Leadership Lessons: Putting Out Fires
I recently had the honor of interviewing Matt Magee, a Firefighter of 16-years out of Miami and we related his on-the-job training and experience to everyday business. Whether you are fighting fires (literally or figuratively), these lessons from an experienced Firefighter can prove invaluable to your everyday business.
The Value in Being Prepared While “Putting Out Fires”
Being in the firefighting business for so long Matt stresses the importance of training for whatever situation might arise. He says, “Citizens are expecting us to be at our very best when we show up,” just like we should in our everyday life.
At the firehouse, Matt and his crew will train for 6-8 hours during their 24 hour shift as well as respond to any calls that might come in. They will train by working out, working out in their gear, go through medical response scenarios, put out several fires to get used to the heat and smoke.
They will run routines constantly, dozens and dozens of times during the day. This not only conditions the mind to know what to do, but it conditions the body to handle the extreme strenuous conditions they are likely to encounter during a call, making everything they do become muscle memory.
Imagine applying this to the business world. If we identified a skill that we need to strengthen and then dedicated time to run through a role-playing session or a coaching call, rather than “dealing with it when it comes up,” wouldn’t we condition our minds and develop muscle memory for making that big presentation, negotiating that big deal, or having that difficult conversation? As leaders we need to be prepared to lead our team, make really hard decisions, and effectively “put out our own fires” from time to time. In order for that to happen we need to be trained and practice those skills before we jump in.
The Value of the Post-Fire Debrief
After the work is done, there is one crucial element that perhaps leaders in business can take from the crew - the debrief. Once the fire is put out and all are safe, the crew and the Fire Chief meet in the front yard and go over what went well and what could have been better. Each seat on the fire engine has a specific job and if that job was done well or not well, the whole crew knows who’s responsible. If something could have been done better or differently, that crew member will go back, study, practice, and train to build on that experience. “It’s a very important critique that needs to happen so everyone knows where we can build, develop, and become stronger,” says Matt.
As business leaders, I suggest, we can gather around in a forum (“the front yard”), talk about overall performance, to specifically identify areas that not only need improvement, but where things were done really well. This shouldn’t happen once a quarter/year during an individual review or evaluation, but consistently over time with the whole team. When presenting critique like this in the workplace, it’s often perceived that we are targeting or zeroing in on one team member and is often taken personally. If the whole team can come together to debrief it can be approached as a unified effort toward the greater goal.
The Value of Defining “Why” You Fight Your Fires
One of the top responsibilities for a leader is making decisions and just like in firefighting there are a number of crucial decisions that need to be made within business. “It’s important to go out there without a clouded judgement, making adrenaline fueled decisions,” Matt says. When a crew arrives at the scene everyone knows their job and there is a huge amount of trust in the other members of the crew, because they’ve been trained.
When the Fire Chief shows up to the scene he has to stand back and look at the entire scene without distractions, give precise executive decisions over the radio, and rely on the crew’s training and know-how to get the job done.
The Chief cannot suffer from any “analysis paralysis” or a adopt a “ready, shoot, aim” thought process where they’re just going to wing it and deal with what comes up. Likewise when we as leaders show up to get really good work done, at the scene, although it may not be as life-and-death in everyday business, it’s proven that teams are much more successful when there is a decision made and a commitment to stick to it.
Although there is a lot to be said about the amount of industry or professional experience when being able to make great decisions, Matt’s main advice is to define your “why”. Defining your why for doing this, your why for working in the field you do, why you want to become better in the industry, will significantly improve your decision making process. Matt’s, “Why” is defined by helping a million people in his lifetime.
Have you defined your “Why”? How can you apply what Matt Magee has shared from his days firefighting to your business?
