Hump Day SOS In Command and Out of Control

In Command and Out of Control

ByDavid Rhodes

Published Friday, July 1, 2016 | From theJuly 2016Issue ofFireRescue

As you move up in rank, you reach a certain point in your career when you can no longer do everything yourself. Many of our best firefighters have promoted up only to crash and burn after a short while. They become miserable in their new position. This uncomfortable transition works against the grain of our go-getters and doers. These outstanding members are respected and very successful based on their ability to work a saw; force a door; read a situation; and know where to go, what to do, and how to do it. In the company officer ranks, there is still enough hands-on work and limited demands on time that people can still do most things themselves. They often do some delegating, but the scope is so small within the station that both approaches can yield results, and to the outside the end result is all that is often looked at.

Increasing Responsibilities

当您搬到营负责人时，事情会改变，您的责任，任务和时间更像是平衡行为。您去的任何组织中的越高，您从组织工作的尖锐末端（向公民提供服务）越多，但是您要负责的问题和任务更多。许多伟大的消防员和公司官员都根据他们做好事的能力而成功，并且面对越来越多的责任，倾向于更长的时间工作，并更加努力地确保他们完成所有负责的事情。我们大多数人都认为自己是动手的人，并且经常陷入思考的陷阱，向某人展示如何做某事会花费太长时间，所以我们自己做。

这种做的方法最常见于灾难。首先，您要努力跟上所有到期日期，目标和截止日期。很快，您将失去几个任务和时间的跟踪，并且错过了最后期限。有些人看着您对细节的缺乏关注感到震惊。您以前从未有过懒惰。您的声誉盛行了一天，目前忽略了这种疏忽。不久之后，它再次发生。您过度承诺，​​无法满足期望。您的老板开始看到新的您。您的成员开始质疑您是否真的可以做所有过去的事情。 You are in a tailspin, finishing a little of each task but never completing anything. You are working longer, harder than ever, and you begin to blame it on the promotion.

您现在处于组织的水平，您无法再做自己的事情。现在，您的重点必须放在建立意图，建立团队，委派和担任项目经理更多，而不是动手做事。您可以以与事件相同的方式看待它。如果您是事件指挥官，则不能指望您驾驶所有卡车，进行所有连接，拉伸所有线路，并搜索建筑物的所有隔间。这并不是说您不工作。管理项目，组装信息，进行简报，制定计划和沟通意图都是工作的。就像教练一样，您不是在玩游戏，而是在打比赛。您需要专门培训其他功能的助手以及完成整体目标组成部分的助手。这是您职业生涯中的艰难时期，也是一个非常艰难的教训，为我们键入A Overachievers，因为没人能尽我们所能！

Accepting 70 Percent from Many

假设如果您自己做某事，那将是100％正确的（无论如何在您的脑海中）。在许多情况下，您必须学会接受70％的工作来获得动力和结果（完成项目）。假设您的任务是编写一项政策，该政策需要花费几周的研究以及一两天的写作和编辑。在两周半结束时，您将拥有所需的100％。但是您不会完成其他任何事情。

You delegate the intent of the policy and the task to a person with expertise in the subject, and this person submits a draft policy to you. You spend one hour reviewing it and making changes that you feel finish the policy. You have just accomplished the task with a couple of quick conversations, choosing the right person for the job and doing a little cleanup. You can manage 10 or 15 things using this method vs. doing the one project yourself. Seventy percent doesn’t sound that great on the surface, but if you are only capable of 100 percent on one project in a given time and you accept 70 percent from 10 people on 10 different projects in the same timeframe, you can complete and accomplish what was going to be lost, forgotten, and missed. If you were a coach and one of your players was batting .700 in baseball, you would have the most productive hitter in the game!

Out of Control

在某个时刻，当此过程尽可能高效地运行时，您会意识到某些成员的聪明程度。您还了解到，您认为有些是摇滚明星正遭受与必须克服的相同问题的困扰。其他人是如此出色，以至于他们甚至在您知道它们存在之前都在照顾问题。人们问您问题，因为您负责，突然间，您不打电话给某人问答案。这绝对是可怕的，因为您突然感到失控。由于缺乏控制，您会害怕死亡，但是您的成员似乎充满活力，新发现的自由和创造力正在形成。该组织正在解决几个月前它甚至看不到问题的问题。在这一点上，您的工作正在支持和维护一个可以根据任务和愿景来管理组织的团队，这与事件没有什么不同。

Time to Think

Having the rock star team assembled to manage the organization or project, depending on your position, allows time for you to think, analyze, and identify opportunities to improve. The same holds true for your team members. You cannot overextend your team so that all they are doing is grinding out deadline after deadline. I have found that nearly 80 percent of all crisis management, deadlines, and panic modes in most fire departments are self-inflicted. This is a tell-tale sign of no clear direction, vision, or mission-driven thinking. This “thinking” time must be protected, and you have to learn to say no and accept no from your team. Don’t get to a point where you never have time to do things right but you always have time to do them over!

Being in command of an organization, project, or team must be looked at in the context of “the long haul.” Demanding immediate results and quick completion of tasks leads everyone, including you, on a burnout path. Before assigning projects and tasks, ask yourself if the work that is about to take up your team members’ valuable time has anything to do with your organization accomplishing its mission. If the answer is no, then don’t take it on-even if it means saying no.