A real coaching story about stepping back, delegating well, and seeing the horizon again
If your unofficial title is Chief Firefighter Officer, this one’s for you. The alarms never stop, and the meetings could double as smoke detectors.
A senior leader’s calendar was a wall of red. Every hour burned by urgent issues. Strategy lived in the margins — and the margins kept shrinking.
In coaching, we mapped the fires. Not to douse them personally, but to diagnose patterns: which were single‑use crises; which repeated; which were actually decision bottlenecks disguised as emergencies.
“If you’re always in the fire, you can’t see the horizon.”
The uncomfortable truth emerged: the leader’s competence had become a constraint. By jumping in, they solved faster today — and guaranteed another fire tomorrow.
We defined delegation not as throwing tasks over the fence but as transferring thinking. That meant decision guardrails, clear intent, and explicit ownership.
“Delegation is transferring thinking, not just tasks.”
Next, we protected ‘horizon time’ — recurring, non‑negotiable blocks for strategy, stakeholders, and reflection. The team was briefed on why this mattered and how it helped them too.
Within weeks, fires reduced in frequency and intensity. Not because problems vanished — but because capability rose around the leader. That’s foresight in action.
Coach’s Reflection
Firefighting flatters our sense of usefulness. Foresight serves our responsibility to build systems that work without us.
Call to Reflection
Which two fires could you prevent by transferring the decision, not just the task, this week?
—
(c) The Yogi Compass – Coaching journeys that help leaders discover their True North.
Yatish Chandrasekhar | PCC (ICF) | CXO Coach | Mentor Coach | Leadership Facilitator
theyogicompass.com | yatish@theyogicompass.com
