Many large businesses have been consumed with Six Sigma over the last few years and it has become something of a quasi religion in some corporate cultures of late.  Six Sigma aims to eliminate failure using statistical analysis to eliminate defects down to 3.4 parts per million.  The methodology is particularly suitable for dealing with high risk business operations such as aerospace and nuclear power.

Prevention is always better than the cure.  So, why did Six Sigma not prevent the nuclear accident in Japan?  It was the tsunami that caused the destruction of the cooling systems in the nuclear power plant and not the earthquake itself.  So, surely the tsunami was an unpredictable event?  Not at all.  A tsunami is a predictable event after an earthquake in coastal areas under certain circumstances.

However terrible the events in Japan have been, this event seems to point out the fallibility of Six Sigma thinking under conditions of complexity and, in this case, predictable cause and effect analysis.  Of course we must plan to eliminate and minimise errors of the type that created the Japanese nuclear plant failure.  However, we should not place all our trust in proprietary techniques such as Six Sigma as our way of predicting complex scenarios with multiple causes and consequences.  A wiser approach will be to combine analysis with other more intuitive approaches to risk management, such as scenario planning.

As the terrible events unfold from the earthquake, the tsunami and the nuclear plant failure in Japan, the best anyone can hope for is that as a human race, we manage to learn from such things.  Such events point out our ultimate fragility and the need to stop, look and learn.  Doing more of the same or trying to do it better will not be sufficient to get us to where we need to be.

Peter Cook runs Human Dynamics and in his spare time pursues an obsession to help others make better decisions about things that affect all of us.

The benefits to company owners of the corporate team building experience is that the activities on offer are specifically designed to bond and strengthen the team which in turn helps boost morale.

The experience will certainly make members of  staff feel more involved as the courses are based on team accomplishments rather than personal achievement and as such every member of the team is included in making decisions and motivating each other.

This in turn makes the team feel more valued which will help increase company profitability whilst providing a strong platform on which to build a business.

Forward thinking business managers  realise that team building event programmes need to become part of the company culture and feature in the long term plans of an organisation rather than as a one off event to provide a quick fix solution.

Anyone that has taken part in an out of hours staff outing or get together, be it ten pin bowling or white water rafting will agree that the event was in fact a lot more enjoyable than they had anticipated and can’t wait for the next opportunity to repeat the experience.

It is a fact, that some time out can make a difference, whether you want motivational outdoor team building activities, physical adventure team building events, mental team challenges or just a fun time for all!

I believe that Stress could be the next epidemic this country will face, if it isn’t already! Stress is known as the silent killer, it can creep up at any time and cause no end of physical and emotional health problems, costing business’ billions and people their lives.

Are you suffering from Stress?

Here are some symptoms of Stress. If you tick more than one of the symptoms, then you are indeed suffering from Stress, which, if left untreated, could lead to major physical health implications.

• Anger
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Changes in behaviour
• Food cravings
• Lack of appetite
• Frequent crying
• Difficulty concentrating
• Feeling tired
• Difficulty sleeping

What are common Stress Triggers?

• A general increase in the pace and complexity of working life brought about by the rapid growth in information technology
• The erosion of personal space and time resulting from developments in communications technology
• Increased workloads resulting from staff cutbacks, etc
• Increasingly informed and demanding customers and clients
• Lack of job security
• The stresses involved in commuting to and from work, travelling on the job etc.

Where there is recession, there is stress. Business’ downsize on human resources, but there expectations on the existing staff performances increase. Redundancies, unemployment, low income, there are many triggers for a Stress Attack, but behind every trigger there is Change of some sort and where there is Change there is Loss!

How do you manage your Stress?

From my many years experience firstly as a Therapist and now as a Coach, I have assisted many people in Stress Management Techniques. However, in order to manage your stress, you need to first recognise and then accept that Stress is affecting you and your loved ones.

Self Awareness is the key to a healthier and happier lifestyle.

Here are a few Stress Relief Techniques

• Exercise – no surprises there – simply walk for at least 30 minutes every day.
• Breathing from the Diaphragm – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hIKv2dsPC8&feature=related
• Take daily lunch breaks away from your workstations
• Spend time with friends
• Listen to Music regularly and Dance
• Have FUN, watch Comedy Films, Laugh out Loud!
• Stop watching the news and reading the papers – they are full of doom and gloom!!

I am a great advocate for fun and laughter, laughter is most definitely the best medicine.  Unfortunately, I actually witnessed Management in high pressure Corporate working environments, informing employee’s not to laugh so much!  Can you actually believe that!?  We all know the financial impact Stress can have on business’ – Stress costs business’ billions every year in the UK alone.

Poor Stress Management Techniques

Alcohol consumption/dependency is on the increase and binge drinking is becoming a national health issue.  Binge drinking is not only a teenage health risk, it is a health risk for all ages and alcohol dependency is becoming an issue for every age group!

I am left with no doubt, that we as a nation are taking life far too seriously and I mean that seriously!

Is it time for you and your business to do a Stress Audit?

http://joyandrewsbusinesscoaching.co.uk/

How often do we step into the Abyss? Do we ever know what’s around the corner? The answer to this question, is quite simply NO!

Ok, so we all have to begin at the beginning!  Any new business has to start somewhere. Planning is essential.

Business Coaching is pure and simple, it is all about Questioning.

Socrates, in my opinion, was the first documented Coach and a great one at that!  If I could have sat in the shelter of an olive tree, from the intense Greek heat and listen to Socrates teachings, I would give my right leg to have that privilege. Plato was a genius to document his teachings. Socrates was a genius and his most loyal student Plato, recognised the genius!

‘When the student is ready, the teacher will appear’ ~ Buddhist Proverb

Questions enable us to expand our minds and to seek within us, the Solutions to our Challenges.  We are the experts on ourselves and our business ideas, no one else can provide us with the Solutions to our Challenges. We are the Experts on ourselves the Coach enables you the Expert to set goals and seek the options and opportunities available to you. We have all of the solutions locked inside, we just need someone to come along with the key.  The key, is Questioning.

Some Valuable Business Development Questions

•    What do you want to achieve?
•    Who is your target audience?
•    Is there a niche you can target?
•    Do you have specialist knowledge and skills in order to target a niche market?
•    How are you going to get noticed?
•    Where do you see yourself in five years time?
•    How are you going to get there?

We all have a passion

•    What is your passion?
•    Does your passion reflect the service you are selling?
•    Could this passion direct you toward a niche?

Time to ponder me thinks!

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
The mind is everything. What we think we become.”
~ The Buddha

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an
act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle

“The only good luck many great men ever had was being
born with the ability and determination to overcome
bad luck.” ~ Channing Pollock

“The brain can be developed just the same as the muscles
can be developed, if one will only take the pains to train
the mind to think.” -Thomas A. Edison

“The mind moves in the direction of our currently dominating
thought.” ~Earl Nightingale

EnJoy

The first and most obvious advantage is that the personnel of a company can have access to the firm’s data at any time and from any location, wherever there is an Internet connection. That, increasingly, really means everywhere.

Access is closely linked to security and it is here that one of the drawbacks is encountered. Naturally, the forward-thinking business owner who wishes to consider ‘cutting the cord’ with the grid and opting for the cloud worries about how easily confidential material ‘floating’ somewhere could be accessed.

In order to give oneself the peace of mind that data is no less safe when one has switched to the cloud, find a reliable provider.

Cloud computing services can help with this.Worth finding out from your proposed provider is whether they have an external security standards company monitoring the systems that they oversee for security breaches.

As for fears of loss of data, choose a provider which automatically backs up the online data within your in-house system (space permitting), thus ensuring that a copy exists in the office hard drive.

When it comes to costing the cloud’s benefits, a perceived disadvantage is that with software applications and storage facilities are in the hands of a remote provider unwanted costs may be imposed. On the other hand, savings are undoubtedly made in terms of those programmes (and their subsequent upgrades and new versions) that would otherwise have to be purchased. In the cloud, these are the responsibility of the third party provider who, of course, builds them into their annual fixed fee.

The fact that so many applications existing in the cloud are supplied free is a further cost bonus.

As far as the future development of one’s business is concerned, the elimination of concern about computer space can be interpreted as the  freeing up of IT to deal with more strategic and hence profitable business initiatives.

Finally, as hardware requirments reduce, cloud computing contributes to a more sustainable environment.