BY RICHARD B. GASAWAY
As fire chiefs, we are all faced with having to make some really tough decisions under some really difficult conditions. We make these decisions quite often at the scenes of fires, rescues, and traffic accidents. After we have spent several years in a command position, our ability to make these hard decisions at emergency scenes becomes somewhat second nature. We can do this because we draw on our experience and our intuition.
As commanders of emergency incidents, we know that we never have 100 percent of the information available before we make a decision. Even if we believe we have complete and accurate information when we make our decision, some of the information is likely to change before or soon after the decision is made. Yet, we still have to make decisions and command our personnel. As effective leaders, it is essential for us to process a limited amount of information, draw on our experience and intuition, make some reasonable assumptions, and then make a decision.
Imagine for a moment that you’re the incident commander at a working structure fire. If you wait until you have 100 percent of all the available information you need to make command decisions, you’ll probably burn the building to the ground. The fact is that the information is always changing. The fireground conditions are also ever-changing. The movement of personnel is also in a constant state of change. The integrity of the structure is continually being affected by the fire damage and the weight of the water being applied. I use this example because I think it’s an easy one to which fire chiefs (serving as incident commanders) can relate.
Now, let’s get off the fireground and back into the office. I know, I know, just when we were having fun. The same principles we use to make critical decisions on the fireground also apply to the day-to-day “administrative fires” with which we deal. We cannot wait until we have 100 percent of all the available information to make a leadership decision. If we do, we’ll become paralyzed and significantly damage our organization.
Secretary of State Colin Powell shares his views on making critical leadership decisions in the book The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell. Powell recommends that, as effective leaders, we should gather between 40 and 70 percent of the information available, then rely on our gut and make a decision. Powell has a long and distinguished military career in which he has made countless decisions on issues of significant national security. Those decisions that Powell made with between 40 and 70 percent of the available information could easily have impacted the balance of power in the world and cost the lives of thousands of U.S. military troops.
Fortunately for us, the fate of the free world does not depend on the leadership decisions we make as fire chiefs. However, our fire department’s ability to operate effectively and our ability to provide for the safety of our citizens and our firefighters is significantly impacted by our day-to-day decisions. I think you’d agree that’s a pretty noble cause and a formidable task.
Some years ago, a wise fire chief taught me to practice “Ready! Fire! Aim!” decision making. I think we’re all familiar with the “Ready! Aim! Fire!” cadence that was commonly bellowed out during the execution of a prisoner by a firing squad. The target was easy to hit, since he was blindfolded and standing still.
When it comes to decision making, the problems we confront are not static (i.e., standing still); the information is always changing. Our organization is continually moving and changing, as is the behavior and actions of our members. Our organization’s integrity is continually affected by the damage that problems (and the people who create or contribute to them) cause.
If we wait for our organization (and all of our problems) to stand still long enough for us to take a “Ready! Aim! Fire!” approach to decision making, we’ll never solve our problem, and we’ll never move our organization forward. We’ll get caught in “analysis paralysis.”
Analysis paralysis occurs when we’re not willing to make a decision until we have all the available information. Because we are working in organizations that are dynamic and ever-changing, complete information is never available. If this happens, we can freeze up and become paralyzed. We can’t make a decision because we’re too afraid that without all the information we’re going to make a bad decision.
What happens if we practice “Ready! Fire! Aim!” problem solving? Aren’t we at risk of making bad decisions? And, if we make bad decisions, won’t we be criticized? Indeed! But the truth is, everything that we do carries an element of risk. Actually, we’re taking a greater risk when we suffer from analysis paralysis and end up making no decision at all to solve the problem. If we are perceived as a leader who cannot make a decision and solve a problem, we’re certain to be criticized.
Let’s break down “Ready! Fire! Aim!” and examine each component. “Ready!” means we prepare ourselves to make a good decision. We do our homework. We gather a reasonable amount of data and rely on our experience and intuition to fill in the unknowns. “Fire!” means that, armed with between 40 and 70 percent of the information needed, we pull the trigger—we make the decision. “Aim!” means that we look at the decision we made, retrospectively, to see if it hit the mark. Was it the right decision? If it was, we move along to the next problem. If it wasn’t, we go back to “Ready!” and gather some more information, “Fire!” again, and take “Aim!” again to see if we hit the mark.
A word of caution: To practice “Ready! Fire! Aim!” we have to be willing to make some mistakes. We have to be reasonably comfortable with ourselves and confident in our ability to assess our own strengths and shortcomings. Finally, we have to be able to live with ourselves when we make a mistake. All of this can be summed up as having a healthy self-esteem.
Reference
Harari, Oren. The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
RICHARD B. GASAWAY, a 24-year veteran of the fire service, is chief of the Roseville (MN) Fire Department. He is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program and is an International Association of Fire Chiefs accredited chief fire officer. Gasaway has a master’s degree in business administration.
