The role of a fire service leader is filled with many unknowns, just like the next emergency that you will be dispatched to. Firehouse Expo presenters talked about the personnel management, emotions of leadership, and incident command.
Emotions and leadership
Benjamin Martin presented “Intoxicated Leadership: How to Avoid Leading Under the Influence of Your Emotions.”
Imagine a scene playing out at any firehouse kitchen table. Are the firefighters who are sitting at your table celebrating the department or tearing down the department and its leaders? How is it that leaders can create an environment that caters to the former and discourages the latter? Would you be surprised if I told you the answer to that involved feelings and emotions?
Here’s another leadership truth: It’s hard. Leadership is hard because life is messy. It’s full of people’s personal and professional problems, and making the right decision during a crisis can create emotionally charged situations in which we fail. Whether it’s communicating with an employee who is choosing to be difficult or commanding on a fireground, emotions can either cement or undermine our ability to make effective decisions.
Too often leaders underestimate the importance and power of emotions in their teams and organizations. They tell their folks to check their feelings at the door—or leave them at home. They yell when they are frustrated or angry, lead with rank or authority, and revert to micromanaging their people to achieve desired outcomes. In addition, leaders can ignore how they are feeling about an issue (including their “gut feelings”) and fall victim to saying something in anger that they soon wish that hadn’t. This is in large part to the basic programming of our brain’s response to threats, evolved from having to face the likes of sabretooth tigers—preferring to be safe rather than sorry. As such, it still lacks the ability to differentiate between merely surviving a conflict and how to resolve it.
Today’s modern-day sabretooth tigers come in the form of generational workforce differences, threats to job security when organizational changes are enacted, and the victim mentality of “what’s in it for me.” Recruitment and retention issues, lack of employee engagement and buy-in, and polarizing opinions about whether we should fight fire from the inside or outside of houses threaten to derail the success of organization and teams. Employee disengagement is at record highs, but why? The morale circulating in our firehouses and organizations is just one of the many measures of how people feel about the work they are being asked to do, and who they are doing it with. So how do you influence morale?
As leaders, the when and how we talk to our teams are important tools in our toolbox. The leadership tactic of “because I said so” is one of the most destructive statements a leader can make. It’s important to consider what happens when conflict drives our decision-making and communication, and allow leaders to watch others process difficult conversations and situations, so they develop the skills to navigate difficult conversations.
Today's fireground
Richard Kline presented “Commanding the 21st-Century Fireground."
All structural firefighting operations involve an inherent level of risk. The ability to implement an accurate fireground risk management plan directly influences the relationship between structural firefighting and firefighter survivability.
This workshop explored fireground risk management through the lens of command-level personnel. An analysis of on-scene staffing, “combat intelligence” and the application of recent fire dynamic research was applied to determine fireground strategy. It revealed barriers to effective command decision-making with solutions to improve the effectiveness of risk-based decision-making. Facilitated by group discussed, supported by photo and video case studies, participants took a calculated and rational approach to fireground decision-making to reinforce significant concepts.
The session covered 21st-century solutions to the challenges of the modern fireground, focusing upon the importance of reducing risk to our firefighters while maintaining an aggressive approach to strategy and tactics.
Key learning points focused on:
- An improved understanding of risk management and decision-making principles under emergent situations;
- Understand the application of fire behavior research to the modern fire environment and how to incorporate alternative fireground tactical choices based upon available on-scene staffing;
- The five most common command risk management errors that lead to firefighter injury and death; and
- How recent NIOSH, NIST and UL research findings are applied to line-of-duty-death case studies to reinforce key points.
The key is to find a balance point between aggressiveness and safety.
