The Firefighter

The psychological and emotional needs that we all have as human beings can intersect with change programs in unanticipated ways. Here’s a hypothetical case study inspired by true stories our consultants have heard down the years.

Harkesh has worked his way up through the ranks of his company. He’s valued by all his colleagues—senior managers and frontline employees alike—because he’s what we like to call a “firefighter.”

Whatever role he’s in, he’s the guy who can be depended on to stay calm in an emergency and come up with a solution that saves everyone else’s bacon. And it’s a feat he’s pulled off many times, because, until recently, the firm’s overall governance left a lot of scope for chaos and crisis.

But then something unexpected happens: the firm’s (new) senior leadership implements a change program across the firm. Business units start to become more efficient and better managed, and each employee’s job role becomes much more strongly governed by clear-cut processes. The chaos recedes, and the firm stops jumping from one crisis to another.

Harkesh remains in the same job, but he’s told, “Hey, life’s going to be easier for you now, because you’re going to have fewer issues to fix. There are other tasks for you to concentrate on now.” And it’s true.

How does he feel about not having to be the firefighter anymore?

Not great, actually. Because his sense of professional worth has long been tethered to his ability to rescue everyone during a crisis, and he thrived on being given the freedom to exercise his own judgment when he was solving problems.

Now, he’s not really sure what he specifically brings to the company; he feels his job could be done just as easily by others. Moreover, in the new, more process-defined environment, he misses the freedom he used to have to act based on his own judgment.?

He doesn’t become an arsonist so he has fires to put out again, but he does take a job elsewhere. The company has just lost one of its most capable and dedicated #employees.

So what did the firm get wrong here? We’re not suggesting that it should have remained in perpetual fire-fighting mode so it could retain an employee. But what its leaders could have done is reconcile the individual human needs of the organization’s workers with the technical aspects of what they wanted to achieve through the change program.

If Harkesh had been supported more during the implementation of the changes, there’s no reason why he couldn’t have continued to thrive at the firm.

Good change management factors in the human impacts of change on people like Harkesh.

In Mensana, we work closely with your organization to design and implement long-term programs that deliver sustainable results. Every one of our clients is different, and we take pride in developing personalized engagement strategies that bring your team closer together.?

Would you like to learn more about building a company culture that increases productivity? Let’s sit down and talk about how Mensana can help engage your employees and, ultimately, grow your bottom line.?