7 Ways Managers Can Protect Team Priorities From Fire Drills - Workology

7 Ways Managers Can Protect Team Priorities From Fire Drills - Workology Dealing with attitudes Youve been there before. Youre in the zone, your team is doing everything right, getting things done. And thensomething urgent pops up that needs your attention.  Now. As the leader or manager of a team, how do you handle new priorities or extra work that gets handed to you from higher up, or from another department? Our friend Rob  brought up this issue in the  ROWE Online Support Community, and I wanted to share with all of you some of our thoughts, in case you deal with the same things. Rob says: Our team jokes that its the Curse of competency when we are tasked with extra work that takes away from our core activities (those that drive results).  What can I do to protect [my team] from this influx of extra work? In an ideal world, each member of the team would know what their specific goals are, be empowered to get those results, and plan accordingly so that they can deliver results on time. But even in the best work environments this isnt always the case. Dealing with attitudes Rob goes on to describe some of the troublesome attitudes and roadblocks to focusing on results. I think we can all identify with these kinds of disorders in the workplace: Fire Drill Emergencies Not My Job Managers often get caught in the middle of these scenarios. If your work environment tends to have a top-down management style, you might see a lot of emergency, last-minute requests from senior management. If everyone in your organization isnt tied to results and specific, outcome-based goals, you might also get a lot of lateral its not my job requests from other departments. You and your team, of course, are awesome and efficient and you get stuff done. So naturally, you get more work!  In other words yay, you get punished for being efficient. 7 Ways Managers Can Protect Team Priorities From Fire Drills Here are some ways managers can help their employees deal with shifting priorities: 1. Dont assume:  Sometimes the business has perfectly valid reasons for what seems like a mad request, and maybe you just dont know about them.  When priorities shift with good cause we have to be flexible and get the job done. This is where communication really comes into play to get the team rallied around the new plan. 2. Open communication:  If you work in an environment where honesty and open communication are valued, address the problem with the people involved. Matt Rogish, a manager at FundingGates.com, advises to ask  reasonable questions, and hopefully people will respond reasonably. Imagine that! This causes problems a, b, and c, and is distracting us from our goals. Are we sure we want to do this? Why are we doing this? What problem are we trying to solve? 3. Offer an alternative:  If there arent any good reasons for emergency work, offer an alternative solution. Wed love to do this [crazy, stupid thing] and want to be sure you get the best possible service and outcome from us. What about delivery by Wednesday? 4. Fix the root issue:  Perhaps the situation is happening over and over again. Youre getting involved in work that doesnt seem to have anything to do with your team goals, or with defined results for the organization. Each week Jerry needs something for a 4 pm client meeting, stat! Do some root-cause analysis with Jerry and be helpful in figuring out a plan of attack. Maybe Jerry isnt getting X, Y, and Z from Bob in IT. Focus your efforts on getting everyone involved in fixing the real issue, not just putting out the fire on your end each week. Playing detective will save you headaches in the long run (and will you look at those leadership skillsway to go!) 5. Speak up if you have a better solution:  Perhaps theres a problem and someone is asking for a particular solution, but you know of a better way to solve it. This happens all the time in software development; folks jump to solutions but we can often come up with better ones, says Rogish. Which leads so perfectly to one last thought 6. Ask your team what they think!  This is a key principle we tackle in  Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It  . Your employees are good at coming up with the right solutions to difficult problems that they face every day. Traditionally, management has carried this weight on  theirshoulders, but its a freeing moment (and okay, a little scary) to open things up and get the team perspective.  Let them come up with the ideal fix and empower them to make it happen. They just might surprise you. So, Robâ€"and anyone else out there who deals with fire drillsâ€"what Im saying is this is a hard problem and youre not alone. Communication is the key. Be helpful, but ask reasonable questions and look for the best solution. Put on your detective cap and figure out why communication or planning problems keep popping up. And most of all, continue kicking ass and being really good at what you do! Were rooting for you.  How do you handle putting out fires on a daily basis?