I’ve worked with well-meaning, highly-principled leaders and managers for years. When the topic of coaching and developing their employees comes up, I often hear that they know coaching is important, they want to coach more, but they don’t have time because they are too busy “putting out fires.”
The pandemic put many leaders in crisis mode, switching from "How can I help my employees take their performance to the next level?" to "What are the very basic needs I must meet so that my employees can get through their work right now?" New managers likely already felt like they are in a constant state of fire extinguishing. Adding shutdown issues made those times even more challenging. Urgent issues simply take precedence over long-term benefits and goals.
An Elementary Principle
As children, we learn that if our clothes ever catch fire, we should “stop, drop, and roll.” By dropping to the floor and rolling around, we snuff out the flames and solve the immediate problem. The more I hear the phrase “putting out fires” from managers and leaders, the more I think this simple firefighting advice applies to team leadership too.
No one I’ve ever talked to admitted to liking the fires at work. They put urgency and stress into our days. They put us in a position of solving a problem that in many cases we didn’t even know existed. And because of the urgency, often the problems are averted (or minimized), but the root cause never is addressed. So, we end up fighting the same fire over and over again. While no one admits to liking firefighting, I believe that some people subconsciously do it on purpose. It provides an Adrenaline rush and perhaps even more short-term job satisfaction. If you do like that kind of work, you may not be in the right profession and role.
However, if you prefer coaching and developing your team over firefighting, use the firefighter’s mantra of "Stop, drop, and role."
Stop
You must stop fighting all the fires. Recognize that as a leader, the fires don’t all belong to you. With some coaching and development, the fires can be owned and extinguished by others. This gives you more opportunity to work with your team members on fire prevention. Start considering fires as an opportunity for coaching and development. Does this mean you will never roll up your sleeves and help? Not necessarily. But if you are dealing with all the fires, you can’t do the work you are truly supposed to do. Stop!
Drop
You must drop the fire and hand it off to someone else. In the moment, you might have to help, but you should also train employees to manage the issue. As you help fight the fire, prepare someone else to fight (or prevent it) next time. Drop!
Role
You must remember your role. As a leader, your role is to develop others. Investing time in your employees gives them opportunities to learn how to put out the fires. Help them develop their skills to manage their work more effectively. Establishing a coaching habit helps you do it more frequently and more effectively in the future. Remember your role!
Bottom line
As a leader, you must focus on important things like developing your people. Not just the urgent things that pop up each day. It might feel like it takes more effort to train and coach employees virtually now. But you still need to seek out opportunities to develop employee skills. Pre-planned delegation can free up your time to focus on big-picture issues and planning.
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