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Leslie Boyer
Do You Have a Disaster Recovery Plan?
The year before Hurricane Katrina hit, I was doing a training for one of the power companies in the South. That particular year there were several hurricanes pounding the Gulf Coast. Although none of them were of the magnitude of Katrina, they were definitely taking a toll on property, people and resources. This power company was dealing with many power outages following each hurricane. One thing on the minds of several people in the room was how the company was utilizing their Disaster Recovery Plan. Because of the plan, people were getting their electricity back faster. As a next step, they were working on refining and clarifying their plan to get the power up and running in an even shorter time frame.
I started thinking about a Disaster Recovery Plan for my work. Traveling as much as I do, when I get back to my office after being out a week or two, my desk often looks like a natural disaster hit it. I have learned that if I don’t build in recovery time, then the stress of simply walking into my office can be overwhelming. When I have been away from my desk for a period of time, I do my best to minimize the number of meetings or calls my first day back in the office. I know my primary purpose for that day is to collect everything and process my “in box” down to zero. It is the only way I can get on top of what has happened while I’ve been out as well as prepare for what might be coming at me next.
I’ve even gone so far as to put on my voice mail that I am out of the office so people don’t have an expectation that I will be available that day while I’m executing my recovery. I’ve also found that it is critical after a meeting that’s generated a lot of new data to build in time to “recover” from the meeting. My goal is to process all my notes from the meeting into Next Actions and Projects, then put my notes into the support files, electronic or paper. When a meeting like this is scheduled, I look for time to “recover” from it and build that into my calendar as part of the meeting.
Just as athletes need to have “recovery days” as part of their workout routine, knowledge work athletics requires the same. It’s the only way to keep ourselves fresh and on top of our game when we’re in the playing field of our work.
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