Humbleness and humility are essential qualities of the
modern fire service leader. It is a
shame we don’t touch more on them in leadership courses as they are huge parts
of leading a team. The modern fire
officer must have the ability to admit they are wrong, both to administration
and subordinates. It is crucial to
gaining the respect of your crew that you are not too arrogant or entitled to
use yourself as an example when appropriate.
While your goal should be to not make mistakes, they are going to
happen. Failure is one of the best tools
for improvement as it keeps us on our toes and pushes us to train harder and do
better. Humility also lets your crew
know that you aren’t full of crap. The
wealth of information at everyone’s fingertips has essentially created the end
of the “because I said so” days. In
reality, those days should have been over long ago. As I have previously discussed there is a
time and a place for unwavering orders and training is simply not one of
them. The goal of training should be to
hone your team’s skills and grow as a crew.
This is the time for your crew to ask how and why. This is the time for the officer to answer
these questions. If this is not
accomplished during training evolutions, it will spill over to the fireground
where there is no time or place for it.
One of the worst things that can happen to a young officer
is harsh criticism of the way he or she is training their crew. There is a difference between constructive
criticism and attempting to belittle someone just to feel superior. The effects of such actions are negative for both
the sender and the receiver of the hostility.
I have been told such reactions to young officers teaching different
methods are because older members are threatened. While I cannot discount this assessment I
have to wonder, why someone of equal or greater rank with a significantly
longer tenure would possibly be threatened by a junior officer. Regardless of the reason, the how is more
important than the why under these circumstances. It is the how that can have a seriously detrimental
effect on upcoming officers and the department for years to come. The only things that will occur from such
tirades are a crew who does not respect their senior officer and a junior
officer who will likely be unconfident in his or her abilities. We need more mentors to teach our personnel how to operate in their new role rather than the berate them with what they are doing wrong!
Where there real issue lies is in situations where you aren’t
wrong and have only been perceived by others to have screwed up. Perhaps it involves a new tactic you learned
at a class or you are teaching a method which wasn’t around 20 years ago. Outsiders will often inject themselves into
your training evolution in a negative manner which not only interrupts the
training session but also demeans that officer running it. This is completely UNACCEPTABLE! The cost of such actions is chipping away at
the confidence of new or young officers.
The implications will eventually lead to second guessing and poor
decision making out of fear of reprimand or mistreatment. There is no reason to make anyone feel
inferior in front of their crew. If
there is a real or perceived safety issue, it should be discussed to the side
and out of earshot from other members of the training session. Also learn to accept that not everyone will
agree on everything and doing something different doesn’t mean it is being done
wrong! Obviously I have been on the
wrong end of these situations and I am going to try and use my experiences to
stop it from happening to others. Many new
officers are met with harsh criticism which may or may not be accurate. As a group, the fire service is HORRIBLE
about accepting new information or tactics.
As with most things in life, the older we get the more we are set in our
ways. However, that is not an acceptable
practice in our trade as it continues to evolve.
If you are new officer meeting such resistance, just
remember to stick to your guns and do what is right. Attend as many classes and conferences as
possible to learn our craft from those who take is seriously rather than from those
who take from the job yet never give back.
There will be times those who work against you are right. You have to be willing to accept and
recognize these moments as part of your path to humility. There will also be many times where they are
wrong and this is where you need to prepare to feel lonely and beat up. Push through, be the wave of change that
breaks the sea of content. Don’t let
people put you down or belittle you.
Only you have the power to hold your head up high and push through their
nonsense. I struggle with this on a
daily basis. The main reason I run my
page and write these blogs to let others know they are not alone. While it hurts to be hated, in some cases it
means you are winning because they are talking about you and the changes you
are trying to make. The ladder to the
top isn’t at an ideal angle, it requires smart and steady climbing. Pace yourself as you suppress ignorance and
better you crew and your department.