|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Can You Sleep While The Wind Blows?
Let me repeat a story I heard many years ago that has stuck with me throughout my life. The lessons from this fable are many and have been applied to a variety of areas of my life. It recently popped into my mind again as I was thinking about the needs businesses have today for business continuity planning and disaster recovery contingencies. As I remember the fable, a farmer had been desperately looking, with no success, for a hired hand. Finally a young man showed up and said, "I hear you've been looking for help." "I sure have, replied the farmer. "What do you do? Can you run a tractor?" "Nope, answered the fellow. "How about a milking machine?" "Never worked one of those either," answered the lad. After a few more questions with the same negative responses the farmer finally asked, "Well, what can you do?" "I can sleep while the wind blows," said the young man. In no mood for joking, the farmer almost told the young lad to be on his way. But he needed help so badly that he decided to give the youth a try. A week or so later the farmer woke in the middle of the night. Outside a storm was blustering." Sheets of windblown rain were battering away at the windows. The farmer jumped out of bed and went to the hired hand's bedroom. Efforts to rouse the helper were like trying to awaken a sack of potatoes. So the farmer, by himself, rushed outdoors in the howling storm to take care of things. But when he got to the barn the doors were shut and bolted. The animals were secured in the safe shelter of the barn. Remembering that there was straw and feed in back of the barn that could be ruined by the rain, or blown away by the wind, he hurried outside once more. But his concerns were unfounded for the piles were covered with canvas and fastened down. It was then that he realized the significance of the young man's prophetic claim, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This little fable reminds us not to wait until we are in the middle of a disaster, or burdened with desperation or calamity before accepting personal responsibility for successfully planning for all possible disasters. Many disasters that strike companies can be avoided or at least the effects minimized by putting a disaster recovery plan into place today. Business continuity should be top of mind for every business. When disasters strike, all businesses small and large are vulnerable. Don't be like the farmer who waited for the disaster to strike before attempting to take the necessary steps to protect his business. The lesson in the fable is especially powerful today as companies face the daily threats of virus attacks, terrorist attacks on a global basis. Disaster recovery planning has never been more important. It is something you should do, and do now. Wouldn't you rather "sleep when the wind blows," than be trying to figure out how to batten down the hatches in the middle of a raging storm? Renee Rich is a success entrepreneur and freelance writer offering guidance and suggestions for small to mid-sized businesses concerned with business continuity, time management, strategic internet marketing, business & money. Her many articles on these topics as well as researched links to websites providing related product and services can be found at: http://www.business-continuity-4u.com She gives information and tips to help grow your business, save money, manage your time, and make informed buying decisions. Learn more about time management at: http://www.business-continuity-4u.com/Time_Management.htm
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Change Management: Avoid Havoc In Very Uncertain Times Escalating gas prices...tensions and turmoil in the Middle East...a struggling world economy. Leadership, in times of uncertainty, is not that much different from that of 'normal' times. What does differ is the degree to which basic tactics of change management are applied. In times of uncertainty, leaders must pay even more attention to the people issues in change. Here are five ways to avoid leadership havoc. How To Use Outsourcing To Beat Your Competition Outsourcing is when you hire outside professionals orservices to take on part of your business workload. Youmay want to outsource part of your work because youdon't have the room, you need an expert, you have periodicbusy periods, or you need more production to get ordersout on time etc. You could outsource accounting,secretarial tasks, factory help, computer training, webdesign etc. Below are ways to use outsourcing to beatyour competition. To Meet or Not to Meet - What are the Questions? Meetings can be a total waste of time or a powerful and productive communication tool that solve problems, stimulate ideas, promote team spirit and generate action. The results lie totally in how they are run. Organized and well-managed meetings will inevitably produce effective results. Whereas, meetings that are poorly managed lack purpose and focus are a total waste of an organization's time and money. Why We Judge Judgment is the process of forming an opinion of something by making a comparison. While judgment can play an important role in decisions we must make to live productively, sometimes the thoughts we hold are what prevent us from having what we most desire. Medical Collection. How Organized is Your Office? At one time or another, all of us have experienced the frustration of waiting in a doctor's office. It seems as though every time we go to see the doctor or the dentist we end up having to wait for a ridiculous amount of time, and then when we finally do get in, we are only "treated" for a few minutes and then sent on our way. I have always wondered why that is the case. If the doctor is only seeing each patient for a fraction of the time that the patient had to wait, then what are they doing behind the scenes? As a student in the field of business, I have often wondered if doctor's offices are slow because they might possibly be a little bit disorganized. I have friends that work in medical offices and they have said to me that things can be a bit crazy because there is so much paperwork that goes on and time to be organized is hard to come by. In this article I would like to propose a few solutions to help medical offices to be more organized. Why Half of All Mergers Fail After the Honeymoon Ends Marriages and corporate mergers in America have at least one thing in common, more than 50 percent end up on the rocks. In fact, according to a McKinsey study, only 23 percent ever recover the costs of walking down the corporate aisle. Another study showed that over 40 percent actually lose shareholder value. Listening Strategically Usually, we're most interested in communicating outwardly; getting our messages out to others. But finding ways to hear what's going on around us can be just as important. Difficult Employees-Poor Performance - 10 Tips for Dealing with it in the Workplace I personally struggle with the term 'managing people' - because I firmly believe that people cannot be managed ? only processes and systems can. How many times have you heard it said ? "Why won't my employees just do as they are asked?" Across The Interview Table! Job interviews are easier for the interviewer or the interviewee if you plan and prepare and use proper interviewing techniques. On this page are job interview questions and purpose of each interview question, because there is a purpose behind each and everything that we do and similarly there should be a purpose behind each and every question that we ask in interview. Good job interviews processes and methods increase the quality of people in an organization. Poor job interviews methods result in poor selection, which undermines organizational capabilities, wastes management time, and increases staff turnover. The Leadership Imperative: Making Your Leadership Your Life Nearly all leaders I've encountered are underachievers. They're getting a fraction of the results they are capable of. And in most cases, it's their fault. Their failures are the result of the choices they make. For the opportunities to consistently get more results are all around them all the time, theirs for the taking. Time Management Tips for Managers Late last year I was presenting a workshop for the senior managers of a major organisation. Whilst doing a pre-workshop survey to assess the challenges these managers were experiencing it became very apparent to me that many of them were showing the signs of business burn-out. And it was no wonder why. They were suffering from 'Priority Problems'. Quite simply they were making the mistake of doing the urgent rather than the important tasks. Dialogue vs. Discussion Have you ever sat in a meeting where everyone is busy giving their point of view and trying to prove why they are right? Where no one is actually listening or trying to understand other individuals' points of view. The alternative meeting format is where everyone listens to and agrees with the meeting leader. No one contributes or adds ideas, they are just compliant. Counseling Interviews for the Marginal Employee ACTIVE LISTENING: The most frequent cause of failure in therapeutic counseling interviews is the interviewer's tendency to talk too much. Numerous studies have shown that in counseling interviews the average manager will talk as much as 85 percent of the time. For a counseling interview to serve its purpose of drawing out responses from the employee, the interviewer must be an effective listener, not a talker. The manager must know how to ask questions which force the employee to speak about his or her unsatisfactory performance. After asking the question, the interviewer should remain silent, thus compelling the employee to speak. Problem Solving the Problem Solving Meeting We go to meetings to share information, to report on project status, to make decisions, to get the free lunch, and because we were invited. (Sorry that I digressed). This is only a partial list ? there are many other valid reasons for holding meetings. What is Six Sigma? Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process focused on satisfying customers by delivering nearly perfect products and services. In today's competitive market, consistently maintaining satisfied customers is essential to growth and success. Major corporations such as GE, Motorola, Honeywell and Ford, have demonstrated significant savings and increased profits by implementing Six Sigma processes in their business. When Change Is In the Wind...Heads Up! In these days of takeovers and mergers, of downsizings and lean management, chances are that you are going to be caught in a job upheaval at least once in your career. Probably more than once! Computer Consulting 101 Hiring Tips (Part 1 of 2) Does your business need the services of a computer consulting firm? Before you rush out and hire the first techie or slick-salesperson that knocks on your door, be sure to consider these favorite Computer Consulting 101 hiring tips for screening and interviewing local computer consulting firms. In this first in a two-part series, we'll look the root of the problem, as well as the four most basic criteria that you'll need to ask about when searching for computer consulting vendors. 6 Ways to Keep Things Simple Six Ways to Keep Things Simple Importance of Just-In-Time Inventory System In today's competitive world shorter product life cycles, customers rapid demands and quickly changing business environment is putting lot of pressures on manufacturers for quicker response and shorter cycle times. Now the manufacturers put pressures on their suppliers. One way to ensure quick turnaround is by holding inventory, but inventory costs can easily become prohibitive. A wiser approach is to make your production agile, able to adapt to changing customer demands. This can only be done by JUST IN TIME (JIT) philosophy. Forecasting Support Costs Did you know that maintenance accounts for 50% to 80% of the overall product cost? Well, it does! And while most project managers are fairly good at sizing new product features, many are terrible at estimating the effort required to support a product once it becomes generally available. As a result, maintenance projects are inadequately staffed, companies can't respond to customer requests in a timely manner, and products never reach payback.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
