February 6, 2004—Managers spend a good portion of their week “putting out fires” at work, leaving less time to tend to strategic business issues, suggests a recent survey by Accountemps. Seventy-one percent of executives polled said they respond to unexpected crises at least a few times a week, including 35 percent who address such issues every day.
The survey was developed by Accountemps, the world’s first and largest specialized staffing service for temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals. It was conducted by an independent research firm and includes responses from 150 executives—including those from human resources, finance and marketing departments—with the nation’s 1,000 largest companies. Executives were asked, “How often, on average, do you find yourself responding to unexpected crises at work?” Their responses:
| A few times a day | 19%</td. |
| Once a day | 16% |
| A few times per week | 36% |
| Once a week | 9% |
| A few times per month | 19% |
| Once a month. | 1% |
| Total | 100% |
“It’s difficult to foresee and proactively address potential crises when you’re caught up in day-to-day demands,” said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Managing Your Career For Dummies(R) (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.). “A good manager identifies ways to mitigate routine problems and respond quickly to unexpected ones, freeing up more time for bigger-picture issues.”
Messmer offered several tips for supervisors on how to better prepare for and manage crises at work:
- Conduct “fire drills.” Develop detailed plans that include solutions for handling worst-case scenarios and practice them with your team.
- Delegate. Assign responsibilities to your staff and give them the authority to handle some problems on their own.
- Define. Is the situation really a crisis? Don’t treat every bump in the road as a disaster.
- Cushion project schedules. Overdue deadlines are a common concern. Create project timelines and adhere to them, but build in contingencies for unexpected setbacks.
- Evaluate business needs. Take time to assess your department’s goals and proactively adopt change rather than reacting to what is most pressing.
For more information, contact Accountemps.
