a productivity bottleneck that develops into a real issue only when
a rush job forces people to work faster than normal, or illustrate
how things might fall apart if a water main happened to flood your
office. Once you know what can go wrong, you can plan for it.
Embrace Flexibility
Another way to give yourself some elbow room is to pad your
schedule with a little slack time. Try to do so within the constraints
of your existing schedule and don’t overdo it; just make sure your
to-do list has enough flexibility to accommodate a bit of the
unexpected. This doesn’t mean you have to add empty slots to your
schedule just in case, although that’s one possibility. If you go that
route and nothing comes up, then hey, you can get a little extra
work done on something else or go home a bit early (always a nice
option).
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various categories of emergencies, from things like unexpected tasks
added suddenly to your to-do list to more serious threats like fires
and natural disasters. If such guidelines already exist, review them,
learn them thoroughly, and don’t hesitate to tweak or even replace
them as necessary (assuming you have the authority to do so). If
company-wide crisis management plans already exist, study them,
and if they don’t, then step forward and propose them. The time
you invest in all this will eventually pay off.
You or a consultant can also perform vulnerability audits,
which dissects in detail the processes and systems comprising
a personal, team or organization-wide workflow and identifies
potential weaknesses that might either cause or contribute to a
crisis. Large companies typically use such audits to identify the
worst potential problems, especially those associated with employee
discontent.
You can adapt the concept to almost any type of emergent situ-
ation. For instance, a vulnerability audit might help you identify
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