So you got the big promotion, and the chief’s office is yours. Now what?
Hopefully, you didn’t wait until you got the position to think about what your priorities would be in the first several months. The time to start planning for the fire chief position is long before you achieve it. So for those of you who have not yet been in this position but desire to someday become a fire chief, ask yourself, Where would I begin?
There’s no perfect answer that will fit all situations, and of course the more general plan you formulate will need to be customized to the needs of the specific department. But starting to map out your plan before you move into the chief role will position you better as a candidate and help you make a quick transition into the new role.
Note: Your approach will differ slightly depending on whether you were selected as an inside candidate or hired from the outside. In this article, I’ll use the approach of a candidate hired from the outside, but the suggestions are equally useful for someone promoted from within. No matter from which group you were selected, you need to start this new part of your career with a clean slate. This will be much more difficult for an insider who has preconceived notions of the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the department personnel. Remember: Whether from the inside or the outside, you as fire chief must now take a 10,000-foot view of the organization and make your own decisions based not on what you think you know but on your observations as the organizational leader.
First 30 Days
So now you’re sitting behind that impressive desk with the full resources of your fire department at your disposal. Take time to enjoy the feeling and revel in your accomplishment, but only for a few moments. Just because you’re new doesn’t mean you can take all the time you want to get acclimated to your surroundings. Decisions will need to be made from the moment you arrive, decisions that will require you to draw on your past knowledge and experience.
How you manage these first few decisions will set the tone for your tenure in that department. Ideally, you will have a good staff in place to help, but that may not always be the case. Here are a few actions to consider during this initial “break-in” or “honeymoon” period:
- Meet with your boss to understand their expectations. You do not want to go left when your boss is thinking right. Make notes and agree on an initial course of action that meets the community and department goals in the short term. Then set up a follow-up meeting in a few weeks to receive feedback on the successes or failures of this new beginning.
- After you’ve found your parking space and office, make sure you meet privately with your administrative assistant. This is the one person you will come to rely on the most to guide you in the right direction. Delegate to this person and allow him to help make you look good. This should be his area of expertise; if it isn’t, consider filling that spot with someone you can trust.
- Set a group meeting with your immediate staff to let them know your vision for the department, but keep it broad during the first few days. What you were told during the hiring process may not align with the on-the-ground conditions. Be flexible!
- Review the personnel jackets of your key staff members. You need to formulate your own opinions of their strengths and weaknesses and not rely on hearsay. Their history within the organization will provide insight as you move through this process. Then set aside at least an hour to meet individually with each of your key staff members. Each can provide valuable feedback on what they see as the positive and negative aspects of the department. Most will be very opinionated so let them speak as you sit back and take it all in to be used later.
- Finally, review files from your predecessor to get an understanding of where they came from and where they planned to take the department. This history is valuable in helping you set your plan of action.
The first 30 days will be a whirlwind of activity. Your days will be filled with getting acquainted with your department, but you’ll also need to fit in meetings with different team members from other municipal departments. Many community groups who want to meet the new fire chief will probably book your evenings. It’s important that you take every opportunity to reach out and answer their questions and get to know the concerns of the community. As you move through your time as chief, many of these community leaders will become important to your overall success. You do not get a second chance to make a positive first impression, so make the most of these meetings.
These first 30 days will also be challenging for your family. Getting acclimated to a new community, especially when you’re not around a lot, can be trying to say the least. You will have to balance those challenges the best you can. Be honest with your family about the time you will have to spend away from them as you all move into this new part of your lives. But trust me, things will slow down and get better soon.
Days 30-60
With the first 30 days behind you, you now get the chance to spread your wings-so to speak. Initially, the only daylight you’ll probably see is through a window as you move from meeting to meeting, becoming acquainted with the players in your new community. By the time you leave for the day, it may be late into the evening. You must take time to unwind and make time for your personal life whenever possible. This will help you de-stress and get ready for the next day’s challenges.
Take these next 30 days at work to meet all members of your organization in person at their place of work, not in your office. This includes labor groups as well as each member of the response and support teams that make up your organization.
Why not in your office? I’m sure you will remember how you felt when you were called to the chief’s office. It was not a conducive atmosphere for open dialogue. It was probably intimidating for you no matter how many times you were there. Therefore, I suggest you get out of the office as much as possible in these next 30 days. What I found worked well is to have each fire station or work location and shift set up a time where you can visit their workplace. Use your administrative assistant to help facilitate these meetings so you do not miss anyone in the process. This time should be set aside outside of their daily routine so there are minimal distractions.
In this more relaxed atmosphere, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by the open dialogue. Knowing firefighters, they will schedule these meetings around lunch or dinner times, which can be both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because firefighters are great cooks and a curse if you are trying to watch your waistline! Note: If the crew gets a call while you’re there, jump on board to get a firsthand view of how your crews interact with the community.
Depending on the size of your organization, these visits could take from several weeks to several months to complete. My numerous station visits took several months to complete, but they were the most productive meetings I have had to date. You will find the dialogue is great, and the members will be impressed that a fire chief would take time to visit them. If your visits are anything like mine were, they will relay to you that they could not remember ever seeing the fire chief when it was not a time for discipline or at a promotion ceremony. Getting out to see them now makes a positive impression that money can’t buy and will pay dividends well into the future. But don’t make this your last visit, or you’ll become that fire chief they all remember seeing only at official functions.
Days 60-90
With visits out of the way and you firmly entrenched in the job, it’s time to look to the future. The budget pressures on today’s fire departments can have a significant impact on long-range planning; sometimes, planning for two weeks out seems challenging, let alone preparing for the next quarterly financial review. This is the unfortunate reality of today’s “long-range” planning, no matter how much you have read to the contrary in management books.
However, you must carve out a small piece of time in your hectic schedule to think about the future. Author and psychologist Edward de Bono stated, “Traditional thinking is all about what is; future thinking will also need to be about what can be.” You will survive these trying economic times, and when you come out on the other side you need to have a plan and a vision of what your organization will look like. Here is your opportunity to engage all of the formal and informal groups within your realm of influence to help determine how you will continue to meet the department mission with reduced resources.
Don’t be foolish enough to think this monumental task will be completed in a 90-day timeframe. However, you should know enough about your community and department to have started the process within your first 90 days on the job. This type of planning is vital to the survival of any organization. You, as the leader of your department, are responsible for continually growing the organization to better meet the changing needs of your community.
What’s Next?
This is a question only you will be able to answer for your particular organization when you get there. Many factors will play into where you go next, but one thing is certain: It will be your responsibility to constantly evaluate your progress and take a leadership role in moving your organization forward. So take your first 90 days on the job to look, listen, and interact with your internal and external customers before you make any drastic changes. This will provide you with a sufficient background to attack any problems that arise.
