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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? Secrets Of Hypnosis - Hypnotic Success. - Personal Magnetism & Hypnotic Attraction, Supreme Self Esteem, Your Brain in Your Underwear, Deep Sleep, Wealth Wizard and More. Sleepytime Secrets. - Earn $22.45 per sale with this fantastic sleeping guide! Guest post written by Stuart Ngai, Director of Technology Solutions, VERAX
It’s an investment that pays off Sure, everyone is very busy these days. And most IT managers have long days in addition to the constant bombardment of mobile messages. However, if you neglect to put a good effort to nurture your IT staff, it will come back to bite you in the form of low employee morale, low productivity, high turnover, and lack of innovation to name a few. Thus, preventive steps on a consistent basis is essential to keep a healthy workforce working for you. So take the time to nurture your valuable IT staff. Upper management buy-in is a must Now that you’ve been reminded of the importance of nurturing your staff, is that enough? My experience tells me that unless you also get your boss to recognize and help drive this important aspect of being a manager, it might be an uphill battle you’ll be taking all on your own shoulders. So do spend time to keep the benefits of training front and center with your boss amongst many “must do’s”. Having well trained IT staff will not only benefit both you and your boss in achieving and exceeding your deliverable objectives while creating a great work environment for all. The 10% allocation rule So you and your boss are persuaded. But how much should be set aside for investing in people without affecting your capacity to deliver? Well, many IT businesses tend to be cyclical and you should definitely take advantage of the downtime for training. But by default, use the 10% time allocation rule over the course of the year to ensure reasonable time is dedicated for your IT staff to up keep their skills. Now, that doesn’t directly translate to a 10% reduction in productivity. There are a number of ways you can afford to keep with the 10% rule without breaking your bank. So read on. Know strategic directions for your company and industry Great, your boss is on board and you’ve set a budget aside. What’s next? Well, just like you don’t get on a highway before deciding where you are going, you need to know the strategic focus of your company and trends in your industry before you start planning with your staff. As an example, I recently purchased a state of the art, air-thin laptop for my son for his university study away from home even though I know it doesn’t run all the fancy shooting games that he loves on his desktop at home. As a result, he now has a sleek laptop that’s the envy of his friends while he’s getting top marks because he doesn’t waste hours shooting at colourful pixels. Mean dad you say; may be. But he ends up ahead with his leading edge gadget while happy getting top marks in university – just have to borrow his friends’ clunky desktops for the occasional thrills. Likewise, as an IT manager, you need to know what’s good for your company and where the industry is heading before entertaining any training requests. Listen to your staff Now you are aware of the direction of your company and industry. Time to sit down with your staff to listen. Knowing everyone’s different, you definitely need to spend time listening carefully to the areas that they feel they need to beef up while you let them know the direction that’s important for your company and what you see as the important trends in your industry. Help them focus on some concrete and measureable goals so as to keep a focus on the objectives. Do encourage creativity from your staff in terms of learning style so to maximize the benefits based on your budget. To be continued next Monday. Share Your Thoughts How do you go about planning and managing training for your staff? Do you have any pointers or advice for others? Join the conversation in the AlignIT for Infrastructure and Development Managers group on LinkedIn. Stuart Ngai
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Stuart Ngai, Director of Technology Solutions at