Leadership: Full Steam Ahead!

Fire departments are complex organizations. Trying to figure out how all of the moving parts properly work together is an ongoing task. When attempting to illustrate how gears and parts of a fire department work in a synchronized way, an interesting comparison comes to mind: steam locomotives.

Steam locomotives are fascinating. Roughly 70 years ago, seeing a steam locomotive thundering down the tracks across America was a very common sight. Today, however, seeing an operating steam locomotive generally draws a large crowd. Why is that? And how is a steam locomotive a great example of a fire department (or any organization for that matter)?

There are probably several reasons, but mainly the fascination comes from seeing a living, breathing machine. A live steam locomotive puffs and blows, billowing clouds of steam and smoke, and has the appearance of being alive with all the moving parts pounding down the rails doing the work of pulling its cars.

The heaviest versions of these massive machines can reach up to 1,250,000 pounds, which is a great amount of steel. In and of itself, over a million pounds of steel just sitting in one place is not very impressive. The fascination with steam locomotives is created when they come to life—when fire and water are brought together to produce steam. An increase in the amount of steam in the boiler raises the internal pressure of the locomotive.

Here is where the comparison in relation to organizations comes to life. Without adding heat and pressure, any locomotive is just a large pile of steel. It cannot move. It cannot perform its work. It is lifeless. Only by the addition of heat and water that produces steam can the pressures within the locomotive rise to the point that cylinders can begin to move and overcome the effects of friction and gravity. When operated properly with the correct amount of pressure maintained, the locomotive can fly down the rails pulling products and delivering goods.

The key people charged with making the locomotive move down the tracks are the two who reside inside the cab: the fireman and the engineer. The fireman and engineer are responsible for ensuring the fire and water are kept in the right balance to maintain the correct amount of pressure within the boiler. If not enough pressure exists, the locomotive stops moving. If too much pressure is allowed to build up, the locomotive can explode.

Obviously, those in charge of the locomotive want it to run efficiently down the tracks, doing the work that needs to be done. A great deal of work takes place to ensure the right combination of fire, water, and pressure are maintained so that the locomotive runs as efficiently as possible.

While fire departments are not steam locomotives, they do have many characteristics that are similar. As with many organizations, some amount of internal pressure must be applied for the wheels of the organization to begin rolling. Within fire departments, officers and chiefs play the roll of fireman and engineers inside the locomotive.

Once rolling, the officers and chiefs must work to maintain the right combination of goals, tools, objectives, and training—basically everything that is needed to maintain the organizational fire. They must constantly be watchful of the organizational pressure gauge to ensure the pressure that is keeping the organization running does not either drop to a point where the organization stops moving or rises to a point where it explodes. There is a range on the gauge that will provide for “safe” operation of the department. Knowing when to add more “fuel” or when to increase or decrease the throttle all comes with experience.

Good officers need to be able to read their organization for both signs of good and poor operation. It is said that a good steam locomotive engineer would know what the machine needed by listening to it operate, and good officers keep an ear attuned to what is going on within their departments. Times arise when more “fuel” may need to be added to increase the pressure to correct issues or maintain momentum. There are other times when the relief valve may need to be activated to lower the pressure.

The steam locomotive comparison works both for departments as a whole and for individual companies. Fire chiefs, as well as company officers, all need to become the organizational equivalents of steam locomotive firemen and engineers. They need to understand the dynamics of what makes their organizations run (or not run) efficiently.

From a fire service leader perspective, there are not many things more impressive that seeing a well-led, well-trained, well-staffed fire department operate on a daily basis. Is your department like the locomotive without enough pressure to move or is it like the locomotive with a full head of pressure ready to get to work?

Hopefully, your department is prepared to move FULL STEAM AHEAD!