Jump through the fire - safety is an illusion!

Jump through the Fire - Security is an Illusion!

F.I.R.E. - Leading in Extreme Situations

It doesn't always have to be a matter of life and death. However, as a leader, you may also encounter extreme situations that require quick decisions. In these moments, regular decision-making practices no longer work. Everything that has been learned to make the best possible decision requires too much time and too much data that would need to be collected. During this time, the extreme situation escalates and worsens. Therefore, it is important to have a trained and accessible approach ready for such situations, allowing you to make quick decisions that you can also be accountable for. However, for this approach, you need a few basic premises that serve as an anchor point for the process. I call these anchor points "basic values". Basic values that result when, regardless of perspective, the values of our human coexistence are reduced to commonalities and fundamental assumptions.

The Basic Values as the Basis of Your Decision

These basic values are: ➢ Life is the highest good. ➢ All people are equal. ➢ Protect and promote children. ➢ The dignity of every person is inviolable. ➢ The material possessions of others are not mine. ➢ My freedom ends where the freedom of others begins. At first glance, these basic values may not necessarily seem to have anything to do with economics and business. However, looking behind the scenes, this is not the case. ➢ You have to make a decision regarding occupational safety*? - Lives could be at risk (*Occupational safety is a terrible term. We do not want to protect work. We want to protect the person performing the work. Just this word alone prevents the right mindset and can lead to reluctance in some places.) ➢ You have to make decisions about hiring - You must treat all applicants according to the same principles and legal requirements. ➢ A decision that affects families? - Are the consequences for the children taken into account? ➢ You have to make a decision regarding misconduct? - Consider the inviolability of the dignity of every person. ➢ You have to make a decision regarding the use of material possessions? - What's mine is not yours applies to everyone. ➢ You want to give more freedom to an employee? - Make sure that this does not restrict the freedom of another employee. Once you have decided to use these few basic premises as a basis for decisions in extreme situations, you can proceed to the decision-making process. This process is simple and ultimately corresponds to a technical control loop that can be continuously applied. Because every decision has consequences, which can often lead to subsequent decisions or new problems. You continue this process until the goal is achieved or the extreme situation is overcome.

The Decision-Making Process

And here are the steps in this process: 1. Understand the situation -> Determine what individual problems exist 2. Set priorities -> Establish order based on the impact on the basic values 3. Assess -> Determine the resources available for each problem 4. Decide -> Establish the order of handling and resource allocation 5. Make decisions -> Decide on the actions to be taken 6. Execution -> Implement the measures to solve the problem 7. Control -> Check the results of the measures 8. Reassessment -> Start over at No. 2 as many times as needed until the problems are resolved The big question that always arises: Can I be 100 percent sure that I am always doing everything right? The answer is - almost tempted to say "of course" - no.

No Security, but Full Responsibility

Security is an illusion, because in extreme situations, it is never possible to have all the facts at hand. It is well known that everyone is smarter afterwards. The problem with necessary decisions is often that the time lost while waiting for more facts causes situations to escalate further and solutions become increasingly difficult. One must be aware of this and take responsibility for it. Real responsibility! No deflecting, no excuses, but trusting that in the situation, based on universally applicable basic values and following a comprehensible process, the best possible decision has been made. And then live by the old and wise saying: In court and at sea, you are in God's hands. Jump through the fire of decision in extreme situations with the confidence that everything else will only worsen the situation.