In a high-growth company, how you choose to prioritize your workload can make or break your business. You very rarely have abundant resources to throw at every problem or project. You have to pick and choose which projects require the most attention and carry the most weight. But how do you prioritize when everything is a top priority? If everything is the “most important” how can you possibly determine where you should focus your team?
“Putting out fires” is a term used in the business world to describe a sudden problem that must be tended to immediately so that it does not spread and cause damage. In addition to sudden problems, I also classify unexpected opportunities as fires. While an unseized opportunity won’t cause immediate harm to your company, it may cause lasting damage as the one you let get away. The act of “putting out fires” may have negative connotations in the business world, but when you’re pioneering a new industry, they’re simply unavoidable. No matter how much your company plans, how many forms you standardize, or how many hours of work you put in, fires will always arise. Expecting the unexpected is a requirement of a high-growth company. And in order to deal with the sudden problems (or the unexpected opportunities) your priorities must be flexible.
At One Energy, my team is heavily involved on the sales side of our business as well as the project development side. This means we get fires coming at us from all angles. We sometimes develop projects in areas that have never seen a wind turbine before, which comes with unique challenges each time. We also see our fair share of unexpected sales opportunities that we would be foolish to ignore.
There is a comic strip that floats around our team from time to time when someone wants to describe a particularly smoldering week. It depicts a dog, sitting at a dining room table, drinking coffee, as flames rise around him. In the next frame he calmly states, “This is fine.” Because it is fine, at least in my team’s eyes. You must have a specific team to work in an ever-changing, fast-paced business. It is not for everyone, which is OK. But for the right team, fighting fires is where they thrive. One of my team leaders once said to me, “fighting fires is my favorite part of this job. I love to see the awesome things our team can do under pressure.” It’s our own version of controlled chaos. And I’ve seen it result in an unmatched sense of camaraderie.
With that said, we cannot constantly fight fires. Trying to keep that level of urgency without any breaks will result in team burnout. There must be a balance.
So how do you determine where to funnel resources when it seems like everything is a fire? There is no right answer. The best I’ve been able to come up with is pretty simple: do the best you can with the information and tools you have. Trust your team and trust your decisions. Don’t look back and question where you decided to direct your resources because hindsight is always 20/20. All we can do is assemble the right team to fight the immediate fires without losing sight of the long-term goals.
It is our job as executives to minimize avoidable fires, to say “no” (or “not right now”) to opportunities that are not worth the time and resources. We cannot let the fires burn out our team. It is our job to know our team’s limitations and to know when we are pushing too hard or asking too much. It is also our job to say “yes” and take a chance every once in a while. But no matter what, we must always set the context so that our teams know the importance and relevance of each fire.
At the end of the day, we have to be flexible. When we’re interviewing new candidates, we often get the question “What is a typical day or week like here?” Usually, the response to that question from our team is a bit of a chuckle followed by, “There is no typical day here.” We start and end the week with the same long-term goals, but in between, our weeks are spent adapting, fighting fires, and seizing opportunities. I’d expect nothing less working in a new and innovative industry. Frankly, the idea of a typical day seems quite boring.
Jessica Grosso is the Head of Project Planning and Technology at One Energy.
