Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting - What Gets Rewarded?

About 15 years ago, I was working for a financial services firm that had a large call center operation, one that spanned 7,000 – 8,000 people at the time. The call center staff ultimately reported up into two groups that we’ll call Group A and Group B.

In this business, peak periods included Mondays, the first few days of the month, volatile market periods, and tax season. Speed of answer was the key metric, and the company achieved this goal by multiple means, including over-staffing, overtime, and even by pulling non-call center staff onto the phones in the busiest periods, just to make that speed of answer objective. Group A continued on in this fashion. Group B took a different approach, however, seeking to more accurately predict call center volumes and also to develop additional means to handle peak volumes. Their work wasn’t perfect initially but it got steadily better over time, as they honed their methodology and added additional call handling measures.

When the financial crisis hit in the fall of 2008, call volumes in both groups spiked to unprecedented levels. Needless to say, customers were deeply concerned about the markets and their financial futures. Group A pulled out all the stops to answer calls, including using a huge number of non-call center staff, essentially putting most other work in that group on hold for some time. It was frenetic and exhausting, but they got through it. Group B, on the other hand, put their well-rehearsed peak management plans into action. It worked fantastically, and without the level of intensity required by Group A.

A few weeks later, the writers for the company newspaper came to write an article on how both the groups had handled these peak periods. (Yes, there was still a company newspaper back then!) Group A talked about the camaraderie of managing through a crisis together. Group B talked about how well their plans had worked, and that the spike in volumes really wasn’t an issue at all. So who did the newspaper write about? Group A. What did they say to Group B? “Your story isn’t very interesting.” What was the implicit message they conveyed? That firefighting is better than fire prevention.

It shouldn’t be this way, but across countless companies, heroics are heralded much more than proper planning and strong day-to-day execution. Don’t get me wrong. There will be times when heroics are absolutely required, and those who successfully lead through those instances should be celebrated. But the priority should really be on avoiding the need for heroics entirely. After all, would you rather fly on an airplane that doesn’t crash or one that gets everyone through a crash alive?

So what can we do about these kind of instances? Here are a few tips:

1. Consider what could go wrong in your team or organization.?Ask yourselves what you’d do in those situations. If you have a risk team, they’ll undoubtedly be able (and thrilled) to help structure this kind of analysis, using a framework of topics like ‘inherent risk’, ‘ability to mitigate’, and ‘residual risk’ (i.e., what risk remains after you apply your mitigating actions.)
2. Plan and practice accordingly,?whether through ‘table top’ or actual simulations. Reflect on what you learn and adjust accordingly. Continue this kind of practicing until you feel like you have a solid plan.
3. Seek to understand your real-world failings.?Create a learning culture. Wherever possible, treat mistakes as learning opportunities. Evaluate the real experience of others as well, as their challenges will inform your own risk assessment and risk mitigation work, without your having to figure everything out yourselves.
4. Most importantly, reward this activity and the better day-to-day execution that comes with it.?Establish metrics that reinforce the importance of these ‘business as usual’ activities. Depending on your industry, these metrics could include things like days without a safety incident, days without having to stop the production line, the number or cost of risk incidents, or any other metrics that are relevant to the daily operations of your business.
5. Don’t necessarily reward heroics.?If the need for heroics should have been avoided, thank those involved but also ask the hard questions of their leaders as to whether better day-to-day management or risk planning could have prevented the underlying issue in the first place.

With a stronger focus on day-to-day execution and a skeptical view of heroics, you’ll tilt the scales more in favor of fire prevention and away from firefighting. It may be less interesting, but it will make your organization stronger in the long run.

JR and the PathWise team

Recent and Upcoming Podcasts

November 18, How To Earn Your PMP Certification, And Why It Matters, with Tamara McLemore.?Tamara is an experienced project manager, having spent over 20 years in varying industries using her PMP certification. Now, she teaches others how to successfully study for and pass the PMP Certification exam through a 2-week intensive program. In our discussion, we dive into all things project management and into the PMP certification and exam in particular.

November 25, Management, Leadership, Innovation and More, with Linda Hill.?Linda is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, is a Thinkers50 member, and is regarded as a top expert on leadership and innovation. She is also the author or co-author of?Collective Genius,?Being the Boss, and Becoming a Manager.?In our discussion, we cover Linda’s motivations for entering academia, her early research on the transition into management, and her more recent work on collective genius.

As always, our “Career Sessions, Career Lessons” podcasts are available on all the major podcast platforms, with video versions on PathWise’s YouTube channel.

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Career Themes

November 18 – Purpose.?Our purpose is our “why.” It’s what fuels us to get out of bed in the morning with excitement about our day. Our purpose can be professional, personal, or a combination. This week, we’ll dive into the idea of purpose in a professional setting, and on how getting clear on your “why” will help you achieve more and do so with a greater sense of fulfillment.

November 25 – Deliberate Practice. Practice is the key to improvement. But not all practice is equal. The best professionals – whether in sports, the arts, or any other field – engage in deliberate practice, meaning that they have clear goals on what they want to improve and how they want to do so. We’ll talk about how you can build deliberate practice routines into your day-to-day, helping you make greater and faster strides as a professional.

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