How Efficient Are You When It Counts?

Performing well when there’s little margin for error

They don’t happen every day, but every now and then events pop up in our lives that challenge us.

A water main breaks at rush hour.

Your best customer places a huge order and needs it right away.

You leave for vacation but the weather has other ideas as three feet of snow blocks the roads.

Your client calls you at 5pm on a Friday with an emergency.

These challenges can affect any aspect of life: personal, social, professional and even recreation.

It’s been said that one’s character is revealed in these sorts of situations… Are you ready to meet the challenge?

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Battle Tested

It doesn’t matter how carefully you lay out a plan, you can’t anticipate every possibility that may occur. Most of the time, your plan will be on the money, with no complications that you can’t account for. But as I said, everyone once in a while, life throws us a challenge. This is when your plan and more importantly, your wits are tested.

The test doesn’t come when the load is light, and it may come unannounced.

The true test is like a test of fire. Can you follow through and complete your goals – especially when life throws these unexpected challenges at you?

This is where you find out if you are ready – if your planning, preparation, training, and processes are up to snuff.

It’s just a line, a group of people waiting to get through…

Early this winter I got to see if my planning and preparation were up to the challenge.

I had some business that required me to travel. I would fly out of Rochester at the beginning of the week and fly back home at the end of the week.

The first week I flew out on a Tuesday – and while I anticipated the security screening process taking some time, it was relatively short and mostly harmless.

The next week I found myself leaving on the same flight – but on a Monday, and it seemed as though everybody wanted to leave town on that particular morning…

Things appeared calm enough as I entered the terminal. My airline’s check-in was quick, but nearby the other airlines were packed. I thought it might be a specific charter that was causing the delay, but when I reached the security checkpoint… wow…

Almost out the door

The “check your boarding pass and ID” station that had a dozen people waiting in line the previous week had twenty times that number in a line that backed up – reaching the building’s entrance.

A brief panic hit as I worried that I might not make my flight, but with leaving being my only other choice, I entered the line and waited.

My choice was good as I found that two checkers, not 1, served the line I picked. The daunting task ended up taking just fifteen minutes or so.

And that got me thinking on this topic – The airport had done a fine job of managing the crunch. They probably have daily and weekly cycles that give them a great ability to predict the crowds, but the important thing is that their plans worked for me on that day.

And I think more than my planning was being tested, the airport’s planning was tested as well;-)

Are you ready?

And so my question for you today is – are you ready for that “crunch” time, or will the backups overwhelm you?

Have you planned well, prepared for contingencies, tested your preparations, and had run things smoothly?