Mission-Driven Culture...

"In periods of chaos, uncertainty and ambiguity, our standard command and control doesn't work"

- Brian Fennessy, Fire Chief, Orange County, California

Good afternoon...

Early last week I ran across a 20 minute video titled Mission-Driven Culture that was shared on Twitter. It is from a FEMA PrepTalk presented by Brian Fennessy, Fire Chief, Orange County, California and is worth a look. I couldn't help but notice his discussion of situational awareness (SA) for one of the stories he shared. Tip of the hat to Fire Chief Fennessy and his leadership.

Throughout my career I was fortunate to work for senior leaders who stepped up, took a risk and built a mission-driven culture that ended up being extremely successful. In fact, one of the organizations I worked in was so successful we would frequently receive calls asking about open staff positions. From the outside looking in they could tell our organization, our leadership and how we did business was different, very different... and they wanted to be part of it.

Is this type of a culture easy to build? Not a chance. Mission-Centered Solutions captures it well with their statement: "Although aligning operational culture with the mission is paramount for an organization’s success, achieving this goal often proves elusive."

No time to watch the video? Then read on for the a summary based on my view of the video along with some reference materials shared by PrepTalks.

In this talk, Chief Fennessy shares his leadership journey and why he firmly believes that a mission-driven culture is critical to organizational success, both in times of chaos and during daily operations. 

What is a mission-driven culture? 

"The Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program, which Chief Fennessy helped develop, defines a mission-driven culture as a system of decentralized decision making, guided by a leader’s intent and combined with the authority and expectation to act."

Brian Fennessy, Fire Chief, Orange County, California

The challenge with any shift in culture is the change that has to occur. Note the description for this change: "Mission-driven culture is a change in an organization’s management strategy -- it involves leaders providing clear intent (task, purpose, end state) and guidelines within which individuals or teams make well-informed and safety-conscious decisions on the most effective way to approach the situation." 

I will guess that this approach will rock some boats for those who have worked in an organization that typically follows a traditional command and control model where those closet to the situation follow strict policies and procedures or risk significant consequences.

Brian Fennessy, Fire Chief, Orange County, California

What are the values of a mission-driven culture?

1. Service for the Common Good - A commitment that all actions and decisions should contribute to the desired team result.
2. High Trust State - Developing trust in systems and people, which lays the foundation for effective decision making. 
3. Pursuit of Truth - An emphasis on maximum situational awareness through detailed questioning, active listening, and confirmation. 
4. Form & Function Defined by the End State  - A willingness to refine the framework based on evolving needs. 
5. Individual Initiative - Promotion of individual actions to take advantage of opportunities and solve problems within the bounds of the leader’s intent. 
6. Continuous Improvement - Promoting continuous learning and improvement, both organizationally and individually.

Brian Fennessy, Fire Chief, Orange County, California

For me, this is exciting to see within the emergency management community. In my former career, we focused our CollabOps and Human Net strategy by building, nurturing and coaching operational chat rooms that mirrored the mission-driven culture described by Fire Chief Fennessy. Once again, lots of scars to show for it but the work was worth every hate-mail received and every individual yelling that we were "upsetting the natural order of things." It allowed us on numerous occasions to get left of bang and keep our assets (people and equipment) out of harms way. What better metric is needed? 

So... Elephant or cheetah? (If you don't know what I mean, watch the video) 

Are you bought in? If not, what are your concerns that may be holding you and/or your organization from moving forward with a mission-driven culture?

Humbly,

Collabman