Why great operational leaders don't chase every fire

Every struggling organisation has one thing in common: sooner or later, the senior leadership team becomes involved in everything.

Every escalation lands on their desk. Every difficult customer ends up in their diary. Every operational issue demands their attention. It often feels like good leadership because everyone can see they're busy. In reality, it's usually a sign that the operating model isn't working as well as it should.

One of the biggest misconceptions about leadership is that the more senior you become, the more problems you should personally solve. My experience has been the opposite. The strongest operational leaders I've worked with are remarkably difficult to distract, not because they don't care about what's happening around them, but because they've built organisations that don't depend on them to solve every problem.

Periods of transformation, acquisitions and organisational change have a habit of creating noise. Every issue suddenly feels urgent. Every decision looks critical. Before long, the people responsible for shaping the future of the business are spending all of their time reacting to today's problems instead.

I saw this play out recently during an operational planning session. We got through the context setting and into the detail. Very soon after, the senior leader sat across from me looked down to what was clearly a flurry of messages coming in on both his laptop and his phone. He closed his laptop lid turned his phone face down, and we continued through to our first break. Only then did I learn about a major issue with a large and demanding customer.

This was exactly the sort of incident that would normally empty the room. Phones would come out, laptops would open and everyone would begin trying to understand what had happened and how they could help. Instead, despite a momentary distraction and an obvious urge to react, he chose to stay present. His focus remained on our session, demonstrating absolute trust in his team to handle the chaos. The teams responsible for managing the incident got on with doing exactly that, while the planning session continued. We finished agreeing the priorities for the next six months because that was where the senior leadership team could add the most value.

The incident was no less serious than it would have been six months earlier. The difference was that we'd spent months creating clarity around ownership, accountability and decision-making. The people closest to the problem knew what they were responsible for and had the confidence to act without waiting for permission. The crisis was being managed. Our job was to make sure the organisation still had a plan beyond Tuesday afternoon.

For me, that's what operational maturity looks like.

The illusion of activity

Organisations often reward visibility instead of value. The busiest leader is assumed to be the most effective, so it's easy to fall into the trap of attending every meeting, approving every decision and becoming involved in every conversation.

The irony is that this behaviour usually creates the very bottlenecks leaders are trying to remove. Decisions slow down because everyone is waiting for approval. Teams hesitate because they're worried about getting something wrong. Senior leaders become overwhelmed, while capable people lower down the organisation stop taking ownership because experience has taught them that someone else will step in.

Speed isn't created by working harder. Speed is created by reducing hesitation.

When people understand the outcome they're working towards, know where responsibility sits and trust they'll be supported when they make sensible decisions, they move faster because they spend less time waiting. They don't need constant supervision; they need clarity, ownership and confidence.

I've found that principle applies whether you're integrating an acquisition, improving a service operation or introducing AI into a business. The technology, processes or organisational structures may change, but people perform best when they understand why a decision has been made, what success looks like and how they'll be judged. Give them that clarity and they'll usually make better decisions than we expect.

Building organisations, not dependencies

When I was a 20-something, first-time manager, one of my old CEOs gave me a piece of advice that has stuck with me ever since:

"You have to work to make yourself redundant. It's the only way your team will develop, and it's the only way you can grow."

At the time, it felt entirely counterintuitive. Why would I want to make myself surplus to requirements? But over years of leading operations and transformations, I’ve realised it is the ultimate truth of leadership.

It starts with a simple question I often ask leaders: What happens when you're not there?

If every significant decision still comes back to one or two key people, you haven't truly scaled, you’ve actually designed a highly polished bottleneck.

The best operational leaders don't try to remove themselves from the business out of apathy; they build the routines, governance, and operating rhythm that allow the business to function without constant intervention. They create planning disciplines, establish clear accountability, and give people the confidence to act within well-understood guardrails. That doesn't mean mistakes never happen, but it does mean the organisation is capable of responding without everything grinding to a halt.

That's a very different model of leadership from constant firefighting. It's quieter, less visible, and often less glamorous, but it's also considerably more effective.

The strongest operational leaders are the ones who've built organisations where most fires are dealt with long before they ever reach the executive team.

If every crisis still needs you, you haven't built resilience. You've built dependency.

Contact smart/tasking

If you're facing a dependency challenge in your organisation, contact smart/tasking for a discussion about how we can help increase resilience in your organisation.

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About the author

Chris Carlisle is a commercially focused transformation and service delivery leader with extensive experience driving operational efficiency, performance improvement, and scalable service models.

With expertise across data, media, and technology, Chris’s career has spanned systems integration, customer data solutions, and media measurement, giving a broad and adaptable foundation. Known for his analytical, data-driven approach. Chris has led global, cross-functional teams, consistently delivering value for major international clients.