Protecting the individual, department, and community
The definition of purpose, if you were to look it up, presents itself as an apparent dichotomy, depending on how you apply it to your life or career. Purpose becomes the very reason something is done or is created. When applying this to the fire service, it can become why a certain tactic, trend, policy, or program was created or should be implemented. Furthermore, we all know when we lose it during our day in the firehouse. This is normal and is because we accept much of what we do as just being the right thing to do or because it’s provided us positive outcomes in the past. This leads to what we refer to, ad nauseum, as complacency, and although I’ll spare you a lesson on complacency here, I will mention that complacency comes from becoming overconfident with our intended purpose–or naà¯ve to which part of the definition we should be focusing on. Herein lies our dichotomous conundrum; however, neither must be mutually exclusive.
In most fire departments, a new policy usually comes out when something bad happens. And two things are usually attached to it: the name of the person who suffered the misfortune that the policy was created after and its purpose. While I say the first one in jest, even though it’s usually the case, the latter becomes the reason it was created. This is usually some means for protecting the individual, department, and city, in that order. I like this purpose, and it keeps things in perspective. I also like that this chronology of purpose becomes the foundation of principle, ethos, and fraternity. No one wants to get hurt at work, have to visit administration to get a couple of “unexpected vacation days,” or see the fire department and city in the news for reasons other than grabs and deserved recognition. So, let’s see how we can apply purposeful chronology to everything else by looking inside the pages of this month’s issue.
David Rhodes is one of our most trusted voices in that he offers sage advice and empirical approaches to solving the job’s most pressing issues each month. This month, he puts purpose in perspective regarding why we truly wanted the promotion that we just received. David thinks that influence should be purpose. He considers why promoting for money means you’d rather take from the organization than influentially give back to it. Let David take you down the right path to developing this purpose vs. position through character and talent over title.
One of my other favorite Davids, Dave McGrail, brings us a great operations article on preparing an attack hoseline off a standpipe system. The purpose of any engine is to get the first hoseline stretched, flaked, charged, and placed into operation–expeditiously. Anytime there’s a significant injury at a fire, especially difficult high-fire fires, it’s usually a communications or water problem. Dave reinforces this purpose, gives us the steps to ensure that the first hoseline is ready when needed, and lets us know why a little gopher creep is in order.
Anthony Avillo and Ed Flood describe not only an officer’s purpose in life but why establishing a peripheral perspective will make you a full-contact leader. Anthony and Ed take us on a journey with Captain Wonder as she navigates a change in her company and deals with a chief officer who personalizes this change and disregards her concerns. I won’t spoil the end for you but, rest assured, it has a happy ending, once the problem is brought to light and why leaders need to see outside the lines to prevent problems from getting worse is examined.
Lastly, Frank Viscuso sits down with the legendary Colonel Thomas Feltey to parallel his combat leadership principles with the fire service’s. The purpose of any fireground leader is to safely and effectively lead his troops throughout the fight. Frank brings us four principles for leaders’ conduct, in conjunction with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s five reasons that factor into firefighter fatalities in battle, that will solidify this purpose and bring your troops home safely. Leaders also find purpose in taking responsibility, and Frank and Colonel Feltey tie this all together for us.
These are just a few of the offerings in FireRescue this month. I challenge you to find the purpose in each of the articles that you read and to consider why you think they are important and should be implemented. Furthermore, understand that complacency can be cured by always looking for the purpose in your decisions, actions, and responsibilities at work. It’s there; you may have to look for it, but once you find it, you will get a better sense of reason and perhaps find a new purpose in what you are doing. That’s the win and the reason why there’s always room for improvement in everything.
