Getting The Ball Rolling

Most all of us enter into our career in the fire service blind with ideology; thinking that we can master the learning curve and become difference makers, we seek to augment growth, foster development, and provide support to our brothers and sisters.

Engineering an organizational 180 is one of the most talked-about subjects in today's fire service.  The key to any turnaround is as simple as getting started. When you deconstruct this seemingly enormous task, it is surprising how simple the whole thing can be when broken down to a basal level. An organizational turn-around begins by rallying around one another.  Your crew and the organization as a whole must have a leader that believes in them—and a leader that they believe in as a group.  This synergy is where the turnaround starts and maybe where it ends.  It is all about trust.

Can it really be that simple?

Sometimes it is.

Quality Coaching

Much of a crew's success can be attributed to quality coaching.  Some crewmembers show flashes of brilliance in their career; but due to lack of a solid coaching foundation, they are not always able to perform day-in and day-out with consistency.  The pieces are often there—we often muse about how our talented organizations are ready to blast off; it is simply a matter of having a catalyst to spark the fire.

In any endeavor, results are based on high standards and the ability to achieve those standards consistently.  Recent history has seen nearly every fire service organization subjected to frequent changes in leadership styles, continually having the carpet pulled from beneath their feet.  The only consistency in most organizations is inconsistency—and nothing works well when an organization is adrift on a sea of uncertainty.

The books say leadership is not a mysterious and innate quality that certain individuals are born into. True, some have a tendency toward leadership traits, such as a stalwart personality, but a strong personality on its own does not guarantee that a person will be successful in a leadership role.  Sometimes the opposite is true.

Some leaders possess strong leadership characteristics, but cannot get their people to respond.

What doesn't work as a leader:

Being ruthless
Being a loner
Being uncooperative
Being ambiguous
Being a dictator
Strong personalities, when left unchecked, can lead to a despotic form of leadership.  Those who choose to lead by oppression and absolute power are not paying forward positive leadership traits, and often cause those who must follow this positional leader to detach from the organization in order to survive.

How many times over the last few years have you read articles in fire service publications about the vacuum that exists in our realm as a result of the massive exodus of veterans? We have to constantly move forward and look to the past for guidance.

Which brings us to how we set about fixing things.  The leader must preach the team concept and not disparage their people at any time. The leader builds a solid support system around their people—pledging allegiance to them from day one.

There can be no ambiguity.  Place solid mentors around young, impressionable people who can affect them in a positive manner in many different ways.  If your crew has lacked quality coaching in the past, now that they have your unwavering support and quality leadership, there is no telling how far the team can go.  The key is to constantly support the efforts of your people and show genuine interest in them.

Many times, all people need to be successful is for someone to believe in them. There are many great brothers and sisters in the fire service today who are working towards leading the profession forward with forethought and insight as great as that of anyone of any generation, past, or present.

These "doers" gain confidence if people in leadership positions recognize their drive and support their efforts.  If their attempts at positive change are continually cast off or snubbed, their talent will wither and die.  It happens all the time.

Check the ego at the door

A good leader instills trust in their people; they motivate them with an unflinching commitment to the team.  You do this by defending them from outsiders and constantly supporting their efforts. The leader is honest with them—but most of all, the leader is a team builder.  A leader is a great communicator who relates to their people as someone who has been there before.  You gain credibility when you say what you mean and mean what you say.  Our job as leaders is to believe in our people and give them the opportunity to go wherever they want to go.

Give them the credit when they have earned it:

Be trustworthy
Make decisions
Have foresight
Encourage the team concept
Solid leaders give credit for success for the team.  They do not stand up and take a deep bow for what the team accomplished.  They accept praise with humility and take responsibility whenever a goal is not attained.  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain when your people succeed.  Everybody wins because you got there together.  Their growth and success is your legacy.  If you can look down the line at all of the people who came through your firehouse that went on to be successful, charismatic, and understanding leaders, then you can be proud of the rich heritage that you helped to create.

If we work at it as leaders, we can actually eliminate the conditions that make leadership necessary.  Like a coach or a teacher who bridges the learning gap between themselves and their pupil until it disappears, we try to bring equality to our crew, station, and battalion, thus enabling greater relationships to blossom.

If you lead your people properly there doesn't necessarily need to be an end game in sight. They don't have to know where exactly they're going so long as they believe in the concept, plan, or vision.  If we're doing it right, we allow our people to find their way, and through shared ideology and innovation we all move forward together.

How do we foster our people and promote positive change?

Solicit input from the crew.
Under promise and over deliver.
Take accountability for your shortfalls and pass credit for success to your people.
Be disciplined in your approach to the craft. Your people want structure—they want to know what to expect.
Don't keep knowledge to yourself; share what you learn.
Be a positive role model and encourage others who share a passion for the craft to become mentors too.
Communicate your passion, have fun, and show humility.
It doesn't just come from you, we are compilation pieces—collages made from everyone we have ever known.  Pieces of our every contact mold us into who we are today.  Today's interactions change what we will be tomorrow.  We are the result of a lifetime's worth of input from all the leadership we have observed, be it positive or negative.  Take in everything you are witness to.  If we are keen observers of those around us, the learning never stops.

To be a truly great leader you have to be a bit of an alchemist. These types of leaders can often take largely unappreciated talent and transform it into something extraordinary. There isn't a whole lot that can take place without first believing.

Outstanding coaches are often great simplifiers who can cut through nonsense and doubt to create a solution that everyone can rally around.