By Steve Barry
“How can we execute on a strategy if we’re busy fighting fires all day?”
This question came up in our recent webinar on driving strategic initiatives. Fire fighting is a seemingly bulletproof “yeah, but”: “Yeah, I know that is the new strategy, but (insert your own ‘fire’ here: the client’s going to walk, we’re out of coffee filters, etc.).”
Some fires simply must be handled immediately. But others can be delegated, ignored, or even prevented. Often the problem is that people unknowingly fan the flames of the very fires that suck up their time. So, if you are frustrated by fire fighting, think about these questions with regard to yourself and your culture. Do you …
- Find that fire fighting gets your adrenaline going more than disciplined executing on tasks? Does it provide more of a feeling of worth?
- Reward people for “responsiveness” more than for execution-oriented behaviors?
- Often have people scrambling with urgent e-mails?
- Have enough time/resources allotted to the initiative?
- Spend time on fire prevention? That is, debriefing a situation with your team to discuss what triggered the fire and how to avoid it in future.
What do these questions bring up for you? Do you have any advice for your fellow firefighters?
[...] 22, 2010 by Jocelyn Davis In our recent post, we began exploring fire-fighting in business. Everyone wants to speed up important initiatives, [...]
[...] our recent post, we began exploring fire-fighting in business. Everyone wants to speed up important initiatives, [...]