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Technology is awesome. It's hard to imagine a world without computers, tv, phones, and the internet. Right? And if you work for a tech company then you get a peek behind the scenes into what helps make and provide all this coolness to the world. In any tech company there are those who are the experts with certain systems, and those experts can often be called on to address problems with it. However when there are major problems, these people have to jump in and save the day- being heroes. And what also often happens is that management looks to these heroes as being awesome, special, and hold them up to the rest of the group to say, "Hey look at what so-and-so did! They are really dedicated and willing to put in all this extra effort to rescue us! Don't you want to be like so-and-so!!??!?!"
I worry about people getting praise for being a hero in a time of need like this. Yes, there are emergencies which need addressing and people to step in and actively solve problems. And yes, recognizing people for their extra effort is important. But it is very dangerous to hold up heroes as the standard expectation for others in the organization. This is dangerous because a culture of heroes and heroism in a group isn't sustainable and will burn out employees. It is also a symptom of a system that is continually in need of being saved, which means that it isn't reliable or sustainable enough. The whole reason that so-and-so had to step in was because your system broke, right?
Instead of expecting everyone to be heroes to keep things running smoothly, it should be the focus of management to make their systems more reliable and sustainable for their employees. Thus, reducing the need for heroes and heroic efforts. How can management do that? By making it a priority and spending effort and money to see that it happens. If you need more servers to handle the traffic, then spend the money! If you need more people on the team to spread out the work load, the hire more people! If your employees have a plan to stop the system failures from happening, then give them time to work on that plan!
How can you remove a culture of heroes and heroism from your company? First address the root cause of a bad system that is in need of saving. Second, but still very important, is don't pressure people to be heros. There is a difference between expecting people to respond to emergencies when needed, and expecting people to "be like so-and-so". It is important to recognize and support those people who do go above and beyond the call of duty, but do it in a quiet way that lets the individual know they are appreciated but doesn't hold them up to the rest of the group as the example that others need to be like. Or if you do recognize them in public, then do not go into all the details of their act of heroism. Saying something like, "aren't they great for working all weekend to get us back up and running! We'd be sunk without them!" sends a message to the other employees that "so-and-so is more special than you and that if you want to be recognized too then you'll need to be a hero like them." There is pressure on other employees in that message which isn't healthy. Don't do it.
It would be great if leadership in tech organizations recognized that making systems run more reliable and more sustainable is more important than making heros.