Several weeks ago, the church I attend in New Jersey held its annual Youth Sunday Service wherein all parts of the worship experience were conducted by the young members of our congregation. I have watched some of these kids grow from the time of their baptism to today when they are active members of our congregation. How is it that these children were able to grow into active, participative members of our congregation? I believe it is because of the examples set by their parents and those of us in the congregation.
On a number of occasions, I served as a mentor to young church members as part of our confirmation process. I played an active role in sharing my faith with younger members who were coming to understand what their faith was and how they should live it, express it and share it with others. Similarly, when it comes to my fire company, I try to do the same thing by sharing examples and experiences from over the years. How else are people to benefit from your years of experience if you do not actively seek to share it with them?
Identify, nurture and instruct
The methods my church uses are easily transferable to the secular world. As leaders, you need to identify, nurture and instruct the new people coming into your fire department. You cannot leave it to chance that new recruits will automatically adopt the norms, organizational history and operational skills of your fire department. You must make a conscious effort to find the right folks, bring them into your department and nurture them as they make their journey through your organization.
More than this, you need to take an active hand in identifying and recruiting the next generation of your fire department. In order to do this, you must develop an active organizational description of the types of people for whom you are searching. Some people are meant to become firefighters and EMTs while others have no business coming within 500 yards of our stations.
It is essential for you to create a profile of the sort of people you are searching for to become members of your department. You can do this yourself or you can bring several department members together to brainstorm just what this description should be. You can then create a recruiting effort from among the people who helped you to create the profile. Ask each person to find a member among their circle of acquaintances who meets the profile.
You must also be proactive. You are the one who will have to get up and find the people who will staff your organization in the future. More than that, you are responsible for creating a caring and nurturing environment among the existing members of your organization. People do not normally come through the door of your fire station with a fully developed sense of who you are and what you do. Exceptions to this might arise from those instances where family members of your existing staff choose to join your department. Even in these situations, however, there will still be a train-up period.
You must also have a written plan that is consistent and reproducible. You must have a common approach to sharing who you are and what you do so that each person is given a common standard they must meet.
Be a leader and a mentor
Going back to the example of how we nurture the younger members in our church, let me stress that the processes and programs remain consistent from year to year. In this way we are creating new generations of Christians according to the standards which have been set over the years. Perhaps the greatest variable in this program comes when the mentors for the confirmation class are called upon to share the background and evolution of their faith. When I presented my view of my faith journey to my mentees in the confirmation program, I took great pains to stress that they would be making a journey of their own creation and experience.
This is just how you should work within your fire department. This is how I have worked over the years to share what I believed to be the culture and norms of the Adelphia Fire Company and the fire service in general.
Let me close by suggesting that it is critical for you as a leader within your organization to find and nurture the next generation of your fire department. If not you, who? If not now, when? Please consider performing this critical series of tasks.
