Imagine yourself as a fighter pilot flying at over 700 mph just 300 feet above the ground. There’s no room for error; and that’s the easy part.
A fighter pilot may have to takeoff, meet other aircraft at certain checkpoints, execute air-to-air refueling prior to attacking a target, engage enemy aircraft, deliver ordnance on the objective, and land on a moving aircraft carrier in the middle of the night — all in one mission.
What’s the secret that allows fighter pilots to fly missions like this flawlessly? And are these missions any more challenging than a complex structure fire?
Execution of strategy on the fireground doesn’t have to be difficult, chaotic or confusing. When you learn and practice the flawless execution practices and principles of strategy, tactics, resource management and accountability, you not only feel more confident, you begin to make a difference in commanding an incident.
Better communication
As an incident commander, it’s essential that you find ways to raise the awareness about why you and your firefighters fail to take mission-critical actions necessary every single day to perform fireground tasks safely.
If you want to see your work move to a whole new level, it’s vital to improve communication to connect your firefighters to the department’s vision and mission and to boost accountability so that people take seriously safe fireground strategies and tactics.
Continuous improvement is a significant component of the flawless execution model, which are generally tactical tools used to improve a particular evolution. A company, battalion or department can significantly reduce the cycle time of an evolution or cut its defects in half and consider the project successful. Though successful, sometimes these assessments fail to move the needle of the organization.
Flawless execution requires diligence, accountability and a change-acceptance strategy. Constant, consistent leadership communication, thorough policy deployment, an effective change agent and a set of meaningful measures are required before any change can be effectively implemented and internalized.
Execution follows training
In order for the firefighter to flawlessly execute orders, their training needs to be at a level that dictates flawless execution.
The implementation of this model is not without pain. The flawless execution model requires that the instructor be specific about the performance level expected and then require that each firefighter attain that level.
Flawless execution is about having a clear, measurable and attainable mission. The model requires support from senior commands and expects that something unexpected will occur, but it provides for innovative solutions to problems by empowering the instructor to look for solutions not just identify the problem.
One of the keys to the flawless execution model is the constant use of checklists. These memory joggers reinforce training and help you remember key procedures during periods of task saturation. The model also provides support to ensure success at the firefighter level as well as at the instructor level.
Statistical thinking
Why do so many well-formulated strategic plans fail to deliver on their promises? It’s all about execution — or the lack thereof. It is my experience that a great plan poorly executed is no better than no plan at all.
Finally, to drive effective execution we must begin applying statistical thinking in the chief’s office. Sustainable flawless execution requires real change with demonstrable new levels of performance with minimal variation.
We must train ourselves to look for deeper root causes and not be satisfied with the quick fix, or be tempted to react to every undesirable data point as though it were due to a special cause. All evolutions have variation.
Effective leadership appreciates the differences between special cause and common cause, can distinguish trends and patterns, and understands that management of variation requires systems thinking along with proper use of tools, methods and approaches.
Flawless execution depends on it.
Fighter pilots follow a rigorous but simple process of planning, briefing, executing and debriefing their missions to ensure success every single time.
Think about the fire service and all of the tasks required to successfully implementing an interior fire suppression operation. What are all of the steps required to flawlessly execute an operation? What are the tasks necessary to flawlessly execute a defibrillator? Is their room for error?
We may not be flying at 700 mph, but an error by a firefighter can turn a normal event into a catastrophic occurrence.
Winning itself is not our goal. Our goal is to win by implementing a disciplined management process. We only really win if we have planned carefully, briefed our plan thoroughly, executed our plan with discipline, and debriefed so we can improve our firefighters tomorrow.
