Firefighters across the country agree that any number of barriers can prevent them from training, including a high call volume, budget cuts, inspections and hydrant duties or community events.
For some, it’s the fear of failing in front of other firefighters and for others it’s a motivational issue.
Scott Peterson, a firefighter/engineer for the City of Fulton, MO, Fire Department, spent Monday afternoon at Firehouse World focused on motivating firefighters to take an active part in training, whether it is leading a training session, or being the first to get their hands dirty.
Early in his preconference session, “Motivation in Training: Getting it Back to Your Department!” he flashed a photo on the screen that showed a woodsy scene with two paths. On the right, the path was clear and continued forward down a well-worn path while the left side trailed off deep into the untouched woods.
“I developed this class because I saw in my own departments that I’ve been associated with that there’s a lack of motivation when it comes to training. We get stuck in that rut with the same old, same old and we need that spark, that boost.”
“Not many people go down that path,” Peterson said, pointing to the unbeaten path on the left. “It’s where it challenges them, where it busts them up.”
He said it’s common for firefighters to go through the same routine in training, such as tying knots but not using realistic conditions.
“If you see your people training with the gloves off, is that realistic?”
Then he said you can throw in some challenges, just to get the firefighters out of their comfort zone.
“Change it up and you'll hear, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re going to challenge me? You’re going to make me tie knots with my gloves on and face covered up?'’’
Motivation
Peterson said motivation is what gets firefighters up and training and when he asked attendees what provides them with motivation, they responded with money, enthusiasm, respect, drive, pride and the sense of community.
He agreed with them and then shared his definition of motivation: “The process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors; the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.”
“What does that mean?” Peterson asked. “Keep doing it, stay proficient, and don’t lose your skills.”
Firefighters need to understand what training really is before they can understand motivation. He defined it as “The education, instruction, or discipline of a person that is being trained and being conditioned.”
He emphasized the term muscle memory, which comes from repetition of skills over and over, until it’s burned into your mind.
“One time isn’t good enough,” Peterson said. “They’re not getting it with one try and when they think they got it, throw them a curveball. Change it up.”
Peterson shared another motivation for training, to prevent line-of-duty deaths.
“What do 99.9 percent of all NIOSH reports include,” he asked the class?
He said they include the lack of training and said the fire service needs to pick up and read the reports to learn what went wrong. From there, firefighters can learn how to prevent themselves from being in the same situation and then ask if their training is at that level.
“Take it a step further…did your training let your crew down? Your family down? Your chief down? Don’t let it bring them down.”
Another way to change up training is to put firefighters against fire officers to see who completes the task first. The second place group can then make lunch or dinner for the entire crew. That adds a little competition and fun.
Failure
Peterson asked the audience what the biggest hindrance to successful training is when it comes to the people themselves.
“Lack of drive” and “time” where two answers offered up from the crowd.
“Failure,” Peterson said. “I think fear of failure is the biggest reason for a lack of training. So many people are afraid to fail in front of their leaders, in front of the peers and in the fire service nobody likes to fail.”
He said the motivation can quickly go away if brothers and sisters dog the firefighter for mistakes and errors made during training.
“We shouldn’t poke at people and call them out for their failure…we should pick them up and help them,” Peterson said, adding that it is each person’s role to make sure that everyone on the crew works toward improvement.
He said that failures during training—when others step in to correct the mistakes—will lead to success.
“Where there’s failure, there’s success…you’ll go home at the end of training, but you’ll feel better…it’s not going to be overnight, it’s not going to be right away, but you’ll get better if you keep at it.”
“But will you stick with them through it?”
The military
Firehouse World is held just a short distance from Coronado Island where the elite U.S. Navy SEALs go through their grueling training and Peterson shared his admiration for the way soldiers train.
“You’ve got to be ready for the fight, just like the military.”
He said their success comes from teamwork and repetition, not just in training, but throughout their career.
Leader or first follower?
“We don’t always have to be the leader, don’t be afraid to be the first follower," Peterson said of the first person to get a group motivated to train. “Sometimes the first follower is the leader. You can be a leader and you don’t always have to wear that helmet."
He said the first follower is critical when it comes to training in groups. He fired up a video that showed a single person in the middle of a packed field beginning to dance. After a bit, another person shows up and then another and in a short time the camera had to go wide to show the large group who followed the first follower.
“If you see something in a class tomorrow and you think you can do it, do it…get involved and have a sense of ownership in it and take it home.”
The why
Peterson said firefighters don’t always understand why things are done on the fireground or in the fire station, and challenged attendees to talk with younger firefighters about the history and traditions of the department.
His department is in the process of creating history books designed to provide the next generation of firefighters with a better understanding of why things are being done. He said they will be required to review the book and get tested on their reading.
Become the motivator
When it comes to training, he said just one firefighter in a station or department can make the change to get firefighters motivated to train on a more frequent basis.
“You get one person with that mindset and then it spreads,” Peterson said.
“When you leave the conference this week, ask ‘how will you make the fire service world awesome?’”
