“Sorry I’m late; I was dealing with an emergency. I was putting out a fire.” That’s how the meeting began. The business owner, the fire chief, was pulled into helping out with an unplanned event, an exception to normal operations. How often does this happen to you?

I have a question for you: “Are you a firefighter or a business owner?”

If you answered both, you’re not growing. You’re stuck in the moment and never have time to implement your plans. The firefighter has convinced themselves that busy equals productive. These owners spin their wheels and go nowhere fast. However, the true business owner plans for the future fires and tries to avoid them; these are the businesses growing by double digits. They work on the business.

So, which one are you?

Yes, unfortunately, everyone has to fight the occasional fire, but let me share with you the secret reason the fire started in the first place. The spark is an employee’s realm of authority. Their realm of authority is everything they believe, rightly or wrongly, they don’t need to ask permission to do. The spark may ignite because that realm is either too small or too big.

If it’s too big, the fire ignites because they overstepped. They obligated the business in a way they shouldn’t have. Depending on the employee’s level in the business (employee, supervisor, manager, etc.), the higher you go, the bigger the realm of authority and the bigger the fire.

If they believe it’s outside their realm of authority [too small], they pass the buck up the ladder, with words like “Can you help me with this?” or “I’m not sure what I should do here.” Often described as not taking ownership. Why don’t they take ownership even if it is clearly in their realm of authority? One of two reasons: they are lazy and it’s too easy to pass the buck, or they fear the repercussions of solving the problem on their own.

In either case, when the exception makes it all the way to you at the top, then nobody below you felt they had the authority, without fear of reprisal, to solve the problem.

The first question you have to ask yourself is: is this an emergency for you to spray water on and put out, or is it something someone else should have solved and never brought to you? If yes, then deal with the emergency because only you can. Somehow, your culture and training have let this fire reach you.

If not, ask, “What do you think we should do?” If the answer is correct, ask, “Why didn’t you just do that? Why bring it to me?” Your goal is to uncover the reason it bubbled up to you and see if you can correct it. If the answer is incorrect, or an “I don’t know,” you know you have a training issue to address.

The key to deciding whether to solve it yourself or train the person is the frequency of the exception, but it often comes down to how easy it is for you to solve it. If it’s easy for you to solve, you tend to jump in and take the problem instead of taking the time to train. This is why you are still stuck being a firefighter instead of being free to be a business owner.

It’s time to decide how you are going to run your business as a firefighter, always late to meetings. Or as a business owner who trains and empowers people to handle issues properly before they ever reach you?

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