Most organisations don’t set out to work in constant crisis mode. Most of their people don’t either.
Sometimes, firefighting is necessary. But when it becomes the norm, it begins to drain the organisation and hinders growth (of the people and organisation)
Fire fighting creates an adrenaline rush, giving a false sense of achievement.
It seeps in quietly, disguised as usefulness and indispensability when your organisation seems to be the only one able (or willing) to “fix” and put out the fire.
Eventually it becomes a loop where urgency replaces intention and strategy.
It keeps organisations moving but not forward.
Key Sections
- Patterns of firefighting
- Impacts of Firefighting
- Root Causes of the Cycle
- Breaking the cycle
Patterns of firefighting
- Context don’t matter
- People fix problems, not solve it
- Work is reactive, not strategic
- Despite busyness, progress is slow
- Deadlines are often hard to meet
- “no time” to review systems, document processes, or clarify things
- “no time” to pause or ask questions or plan properly
- Root causes are not addressed
Impacts of Firefighting
- Low morale and disengagement
- Repeated mistakes and inefficiencies
- Losing strategic focus
- Root causes left unresolved
- Accidentally train your people to stay in chaos
- Teams get stuck in reactive thinking (shallow thinking instead of deep and high level)
- Decrease in effectiveness and efficiencies
Root Causes of the Cycle
The root causes are interesting because the firefighting cycle is not just a result of these but it also ****reinforces them.
| Root causes | In firefighting mode |
|---|---|
| Systems are weak | Quick fixes, “no time” to review and change processes or implement them after |
| Communication breakdown – Lack clarity, information is inaccurate, etc | People make ad hoc decisions, “no time” to clarify or reflect, creating more communication gap |
| Accountability is not being held | All hands on deck to fix, fixer becomes hero, instead of preventing, more incentive to fix |
| Leaders respond to crises rather than guide strategy | Urgency takes over, strategy gets thrown out, reducing the importance of strategy and planning |
| Direction and context is lacking | Can only see narrow view of what’s in front, creating a lack of practice in looking at bigger picture |
Breaking the cycle
The absence of fire is a sign that something is working instead of “lacking action”.
Many leaders say they want to break the cycle, but reluctant to be honest and acknowledge they could be what is feeding the cycle. Humans do not repeat things if we are not getting something out of it.
First, it is important to identify which area sparked the fire.
Externally induced
This means that it stems from clients, vendors, partners, etc. They throw the fire over and the organisation reacts to it. If this is a common situation, there is a high change the management takes pride in being the one who can fix and put out the fire.
Challenge:
- It is also beneficial from business POV because the organisation gets paid, sometimes heavily so there is little or no motivation to actually change the situation.
- It involves the system and processes of another organisation which little or nothing can be done on your part.
What to do about it:
- Offer a collaborative approach to look at the deeper issues and what can be prevented
- Draw clear boundaries of what your organisation is willing to take on (This takes a lot from the management to be willing to do this to protect and take care of their people with the big picture in mind)
- Charge premium (This is to possibly create barriers but it could also make the organisation even hungrier for firefighting projects, so it needs to be very intentionally executed)
Internally induced
This often stems from lack of clarity from managements and leaders in terms of systems, processes and/or directions.
Challenge:
- Can be perceived as ego crushing/wrong when asked to take a honest look within the management and internal processes
- Managements and leaders rather be correct than to right the way forward.
What to do about it:
- Self reflection on what are you getting if your people continue to be in the cycle
- Shifting into a space of improvement and growth instead of correct or wrong.
- Putting effort and time into creating and/or refining systems and processes AND sticking to it
If you’re trying to break this cycle, start with seeing it clearly.
Most teams don’t lack solutions. They lack clarity on what they’re repeating.
If you want to look at this from a different lens, you can reach out to book a call.