Rewarding Firefighting
An emergency just popped up in your organization and you people hurried to fix it. You are proud of them; they squashed it immediately. It seems as if your work day is like a game of Whack-a-Mole. You praise them for smashing the mole and the cycle repeats, emergency after emergency. Soon, everyone is busy playing Whack-a-Mole or firefighting.
This practice is a harsh reality that many organizations face today. It highlights the dangers of a reactive culture that rewards quick fixes over long-term solutions. It is a culture that is plagued by rewards provided for fixing problems yet causing unintended consequences -- short-sightedness, lack of planning, and a disregard for the root causes of problems.
In such a culture, employees are constantly putting out fires, responding to emergencies, and dealing with crises. While this may seem like a heroic and productive way of working, it is, in fact, a vicious cycle that perpetuates itself. Employees become addicted to the adrenaline rush of firefighting, and the organization becomes dependent on their heroics to keep things running.
The problem with this approach is that it is unsustainable. It is impossible to keep up a firefighting mentality indefinitely. Eventually, the staff will become exhausted, and the organization will suffer from burnout. Moreover, the focus on immediate solutions means that the underlying issues are never addressed, and problems continue to recur.
If your culture rewards this firefighting, you will create a staff of arsonists.
This culture of firefighting also creates a dangerous precedent where employees are rewarded for fixing problems that they themselves may have created. In other words, the staff becomes arsonists, intentionally or otherwise. They create problems, and then they are rewarded for fixing them. This not only perpetuates the cycle of reactive behavior but also undermines the organization's ability to learn from its mistakes and prevent future problems.
In conclusion, a culture that rewards firefighting is a culture that is doomed to fail. It is a culture that is reactive, short-sighted, and unsustainable. Organizations must instead focus on prevention, planning, strategy attainment, and long-term solutions. They must create a culture that rewards proactive behavior, innovation, and continuous improvement. Leaders creating leaders who create leaders. Only then can they break the cycle of firefighting and create a sustainable and successful organization.
