Is It Your Job to Fight Fires? Part 1

by George McQuain

Leaders who encounter problems often go through the same emotional stages as dying people: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance.  This process, in my experience, often gets stuck in the first four stages because; as George R. R. Martin has said “Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.” As a result, most leaders wait way too long to take tough decisions and manage a project, process or team situation until “fires” are actively burning and everyone is forced to frantically “fight fires” rather than focus on helping the company grow and be more successful.   

As I have often told my teammates, “Bad news is not a good cheese or a fine wine…it does NOT improve with age.” Leaders who recognize and acknowledge the signs of trouble and act (which may mean getting outside help) early have a much better chance of eliminating problems before they occur and achieving consistently great results.

The key, obviously, is early identification and correction of problems. Unfortunately, most managers rely on measuring “results” and do not measure the things that produce those results. This means that they don’t act until the final result is measured and then it is too late to change the outcome.

No matter what the process, it is important to identify the key input variables that drive the results you want to achieve. For example, if I ran a restaurant and I wanted to produce great French Fries, it would be unwise to do nothing more than count the good vs. the bad French Fries at the end of each batch.

Instead, I would:

1.     Buy great potatoes and cooking oil

2.     Know the exact temperature that the cooking oil would need to be in the deep fryer

3.     Know the exact time the fries would need to be in the deep fryer to produce great fries

4.     Measure and manage those key input variables to make sure they are at levels that will result in great Fries.

I would do all these things because I know that if I do them, I will cook great French Fries every time.

Now, here are the key questions you need to ask and answer:

1.     What are the results my team and I are trying to achieve?

2.     What key inputs will lead to those results?

3.     What do the values of those key inputs need to be to achieve our target results?

4.     How can we measure those key inputs?

5.     What actions need to be taken when our key inputs are not on target?

After you and your team have answered these questions, put the measurement systems in place to catch and eliminate issues before they become major problems. Use this approach to transition from denying problems and fighting fires to eliminating the root causes of problems.

My next entry will discuss some techniques to use to identify key inputs.