I get it.
I know exactly what it feels like to want to react immediately when someone or something makes you angry or gets you fired up.
In today’s world, this can come from a myriad of sources. In-person discussions, phone calls, emails, text messages, social media, and a plethora of other channels can raise the temperature of even the coolest leaders among us.
The desire to respond quickly comes with the territory for many leaders. After all, we would rather be decisive than delay something to another day, or even another minute.
I remember when I was promoted into my very first leadership role. As issues arose, I wanted to be responsive and to deal with the issue of the day quickly.
I remember one particular issue that found me typing away feverishly in short order. My response (or rebuttal, as it likely was), was both articulate and pointed and I was ready to launch my counterattack before the ink was even dry on the page.
Like magic, the Chief appeared in the doorway of my office to check in on me and to chat. He asked me what I was working on, clearly seeing that I was visibly annoyed by something. I told him what had happened and then went on to explain what I was going to fire off in response.
His response surprised me. Instead of engaging in the issue and discussing or debating my proposed approach and planned course of action, he told me to finish writing my response and then asked me to put it in my desk drawer for the next 24 hours. If, he said, when you reread it 24 hours from now, it makes sense and still seems like the right thing to do, send it.
As he turned to walk away, he explained that this was called the 24-hour rule and assured me this was a strategy that that had been very successful for him for many years.
You likely can figure out the rest of the story. The next day, after letting my response sit for 24 hours, I reread my draft response and immediately knew that it needed to significantly change. The benefit of a 24 hour cooling off period had afforded me clarity that wasn’t visible to me in the heat and emotion of the moment.
And there I was, saved from having to back myself out of an unnecessary corner, and saved from having to try to fix the unintended consequences of my actions, all by just following the 24-hour rule.
To this day, the 24-hour rule serves me well, and especially in our modern world of instant-access social media and digital messaging. The 24-hour rule allows a leader to review and consider their thoughts, plans and strategy with the benefit of being removed from the emotion of the moment.
Let me be very clear. There is a time and place for swift and immediate action, but very seldom does that occur outside the command post or away from the emergency scene. Far too many leaders try to lead people in daily life, in the same manner that they command emergency incidents, and they generally fail in that attempt.
Unless someone’s life, health or safety are in immediate jeopardy, there is almost always wisdom in applying the 24-hour rule.
It still makes me smile when members of my team comment, and even complain, about how I will often have a different perspective on an issue once a bit of time passes. What may begin as a hot issue and impassioned debate, gives way to a calmer and wiser response after the issue simmers for 24 hours in my head.
Inexperienced and ineffective leaders mistake this tendency for weakness or a lack of ability to be swift and decisive. However, quite the contrary, this is the antithesis of weakness. This is calm, savvy, experience-based leadership at work.
Leaders who apply the 24-hour rule, more often than not, make better decisions, cause less collateral damage, and spend far less time having to extinguish the unintended flames they created with their hasty, ill-considered, emotion-fuelled responses.
The next time you feel the urge to respond immediately to an issue, especially one that involves the people whom you serve as a leader, ask yourself if there is an imminent risk to someone’s life or safety. If not, then apply the 24-hour rule and let your perspective, experience, and wisdom influence what your emotions want you to do hastily.
You, and those whom you serve, will be thankful you did.
Matthew Pegg is the chief with Toronto Fire Services, having previously served in Georgina, Ajax and Brampton, Ont. Contact Matthew at matthew.pegg@toronto.ca and follow him on Twitter at @ChiefPeggTFS.
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