In
a recent DfE (2018) report senior leaders described
their role as ‘akin to ‘crisis’ management much of the time:’ (p21). My intention is this post is to help senior
leaders develop and implement a set of principles which can help prevent most
crises and reduce the time senior leaders spend ‘fire-fighting’. To help do this I am going to draw up work of
Bohn (2000) who identifies a set of
circumstances when ‘fire-fighting’ has become chronic within an
organisation. Bohn then goes on to
provide a model of fire-fighting and suggests
three methods for reducing the amount of firefighting within an organisation.
Are
you working in an organisation where ‘fire-fighting’ has become the norm?
Bohn
suggests that you are working in an organisation where ‘fire-fighting’ has
become the norm if you are the victim of three of the following elements
- There is not enough time to solve problems
- Solutions are incomplete
- Problems recur and cascade
- Urgency supersedes importance
- Many problems become crises
- Performance drops
Before looking at how to prevent ‘fires’ I’m going to look
at a simple model which shows the effects of fire-fighting syndrome.
The effects of fire-fighting syndrome - amended form Bohn
The consequence of this model is that firms/schools are trying to
solve more problems than they have resources to deal with. Sometimes this leads to minor problems being
put to one side or it can consume an organisation’s (school) resources and lead
to some of the organisation’s (school’s) best problem leaving through say
frustration and burn out.
How to prevent fires?
Bohn argues that instead of putting a place ‘quick fixes’ leaders
and managers should focus on three specific and systematic methods.
Method
|
Sub-method
|
Description
|
Tactical
|
Add temporary problem solvers
|
If possible draft in resources (people) to try and address the issue
|
Shut down operations
|
Can an activity be shut down to give time to fix the problem
|
|
Perform triage
|
Admit that some problems won’t be solved for a while and commit resources
to those that are important and can be solved
|
|
Strategic
|
Change design strategies
|
Try and come up with generic approaches to new development can be used in multiple
circumstances and types of issues
|
Solve classes of problems
|
Look for groups that can be solved together – rather than
individual diverse problems
|
|
Use learning lines
|
When running ‘pilot’ projects don’t set up special groups with
additional resources, try and implement within a normal situation
|
|
Develop more problem solvers
|
Get more people involved in solving problems
|
|
Cultural
|
Don’t tolerate patching
|
Leaders must focus and support real permanent solutions rather
than look for the quick fix
|
Don’t push to meet deadlines at all costs
|
Can you be flexible on deadlines -measure projects by looking at
outstanding issues and problems
|
|
Don’t reward fire-fighting
|
Identify and support those colleagues who are good at preventing
fires and engage in long-term problem solving. Don’t give prominence to those colleagues
who are constantly putting out fires
|
And finally
References
Bohn, R. (2000). Stop Fighting Fires.
Harvard Business Review. 78. 4. 82-91.
DfE.
(2018). Exploring Teacher Workload:
Qualitative Research Report: March 2018. London. Department for
Education