Preventing Fire drills Part Two: tips for team members
Lindsey Wallace PhD
Definition:
“Fire drill”- Thankfully, in my corporate context a fire drill is almost never an actual fire, so what do we mean when we say something is a “fire drill?”. A “fire drill” is what we call an urgent and unexpected ask from a leader, often an executive. Sometimes fire drills are unavoidable, such as when they are prompted by an urgent request or problem from a customer; other times fire drills are the results of inspired leaders with the best intention not seeing the impact of their requests on their teams. People with power are the root cause of the panic and disruption caused by a fire drill because the people below them feel like they must respond to the request or face professional consequences. These “fire drills” disrupt the planned work for a person or team, causing delays and problems with organizational functioning. Repeated fire drills hurt the business, the product, the team, and the individual worker and should be avoided.
What this guide will do:
This two part guide is meant to prevent fire drills by taking a 2 pronged approach: providing considerations for leaders with ideas or customer requests and offering constructive questions for affected teammates to ask when a leader comes to them with a request. The first guide focuses on…