
By Kerry Henderson
If you have been in the fire service any length of time, you have probably taken some of the obligatory officer and leadership classes. You will likely agree that these classes are taught by firefighters and fire officers of varied ability. Some of these classes may be required for promotion or may serve to check a box for a career ladder advancement. Believe me, there are some great fire service leadership classes out there, and I encourage you to seek those out.
My fear is that too many in the fire service take the required, check-the-box promotion classes and never look anywhere else for development. Today, I want to encourage you to think outside of the traditional fire service leadership concepts and seek out what will personally improve your ability to influence and mentor others in a positive way, because that is what makes an exceptional company officer.
When I started to branch out of fire service-specific classes and delve into private sector-driven training, it really changed how I saw my role as a leader and made me want to change how I lead others. This type of training and development led me down a road to work on my personal authenticity and learning how to use my empathetic nature to be an exceptional leader.
The single, most important thing a company officer can do to exhibit exceptional leadership is to be authentic. Developing an authentic leadership style and learning what it means to be truly authentic must take place before taking that big promotion. This means taking time early in your career, well before a promotion process, to evaluate your own authenticity and then use that authenticity as an informal leader in the department. I have seen too many firefighters get promoted and then try to emulate someone else’s leadership style that doesn’t quite fit them or try to suddenly figure out what they want their style to be. Your subordinates will see right through you if you aren’t being your true self or if you suddenly try to change who they’ve always seen you to be.
What does it mean to be authentic? Mike Robbins says, “We live in a culture that is starving for authenticity. We want our leaders, our co-workers, our family members, our friends, and everyone else we interact with to tell us the truth and to be themselves.”[1] Unfortunately, many people feel that we have to act or be a certain way to be a part of whatever culture is around us. This is very often the case in the firehouse.
How does this relate to the fire service and our company officers? As leaders, we should want every individual we work with to feel empowered to say what they think, to live out their passions, to be themselves, and to tell the truth (even when it is difficult). I do not just say this as a huggie-feely way to say we want everyone to have a safe space. I say this because the people we meet in life who have the courage and confidence to be who they are without apologizing, the people who aren’t afraid to admit their weaknesses, and the people who are willing to be vulnerable are the people who make the best leaders. Not only are they great leaders to work for, but they are also great people to be friends with and to work alongside.
I’ve heard others say that doing the personal work to improve your authenticity and your empathy and focusing on the feelings of your employees is soft and is geared toward a generation that needs a safe space. To try and respond to this in a compassionate, empathic way, I have to say that this type of thinking and this type of leadership is outdated. Data, research, and retention efforts show us that ignoring how things make our employees feel and what they value is extremely detrimental not only to the individuals but to the organization and its culture.
Authentic leadership comes from ancient Greek philosophy and is associated with virtues such as fortitude, temperance, justice, and prudence.[2] When I first thought about what it meant to be an authentic leader, a steadfast, speak-your-mind-at-all-costs type of leader came to mind. But when I carefully looked at each of those virtues, I came to the realization that authentic leaders also use great restraint when needed, use judiciousness and are careful when choosing words, and–most importantly–use compassion to get to know what each member of their team needs to succeed. Andreas Jones, from the Forbes Coaches Council, says that the authentic leader has a flexible style to accommodate each team member but, “regardless of the situation, a true authentic leader will put their authenticity above all else and keep communication as real as possible.”[3]
How does one become an authentic leader? First and foremost, you need to spend time working on your emotional intelligence (EQ) early in your career. Psychology Today reports that emotional intelligence “refers to the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others.”[4] Those who can recognize their own emotions and regulate them are often extremely good at reading social cues. We gravitate toward people like this in the fire service because they are self-aware enough to understand how they respond emotionally in certain situations and can empathize with how others may respond as well.
Second, you need to be confident enough to trust your heart. I have seen too many leaders quote a policy or lack thereof instead of doing what is right for their employees. If you know deep down that something is wrong or doesn’t feel right when you are making a decision, then be confident enough in yourself to find a way to make it work. This doesn’t mean directly disobeying policy or orders, but it does mean finding ways to make sure your crew knows you have their best interest at heart.
Next, you need to be a person of your word. Identifying the values that make up who you are is a top priority. Once you decide on them, stick to them. Your crews and your bosses need to know at the end of the day that your integrity does not waver. They need to know that you aren’t flippant in what you believe today vs. what you believe tomorrow. Authentic leaders always do what they say they will, and if they don’t, they have a damn good reason, or an apology follows close behind.
Authentic leaders are as direct in communication as they are empathic. They know how to communicate with each member of their team in a way that is most appropriate with each team member. They do not take the approach of “This is how I am so this is how everyone else should be.” Team members will need you to present criticism in a way that they can receive it, and this varies dramatically from person to person. Empathy starts with understanding your own personal values and how you got them. Once you understand what your true values are (not just what you think they should be) and what life experiences caused you to establish those values, you can lead from a totally different place. You can use that to raise your expectations of others because you can easily communicate to others what values you hold dear and have expectations on and what values are not as high on the list.
Once they understand their values, authentic leaders work to understand the values of those they work with or of their subordinates. Just like understanding your own values helps you to set your own expectations, understanding your teammates’ values helps you to be able to make sure you do not let them down in the areas of what they value. I’ve found that most people have not done significant work to nail down their true values. Helping your subordinates work to find their own true, personal values is extremely beneficial and will change so much for them and for your relationship with them.
Authentic leaders are often “overcommunicators.” One of the best supervisors I ever worked for taught me that phrase and it stuck. I would rather tell my crew too much than have them left in the dark to draw their own conclusions on what they are supposed to be doing or on what is happening. This goes for expectations too. Don’t assume they know what you expect of them. Every company officer has higher expectations in certain areas than others; make sure each firefighter who works for you understands what those areas of high expectations are. For me, this was a high level of customer service, detailed reports, if you see something that needs to be cleaned/fixed/taken care of then do it without being asked, and no shift wars (worry about your own self).
Last, but probably most important, authentic leaders are honest and transparent about their capabilities. They are vulnerable enough to admit their weaknesses and are showing their crews that they are actively working to improve them. There is nothing worse than working with someone who openly admits he is bad at some portion of his job but does absolutely nothing about it. In short, be willing to admit your faults but be just as willing to make them better.
Hopefully, some of this encourages you to develop your authentic leadership style. If you do nothing else, I want you to try every day to be less in-authentic, or, according to “The Art of Charm,” “not being your real self. That can take many forms: masquerading as someone you’re not, compromising what you feel is right, feeling strange in your own skin, mimicking those around you, or generally feeling like you’re not one with your day-to-day experience.”[5]
We see this in the fire service, people mimicking those around them because they feel like they should behave or lead exactly like someone they admire does. But what happens? That person tries to take on a personality that is not authentic and it seems fake or is not convincing. I much prefer leaders who know themselves well enough to be comfortable being themselves and have a leadership style that fits them. We gravitate to leaders who are authentic because it feels real, and it helps us feel okay to be authentic ourselves.
BIO:
Kerry Henderson is a 23-year veteran of the Fire Service and a Battalion Chief with James City County (VA) Fire Department. She is the first-place winner of the Darley Fire Service Leadership Essay contest. She has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Mary Baldwin College and a masters of public administration degree in emergency management from Jacksonville State University.
[1] Robbins, Mike. (2011, November 17). Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken: Transform Your Life with the Power of Authenticity. Huffpost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/be-yourself-everyone-else_b_185923.
[2] Pratt, Mary (2018, September). Authentic Leadership. TechTarget. https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/authentic-leadership.
[3] Jones, Andreas. (2017, November 11,). What It Really Takes To Be An Authentic Leader. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/05/11/what-it-really-takes-to-be-an authentic leader/#8f894b85d095.
[4] Psychology Today. (Accessed 2023, May 3). Emotional Intelligence. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/emotional-intelligence.
[5] Harbinger, AJ. (Accessed 2023, May 3). Solving the Authenticity Paradox (How To Be Who You Really Are). The Art of Charm Web Article, https://theartofcharm.com/art-of-dating/solving-authenticity-paradox-really/.
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