why your business feels like constant fire drills (and how to stop it)

"I'm so tired of constant fire drills."

 She said it with the kind of exhaustion that goes deeper than just being busy. Her spouse had been complaining. She'd missed another one of her kids' events. And as a second-generation real estate business owner, she couldn't figure out why every single day felt like a crisis.

I hear this all the time. Real estate, insurance, construction, medical practices, it doesn't matter the industry. The pattern is the same.

Everything feels urgent. Everything needs to be handled NOW. And you're exhausted from the constant reactivity.

Here's what I know after twenty years as the Chief of Staff practice manager of the medical practice I worked at clinically and working with dozens of businesses through this exact pattern in recent years: you don't have a fire drill problem. You have a systems and accountability problem.

 And the fires are just showing you where the gaps are.

Why Fire Drills Happen

When everything feels like an emergency, it's usually because one of three things is missing:

1. Clear roles and decision rights

Nobody knows who's supposed to handle what. So everything escalates to you. Every decision waits for you. Every problem becomes YOUR fire to put out because there's no clarity on who owns what.

2. Preventive systems

You're operating reactively instead of proactively. You handle issues as they arise instead of building systems that prevent them. The same fires keep happening because you're treating symptoms, not root causes.

3. Accountability structures

Things don't get done until they're urgent because there's no accountability for completion before a crisis hits. People wait until you're chasing them. Deadlines are suggestions. Nothing moves until it's on fire.

Sound familiar?

The Telescope Moment

When clients come to me in fire drill mode, the first thing I do is help them telescope out.

Because when you're IN the fire, everything looks urgent. Everything feels like it needs immediate attention. You can't see the pattern—you just see flames.

But when you pull back and look at the landscape, you start to see:

• The same three fires keep happening every month

• The fires always start in the same places (client communication, transaction coordination, vendor management)

• You're the common thread in every emergency because you're the only one with authority to solve it

Once you can see the pattern, you can fix the root cause instead of just reacting to symptoms.

From Fire Drills to Systems

I worked with that second-generation real estate business owner who was missing her kids' events and getting complaints from her spouse about never being fully present. She was working 70-hour weeks, constantly interrupted, always in crisis mode. She couldn't take a day off without everything falling apart.

We telescoped out and looked at what was actually happening:

The pattern: Client issues escalated to her immediately because her team didn't have clear authority to make decisions. So every client problem—big or small, urgent or not—became her emergency.

The fix: We created decision rights. Her team could handle any client issue under $5K without approval. Anything over $5K or contract-related came to her. Simple boundaries.

The result: Her "emergencies" dropped by 60% in the first month. Her team felt empowered. She actually made it to her daughter's soccer game. And her spouse stopped asking when she'd be "done with work."

It wasn't about working harder. It was about creating clarity on who handles what.

Another client—a staffing agency owner—had the same three operational issues causing fires every quarter: placement disputes with clients, candidate no-shows, and payroll timing conflicts.

The pattern: All three were preventable. But because there was no system for catching them early, they always became urgent.

The fix: We built simple preventive systems. Weekly client check-ins during the first 30 days of placements. Candidate confirmation calls 24 hours before start dates. Standardized payroll schedule communicated upfront. Nothing complicated.

The result: The fires stopped. Not because people worked harder, but because we caught issues before they became crises.

What Fire Drills Cost You

When you're constantly in reactive mode:

• You can't think strategically because you're always tactical

• Your team becomes dependent on you instead of capable without you

• You burn out trying to keep up with manufactured urgency

• Your business can't scale because you're the bottleneck

• You lose sight of what actually matters because everything feels equally urgent

• Your family gets the exhausted version of you

The fire drills aren't just exhausting. They're keeping you from building what you're actually capable of. And they're costing you the moments that matter outside the business.

How to Stop the Cycle

Here's what I do with clients stuck in fire drill mode:

Step 1: Telescope out and identify the pattern.

What are the recurring fires? When do they happen? Who's involved? What triggers them?

You're looking for themes, not individual incidents.

Step 2: Distinguish between real urgency and manufactured urgency.

Some things genuinely are urgent. Most aren't—they just feel that way because there's no system to handle them proactively.

Ask: Would this be urgent if we had a system in place? If yes, it's real. If no, it's manufactured.

Step 3: Build preventive systems for the recurring fires.

You don't need complicated infrastructure. You need simple, repeatable processes that catch issues early.

• Weekly check-ins that surface problems before they escalate

• Clear decision protocols so things don't wait for you

• Accountability rhythms so work gets done before it's urgent

Step 4: Create clarity on roles and authority.

Who owns what? Who can make what decisions? What comes to you vs. what doesn't?

The clearer this is, the fewer fires land on your desk.

The Shift

When clients move from fire drill mode to systems thinking, here's what happens:

They stop feeling like everything is falling apart. They can actually plan ahead instead of just reacting. Their team becomes more capable and confident. And they get their time and energy back for what actually matters—strategic decisions, growth, the work only they can do.

And they make it to their kids' events.

The business doesn't feel like it's running you anymore. You're running it.

One Question

What's the fire drill that keeps happening in your business?

That's not bad luck. That's not just "how business is." That's a gap in your systems or accountability showing you exactly where to focus.

Telescope out. See the pattern. Fix the root cause.

The fires will stop.

If this resonated, share it with another business leader who's tired of living in crisis mode.

As always, I am in your corner,

Kasey

P.S. If you're stuck in constant fire drill mode and can't see the pattern because you're too close to it, this is exactly what I help leaders navigate. I help you telescope out, see what's actually happening, and build the systems and accountability that prevent the fires from starting. Reply to this email.