Christmas tree? Decorations? Tons and tons of presents around the Christmas tree? Lots of food in the pantry?

Have you ticked off all the items on your To Do List yet?  December has arrived and with it all the stress and anxiety of completing those last-minute tasks before leaving for a well deserved Christmas holiday. 

Let Profile Personnel take the stress out of the equation by providing your company with a Temp during the Festive Season and place the perfect team member for 2012.

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE WILL REMAIN OPEN DURING THE FESTIVE SEASON

So now, having taken our advice, and organized a Temp through Profile; you can sit back and relax in your sun-chair, secure in the knowledge that this Christmas you have been a fire ranger and not a fire fighter!

Article taken from the APSOGram, 4th Quarter 2011.

Are you a fire fighter or a forest ranger?

Written by: Scott Wintrip

“Putting out fires” has become a rather popular expression.  When you hear it, you know that someone has been dealing with a series of little emergencies that distracted him/her from whatever was planned for the day.  Those little fires threaten to become roaring infernos unless we take immediate action.

This topic came up in a recent session with Beth, one of my clients, who all too frequently found herself putting out fires.  I suggested that her current job title was firefighter and asked her, “What would happen if you instead became a forest ranger?”  I had her imagine what it would be like to have a tall tower that overlooked her business, just like one in the forest.

There’s nothing relaxing about fighting a fire … you’re on full alert with adrenaline pumping through your system.  For firefighters, that’s part of the job.  Although they’ve been trained to minimise the dangers, risk is unavoidable.  Forest rangers are also well trained to fight fires, but it’s not their primary focus.  Their actions are designed to keep the forest safe from fires through education, watchfulness, and, when necessary, intervention.

As Beth discovered, there are firefighters and forest rangers in the staffing business too.  The difference is that staffing and recruiting professionals don’t typically sign up for those jobs.  Beth realized that she was spending far too much time playing firefighter.  As a result, she was feeling stressed and overworked.

By changing her title from firefighter to forest ranger, Beth became proactive rather than reactive.  She gained a sense of control and mastery and was able to handle the occasional bush fire calmly and quickly.  How did she do it?  She viewed her job from a higher vantage point, just as the ranger oversees the forest from a tall tower.  She also adopted the forest ranger’s job description:-

Maintain excellent physical and mental condition

If you’re not taking care of yourself, you won’t be effective in anything you do.  Being rested, alert, and ready for action are essential if you’re going to prevent business blazes.

Educate others about fire prevention

You can’t prevent all fires on your own.  By letting others know of the dangers and giving them ways to help, you’ll multiply your effectiveness.  Set up a simple system of guidelines for others to follow.

A typical staffing fire is client dissatisfaction within days or weeks of a contract or full-time employee starting a job.  By creating and teaching a client follow-up system, such as placing quality assurance calls at the end of the first day, first week, and then each week thereafter, you and your colleagues will be better positioned to spot problems before they turn into major hot spots.  Your attentiveness can lead to more business opportunities, as well.

Ensure compliance with safety regulations

No matter how much information you provide, there will be people who inadvertently start fires because they don’t follow the guidelines.  When that happens, you’ll have to remind them what’s at stake.

Patrol the area

Awareness is the most important aspect of your job as forest ranger.  Keep your eyes and ears open so that you can act before a problem gets out of hand.

Beth used this idea to ensure that clients were being contacted on a regular basis to avoid missing opportunities to be of service.  By using her company’s contact management system to run a report twice each month, she could easily “patrol” which clients were being overlooked and then take immediate action to correct this oversight.

Monitor dangerous conditions

When conditions are favourable for spontaneous fires, it’s time to be especially watchful.  Keep an eye on any volatile situations and be prepared to act, if necessary.

Believe it or not, one of the most dangerous times in our business occurs when times are good.  When orders are plentiful, it is common for people in sales roles to neglect regular, consistent business development activities.  The fire breaks out when the current orders have been filled and there is little or nothing to follow in the pipeline.  By ensuring that marketing activities are being done on a daily basis, this common fire can become a thing of the past.

Extinguish smaller fires

If you’ve been monitoring your area, you’re likely to spot small fires quickly so you can put them out before they create much damage.

Examples of smaller fires in staffing and recruiting can include a client being a few days late with a payment, a candidate not providing references when promised, or an internal staff member not documenting information at the end of a conversation.  By dealing with these issues the moment they come up, you lessen the likelihood that they will grow into an inferno that is difficult, if not impossible, to control.

Serve as crew chief for larger fires

Have a plan in place for the unlikely event of a fire that, despite your steps to prevent it, grows out of control.  Yours may be the only voice of reason in a forest fire.

While rangers are the ultimate authority in the forest, they’re the first to point out that everyone has the ability to prevent fires.  So whether your area of responsibility is an entire company or a single desk, you can do your part to keep things running smoothly.  Instead of putting out one fire after another, find a place high enough to see the big picture and put a stop to little problems before they become major emergencies.

Scott Wintrip is founder and president of StaffingU, a global leader in providing management consulting, training and coaching services to staffing and recruiting professionals.