People who evaluate organizational behavior and health profess that the anchor for discipline in a work group is self-discipline. At the core of self-discipline is the belief that most people are basically driven to behave and perform in a way that is con sistent with the organization's expectations. Most would agree that this assumption not only has merit, but also is a key to effectively managing and leading a fire company as the company officer.

Fire companies should practice self-discipline, and maintaining such an atmosphere in the station should be a priority for the company officer. It is also important that the company officer be willing and able to impose corrective, progressive and lawful discipline when the need arises. We have all seen work settings where both of these elements were present (self-discipline and imposed discipline) and we have seen work settings where one or both were absent. There are definitive positive and negative res ults associated with both settings.

A large group (over 100) of current and future company officers recently was asked to identify specific (realistic) behaviors or approaches they could use to assist in creating an atmosphere in which self-discipline could flourish and imposed discipline c ould be a positive, productive asset when, and if, it were necessary. Following are the main thoughts and suggestions of the various small groups that contemplated this issue:

• Crew members and the company officer must accept and share responsibility for creating a positive, productive atmosphere based on the concept of self-discipline. To do so, the crew members must have a clear understanding of the officer's expectations ...up front.
  
• The company officer should empower crew members to participate in decision-making when planning the station's routine and workload.
  
• The company officer should assign projects based on each person's capabilities and talents. This will help maintain the interest of crew members. Know the strengths of the group and utilize them, but also know the limitations. One of the keys to effe ctive delegation is timely follow-up.
  
• Setting a positive example and displaying a sincere willingness to listen and learn are important to the company officer. Empathetic listening, flexibility and sincere encouragement of members to provide input into issues within the company help esta blish an environment rich with self-motivation and self-discipline.
• Crew members feel that a company officer who is organized, consistent and somewhat predictable promotes self-discipline. When expectations are clear and standard operating procedures are followed, the needs for imposed discipline are minimized.
  
• Building a sense of trust and respect within the crew supports the concept of self-discipline on the part of crew members.
  
• When it is necessary to impose discipline, the focus should be to "correct" behavior or improve performance. When it is simply intended as a "punitive" measure, imposed discipline is not usually effective and many times has a negative overall effect on the individual – and perhaps even the company as a whole.
  
• The fact that there will be consequences to unsatisfactory behavior or performance should be clear within the fire company. When appropriate to do so, incidents should be properly documented within the department's disciplinary processes.
  
• A company officer must identify whether the problem with behavior or performance of crew members is related to training that was not provided or to a disregard for known rules or standards. Doing so will provide considerable guidance to the company o fficer in handling the situation and securing a positive outcome.
• An important component of developing our members' behavior and performance is career counseling. Maintaining continuing education programs and monitoring people's progress can contribute significantly to an atmosphere of self-discipline.
  
• Other helpful practices include using public praise that reinforces positive behavior, providing timely feedback on overall performance and avoiding the appearance of favoritism. When there is a need to counsel or constructively criticize, do so priv ately.
  

I'm sure you can think of other practices that have been successful in helping to maintain a self-disciplined fire company and successfully imposing discipline when there is the need to do so. I'm always impressed when reminded how much many fire officers know about motivation, self-discipline and administering corrective action in the fire company.

The ability to address these issues impacts the performance of the group and the quality of service. That alone provides sufficient reason to make it a priority. The officers in these sessions probably didn't cover all of the elements one could imagine, b ut they addressed most of them. These are excellent reminders and I hope you find them interesting and useful.