While putting out fires can make us feel useful as leaders, it leads to a fast burnout. If you feel pulled in a million directions solving every business issue, it is time to become the Chief Fire Officer in your company.
You Have 3 Main Roles as the Chief Fire Officer of Your Company
- Analyze the fire
- Put the fires out
- Prevent fires
1. Analyze The Fire
You can not (and should not) be personally involved in every fire that blows smoke in your business. Although it’s easy to do, don’t get distracted into thinking that every interruption, question, or idea is a fire to be quenched. To determine where your leadership skills and perspectives are most needed, you will need to triage your firefighting.
Fire Type 1: Direct Fire
Direct fires are directly related to your projects or responsibilities and are urgent. These are your fires and you need to take the lead to put this type of fire out as well as preventing them in the future.
Examples:
- Your incorrect data is causing mistakes for others
- The supplier you use is shipping the wrong items
- Your process is creating errors or delaying others
- Recurring errors from internal systems impacting your results
Fire Type 2: Indirect Fire
This type of fire is indirectly part of your work. Most of the time, you can continue on with your work or project but these fires can add frustration and delays. These fires are typically not as urgent but you do not want to ignore them because they can escalate. While you may need to suit up on these fires, it is time to empower your team to fight them. Ask your team to develop potential solutions and how you can support them in solving the issue.
Examples:
- Personality clashes within the project you are leading
- Urgent requests on projects that should be handled by a team member
- Software issues
Fire Type 3: Unrelated Fire
Unrelated Fires are not tied directly to your responsibilities or projects. These fires (if they are truly more than just smoke) need to be addressed by a team member. While it is tempting to jump in with a response, don’t be lured by the smoke. Stay out of these fires because they are not affecting your work.
Examples:
- Issues in an employee’s personal life
- The rumor mill
- Shiny object syndrome
Put the Fires Out
When there is a fire that needs your attention, it is time to pull out the gear. Here are some of the best firefighting tools in your truck:
Team Meetings
One of the most important tools that we have is our weekly team meetings. With this essential tool, we take the pulse of every project, work out solutions to problems, and access progress towards our goals. You can grab a copy of our team meeting process below.
Rehab Your Process
Processes are living, breathing parts of your business. While something might be working well today, it may not work so well in 2 years. Thus, when process weakness appears, it is time to revisit and analyze. Grab a template to review your processes below.
Communication
Here are a few ways to keep communication open without constant distraction:
- Set regular team meetings and allow your team to add agenda items. Did I mention how much I love team meetings?
- Have open office hours when you are open to people popping into the office
- Control your open communication lines such as Slack, email, text, etc. Choose when you will check them and tell your team how you prefer to be reached.
Prevent Fires
Only YOU can prevent business fires. Although you have the ultimate ownership of the success of your business, each team member should take responsibility for solving their direct fires. To begin with, everyone should take responsibility for solving their fires by:
- Maintaining their own Standard Operating Procedures
- Proposing solutions to current problems
- Contributing ideas on how to improve efficiency, and profitability in the business
As you become comfortable with the role of Chief Fire Officer, you will consequently reduce your stress, empower your team, and smooth the bumps in your business.
P.S. Don’t forget to grab our favorite firefighting tools here: