How Treating Your Business Like an ER Can Seriously Reduce Your Stress

Steve Covey called this out in his book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”.

He broke tasks into four areas or quadrants

(1) Urgent & Important

(2) Not Urgent & Important

(3) Urgent & Not Important

(4) Not Urgent & Not Important.

Writing this blog is a quadrant #2 activity.

It’s not going to hurt me today if I don’t blog. It’s not an urgent task, but it is important if want to generate leads and get Envisionable’s message out there (as a matter of fact, I received a lead while I was typing this blog….).

In the HBR article,” Stop Fighting Fires” – https://hbr.org/2000/07/stop-fighting-fires, Roger Bohn brings some more detail to the subject by illustrating the firefighting that goes on in an organization and how it drains resources until ALL the organization is doing is firefighting.

Six Symptoms That Indicate You’re In Fire-fighting Mode

If you can point to at least three of the symptoms below you are a victim of firefighting:

• There isn’t enough time to solve all the problems. There are more problems than the problem solvers.

• Solutions are incomplete. Many problems are patched, not solved. That is, the superficial effects are dealt with, but the underlying causes are not fixed.

• Problems recur and cascade. Incomplete solutions cause old problems to reemerge or actually create new problems, sometimes elsewhere in the organization.

• Urgency supersedes importance. Ongoing problem-solving efforts and long-range activities, such as developing new processes, are repeatedly interrupted or deferred because fires must be extinguished.

• Many problems become crises. Problems smolder until they flare up, often just before a deadline. Then they require heroic efforts to solve.

• Performance drops. So many problems are solved inadequately and so many opportunities forgone that overall performance plummets.”

Question: How many symptoms do you have? Stop and rate yourself now.

I want to focus on the third symptom – “Urgency Supersedes Importance”. This is the essence of what Covey was talking about in his time management matrix. The “urgent” takes up the time that should be spent on the important, which then forces you to spend more time in quadrant #1.

I was on a call with a prospect the other day who said, “John – I love your solution. I know we need it and could use it, but I’m just overwhelmed with ________ (you fill in the blank)”.

At a real basic level, the Envisionable solution allows you to get clarity on what’s IMPORTANT. The prospect didn’t even have enough time to focus on what was important – all he could see was the URGENT – it’s a real trap.

This is a major problem and a difficult one to solve. Why? Because you need to move into quadrant #2 (not urgent & important) to solve it. It requires that you actually stop responding to the urgent – urgent things by definition require immediate attention. It’s easier said than done.

Think About An “Urgent” Care Or An Emergency Room

If the doctors and nurses working in the ER spent all their time in quadrant #1, it would be complete chaos.

The staff force themselves to triage the items in quadrant #1 to the point where they then can spend time in quadrant #2 (where the real healing occurs). The patient is stabilized and they execute on the plan which will treat the illness.

So HOW to do get out of quadrant #1 or fight fighting mode? What are some practical steps which will help you make the transition?

Slow Down And Get Clarity Around Your Company Goals

First, stop. Just stop running. Go to your office or a quiet place and ask yourself the question – “What goals should this organization be focused on achieving over the next X months”? Get clarity around what’s most IMPORTANT.

If you’re not clear on this we can help, but you must get 100% clear on the top 3-5 goals. Consider downloading this goal setting guide to help you think through your areas of focus.

If you are not 100% clear, you WILL get sucked into areas that are urgent, but could really need to wait.

Back to the example of the ER. There are conditions or illnesses that have higher priority than others. If someone is brought in with a heart attack, they are prioritized over someone with a broken leg. Are both important? Of course, but the ER only has so many resources and what’s best for the patients given those resources.

Everyone in the ER knows what the priorities are so they can focus and getting the most IMPORTANT things done first.

Action item: Schedule a time on your calendar to get alone and determine your top 3-5 company goals

Make A List Of All Your Current “Fires”

Stop and list all the current fires that your organization is facing. I highly suggest getting your team involved in this since they are the boots on the ground and know which problems are not getting solved, causing continual pain and loss of productivity.

Employees want to do a good job and firefighting is a major source of stress. Set a meeting and ask your team.

Action item: Schedule a time on your calendar to meet with your team. List out all your “fires”.

Rank Order Your Fires And Pick One To Solve 

Once you’ve have all the fires listed, focus on solving them ONE AT A TIME. Ask a member of your team to offer a solution and present it to the broader team. This can be a major source of learning for your organization.

We’ve created a simple way to track your “fires” and prioritize them within our system. Feel free to contact us if you’d like to see a demo.

Action item: Pick one item on your “fires” list to solve over the next 7 days.

Focusing on what’s important but not urgent is the key to reducing stress and driving greater productivity in your organization.

This starts with getting real clarity around your top 3-5 company goals, then working systematically to solve your fires. Envisionable can help with both areas.

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