Hapless Monkey” – Business Lessons for Preparedness, Planning & Shredding

“Hapless Monkey” – A Business Lesson in Preparedness and Planning

On Tuesday last week a “hapless” monkey wandered into Gitaru’s plant site in Nigeria and tripped a few breakers which set off a massive chain reaction resulting in the loss of power to the entire country of Kenya for several hours. Yes this is true…single handedly a wild monkey managed to cause country-wide chaos for a number of hours without even being injured or electrified. Certainly the power company had a tough time explaining why something so ridiculous as a little monkey from the local wilderness had caused something so detrimental. Clearly, these were scenarios that management never thought to plan for.

It’s cases like these that remind us of the importance of looking forward to the future in order to plan for the present. Preparation has saved many companies from disaster, and it will certainly help yours avoid the same.

What is our “Hapless Monkey” at Shred Northwest?  Are there simple, brainless, random, unpredictable events that can shut us down as a paper shredding company here in the Portland and Salem Oregon areas?  

• Are we prepared for rogue employee actions?

• Are we prepared for a natural disaster, such as an earthquake or volcanic eruption?

• Do we have a plan for macro economic events that are way beyond our control?

What are your “Hapless Monkeys” within your organization?

• Do you have low wage employees that you overly “trust” who are managing the shredding of your business records?

• Are there compliance related laws that you “know” in the back of your brain that you are “short-cutting” as they relate to best practices in records management?

• Do you work with partner companies who handle your data, records, and information at some point where information you are responsible for could have a breach?

Shred Northwest doesn’t specialize in monkey traps but we do know a thing or two about mitigating business risks for our customers in their shredding department.  We can help you avoid a “hapless monkey” experience for your organization by destroying records that should never see the light of day again!  Our specialty is helping you manage the invaluable data your organization holds dear.

Don’t get caught with a “hapless monkey” in your “power plant”. Looking seriously into the different risks your company is exposed to will not only provide you deep insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your organization, it will help you to swiftly manage and correct problems in incidents that may arise in the future.