Putting out fires: seriously

In business, a term often used is “putting out fires”. This will apply where the business is beset by one crisis after another and where extraordinary effort is required from the team to get a much-needed result. You know the drill, we come into the office on the Sunday before the make-or-break sales pitch on Monday morning – an opportunity that magically appeared late Friday afternoon.

Where I have heard this phrase used, it is often as a prelude to a discussion about the importance of strategy and planning. Fair enough. However, the notion that forethought should be applied in business does not remove the need for action if the situation is to be retrieved. Instead what we must be interested in are the resources that we have available to us and how these can be best applied to the task at hand.

A stark example of this can be seen with the bushfires that are becoming more prevalent in Australia. Regardless of the source of the fire, action is required (and is taken) to save life and property; often at great personal risk. In these situations, stories abound of courage and sacrifice as communities come together at short notice because they must.

Something I personally experienced was some time spent in an evacuation centre at the town of Picton near my home in the Southern Highlands. The centre was being run as a collaborative effort by a number of charitable organisations at a local church. The volunteers provided food, comfort and support for hundreds of people displaced from their homes. All done with a smile and some optimism. Another story was from a member of my extended family who is the catering executive at a local club. He and his family had been evacuated to my home because their village was in danger. At 2.30 in the afternoon he received a call from the local rural fire service with a request for meals for 500 firefighters. The rural fire service hoped that these could be ready at the shift changeover at 5.00 pm. The response was simple. Of course; we will do our best. He then assembled some members of his regular cooking team and they got to work. 500 very grateful firefighters were fed that afternoon.

But what is really occurring here? We have large teams within a new organisation that first have to form and then mobilise within hours on a range of important tasks. No time here for targeted recruitment or assessment of fit with a set role within these adhocracies. To describe the various team constructs at work, the evacuation centre and the ad hoc cooking team at the club showed sequential interdependence on the food production line as meals were provided to those that needed it. A closer look showed reciprocal interdependence as the members of various agencies,  faiths and skill sets discussed how the urgent needs of the people were to be met with true collaboration occurring between agencies that provide support . Also needed here are high levels of efficacy to attempt a range of challenges not previously considered. Members of the adhocracy also display incredible empathy when dealing with strained emotions displayed by people at their most vulnerable. Moreover, the volunteers here need enormous resilience to keep trying over many days and nights.

Overall, the goods folks involved in the examples here clearly demonstrate what I believe to be the defining characteristic of great teams – strong personal commitment to a shared goal. In this instance, to stop the threat to the community. So, if your business is engaged in putting out fires, concentration on these positive qualities and capabilities of the team members might be what is really needed to get a great outcome.

Related articles

• ’24 hours from worst conditions’ (smh.com.au)

• Blue Mountains blazes threaten to combine into mega-fire (abc.net.au)

• NSW bushfires: what you need to know (abc.net.au)