Tool Gate · How it works
How the Key-Person Risk Audit gate works
How the Key-Person Risk Audit scores how exposed a business is if one key person walks: a kill-chain gate forces SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE when someone is load-bearing with no backup — the concentration a healthy-looking org chart hides.
How the gate works
This tool grades how exposed the business is if one key person walks out. Each control is marked from your own evidence and weighted into a 0–100 score — and then the score is run past a gate that can only make the verdict worse.
The 6 weighted controls
| Signal | Weight |
|---|---|
| Customer / vendor relationships | 22 |
| Knowledge that lives only in their head | 20 |
| Sole-authority decisions & access | 16 |
| Trained successor / backup owner | 18 |
| Continuity / key-person protection | 12 |
| Share of output / revenue they drive | 12 |
| Total | 100 |
The verdict bands
A person who is load-bearing — holds irreplaceable relationships or knowledge (a load-bearing dimension scored 0) — AND has no trained, tested backup (the backup dimension scored 0) is a SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE regardless of the score. Concentration without a backup is the definition of the risk; the gate can only make the verdict worse.
In the worked sample it scores 8 out of 100 and still reads SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE — This founder-led rainmaker holds the primary customer relationships and the critical process knowledge — both scored 0, both load-bearing — with no trained backup and no continuity protection. Resilience is just 8 of 100, already the floor band, and the kill-chain fires on top of it: load-bearing plus no backup is exactly what a true single point of failure is. The one thing to fix first: Train and test a backup owner for the core work — a named successor who has actually covered the role. It is the cheapest way to release the kill-chain, even before you unwind the relationship and knowledge concentration..
Common questions
Can something score well on the How the Key-Person Risk Audit gate works and still fail?
Yes. The weighted score is run past a worsen-only gate — the Kill-chain — that can only make the verdict worse. In the worked sample it scores 8 out of 100 and still reads SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE, because this founder-led rainmaker holds the primary customer relationships and the critical process knowledge — both scored 0, both load-bearing — with no trained backup and no continuity protection. Resilience is just 8 of 100, already the floor band, and the kill-chain fires on top of it: load-bearing plus no backup is exactly what a true single point of failure is.
What is a worsen-only gate?
A dispositive rule that can only lower a verdict, never raise it. One fatal flaw overrides an otherwise-good score, because a single disqualifying gap shouldn't hide behind a high average. The tool also names the one thing to fix first — here, "Train and test a backup owner for the core work — a named successor who has actually covered the role. It is the cheapest way to release the kill-chain, even before you unwind the relationship and knowledge concentration.".
Grades a continuity posture, not people. A planning aid, not HR or legal advice — it must not be used to evaluate, rank, discipline, or make employment decisions about any individual; it identifies where the business is over-dependent so you can document, cross-train, and back up critical work.
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<iframe src="https://redhub.ai/visuals/tool/key-person-risk-audit.html" title="How the Key-Person Risk Audit gate works — RedHub AI" width="760" height="1770" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px"></iframe>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif"><a href="https://redhub.ai/visuals/tool/key-person-risk-audit">How the Key-Person Risk Audit gate works</a> — by <a href="https://redhub.ai">RedHub AI</a>, the AI that tells you when to doubt it.</p>Image + link — a static picture for any blog
<a href="https://redhub.ai/visuals/tool/key-person-risk-audit"><img src="https://redhub.ai/visuals/tool/key-person-risk-audit-share.png" alt="Diagram of the Key-Person Risk Audit: six weighted dimensions scored to 0–100, a kill-chain gate, and the verdict reading SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE on a load-bearing person with no backup." width="760" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:16px"></a>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif"><a href="https://redhub.ai">RedHub AI</a> — the AI that tells you when to doubt it.</p>
This is how Key-Person Risk Audit works. More diagrams in the Visual Field Guide.