Bench Chart?
- List the key jobs. The six or so roles the business cannot run without. Include your own.
- Column one: the current holder. Usually easy.
- Column two: the immediate backup. Someone who could take over tomorrow. Usually the hard column.
- Column three: the person in training. Ready by a date you set.
- Fill the gaps with cross-training. And tie it to your pay ranges so stepping up has a path.
In the Fabled Forest
Frankie and Marco listed six key jobs: general manager, ovens, register, two lead drivers, and catering. The first column was easy. Only the two lead drivers could cover for each other. Every other role had no backup at all.
The Owner’s Box
Who Steps In if the Owner Can’t?
Put your own job on the chart, honestly. Owners leave themselves off because they assume they will always be there, or because the job feels too complex to hand over. Start with one part of it: a type of customer, a recurring task, a set of calls.
Have your backup shadow you, then do it while you watch, then do it alone while you stay out of the way. Plan for the long-term succession too.
In the Fabled Forest
Frankie looked at the empty catering box for a long time, then wrote one name in it. Marco sat in on every catering call, said nothing at first, and took one himself in the fourth week while Frankie sat on his paws. After six weeks, the chart showed five of six jobs ready now. Marco’s report that Sunday: every truck left on schedule, the restaurant was packed, and there were no problems.
The Numbers
How Ready Is Your Bench?
Here is Frankie’s bench chart, the day he started it and six weeks later.
| Key job | Ready today, week 1 | Ready today, week 6 |
|---|---|---|
| General manager | No | Yes |
| Ovens | No | Yes |
| Register | No | Yes |
| Lead driver, trucks 1 and 2 | Yes | Yes |
| Lead driver, trucks 3 and 4 | Yes | Yes |
| Catering (the owner’s job) | No | In progress |
| Total ready now | 2 of 6 | 5 of 6 |
Step 1: Score the bench. Key jobs with someone ready today ÷ total key jobs. Frankie started at 2 of 6.
Step 2: Close the gaps. Six weeks of shadowing and cross-training moved it to 5 of 6.
Step 3: Your version. List your key jobs, your own included. Every empty box in the ready-today column is a risk a lender or buyer will see.
Illustrative numbers from the book. Use your own key jobs.
Step by Step
How Do You Build Bench Strength?
Four steps before your next busy season.
List every key job, yours included.
Six or so roles the business cannot run without.
Fill in now, today, and by a date.
Be honest about the ready-today column.
Train backups for the empty boxes.
Shadow, then do it with supervision, then do it alone.
Review the chart every quarter.
People leave, jobs change, and the bench needs updating.
In the Fabled Forest
Doctor Owl’s scroll for Frankie put the whole idea on one line, covering every critical role with three names and a spring deadline.
Frankie’s Full Story
Who Ran Harvest Catering?
This page gives you the short version. The book gives you the whole autumn: a relay on the meadow, a fox four lengths clear with nobody to hand to, a chart with three columns and four empty boxes, six weeks of sitting on his paws, and a Sunday note from Marco that ended with a warning not to get used to it.
Every chapter of Human Resources for Small Businesses works the same way. One owner, one problem, one real idea you can use on Monday, plus a one-page worksheet to do it.
A Business Plan Writer’s View
Why Do Lenders and Buyers Ask Who Runs the Business Without You?
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA · Business Plan Writer
When a lender, investor, or buyer asks who runs the business without the owner, Dr. Paul answers with a bench chart in the business plan. It lists each key role, who holds it, who can cover it today, and who is in training, with dates. That one page turns a vague worry into a visible plan. A business that depends on the owner for everything is valued lower and lent to more cautiously, because the risk is obvious. A business with a working bench, especially one that shows the owner’s own duties being shared, reads as durable. It also gives the owner something rarer than money: the ability to take a week off.
FAQ
Which Questions Come Up About Covering Key Roles?
What is bench strength in a small business?
How do I make a bench chart?
Why do lenders ask who runs the business without the owner?
Keep Going
Back to the Start of the People Path
This is foundation 20 of 20, the last in the book. These pages tie it together. New to a term on this page? Every one is in the human resources glossary.
Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, business consultant and author with 14+ years of experience and 1,000+ clients served. Need your staffing and payroll written up for a lender? See business plan writing services.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, employment, or other professional advice. Figures are illustrations. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.