Effective Time Management –A Fire Fighting Perspective
Scenario
I arrived on-scene at a fast-moving bush fire. The wind was right behind it and on a Dry Season Day in the Top End, that meant houses, sheds and assets were going to be lost. It was jumping the tracks and firebreaks, and the flame was bending with the wind it was so strong. I knew I had very little time to come up with an effective Incident Action Plan…and more importantly, one that was going to work because I had zero margin for error. I felt a bit overwhelmed. I called the crews in to the Staging Area and asked them to help me formulate the Plan.
Lessons Learned
In time poor & high consequence environments you only have a finite amount of time. The decisions you make have consequences, good, bad or otherwise. Don’t think you live in that environment? What about driving a car? That certainly is a time poor & high consequence environment. Better get that right or you get injured or die. Business is the same – time is one resource that is critical and precious, and a lot of money hangs off that. Having to manage time in countless time poor & high consequence environments, these are some of my tips for you and any Safety Leaders that easily translate to the business world: –
- Use the Outcome Based Thinking method. Calculate how much time you think you have then allow a 10% figure for a margin of error and work backwards from that time-point. The fire described above is a good example. I thought I had 30mins at best to formulate a Plan, get crews in position, conduct a backburn then contain, confine, and stop the spread of fire to the rural road in its path which was a perfect fire break. I had about 25mins by my calculations. OBT works!
- Feedback & Brainstorming. Get your people / teams / crews in and ask for help. This is without doubt the most important element in time management. A 5min brainstorming session with many minds focused on a single task is gold. It will save you time, money and grief – I guarantee you. Like all the critical incidents I ever responded to, it was the crews input that was the defining factor in time management success. (As it was on the day described above!) A 5min plan can save you hours, days or even weeks…and in business, that’s money!
- Milestones & Markers. I sliced the 25mins I had into 5min markers. Each of the 5min markers had measures of success so that I knew I was on-time and on-task. Example – I allowed 5mins for the brainstorming and formulation of the Incident Action Plan. The next 5mins was allocated to getting crews in position. The next 5mins was allocated to starting and progressing with the two backburns we had collectively decided on to contain / confine the fire.
The next 5mins was allocated against completing the backburn operation. The last 5mins was to allow the fire to burn back in on itself and see if we had been successful. 25mins total for the Plan and its execution. I pretty well knew at the 15min marker that we were on track for success. Stress and anxiety were reducing as a result. - Priorities and Action. We can’t see the future, either success or failure so that means we are at best, guessing all the time that our actions will pay off. Once you have your top 3 priorities, take immediate and massive action. The situation will develop with or without you in any case. Allocate time to the top 3 priorities and leave the rest. Once they are dealt with, re-evaluate the new top 3 priorities and again take massive action. Repeat that cycle until the situation is dealt with.
- Beware Distractions. In any high consequence / time poor environment time warps – it stands still, it moves fast, it stretches etc. You must stay on-task and focus on all of the critical elements without time-wasting distractions. Learn to say ‘No’ to yourself and others. I used to repeat to myself – ‘Focus on the team, the task, the overall mission.’
There are only a finite number of minutes in any day – 1440 to be precise. Once they are gone, the opportunities are gone. Success or failure hinges on the ability to use time well. Think about it like this. There are 4 x Resources available to any business – Time, Money, Equipment and Human. High Performance teams know how to use the 4 x resources very efficiently. If you waste time, you lose money because of the ‘knock-on’ effect it has on the other two.
Try it.
About the author
Nick Bell was a Watch Commander in the NT Fire and Rescue Service for 33 years. As a Critical Incident First Responder, he responded to and took operational command of countless emergencies such as structure fires, motor vehicle accidents, HAZMAT, cliff rescues, bush fires and other major incidents.
Nick Bell is the Managing Director of SD Consulting Australia and Committee Member on the SBAA Think Tank
