E-mail is destroying human communication. Somehow, insidiously, it has replaced face-to-face conversations as a primary mechanism of talking to each other and is eclipsed only by that even darker and more dangerous enemy-the text message. How many times have you received an e-mail or text from the person in the next office, cubicle, room in the station, or even the same room??? Seriously? The art of effective communication is being crushed. Your boss, regardless of rank, has to be in the loop; and the higher he is in rank, the more critical and valuable is the information.
Establishing a Relationship
Getting a new boss is hard. You have to break him in, and that can be challenging to say the least. You have to learn his entire philosophy, expectations, hot buttons, and demeanor. You have to try to mold him, and yourself, into an effective team. You and your boss have to figure out how to communicate. That means talk to each other, not talk at each other, not send e-mails or text messages and think that covers it. No relationship that requires people to place their lives in each other’s hands can possibly be based on emojis.
One of the questions you should ask early on is, “When do you want me to call?” Your boss may answer any number of ways, and it’s most critical to remember that sharing information is an art, not a science. There will always be absolutes: a line-of-duty death or serious injury of a member, a fatal apparatus crash involving civilians, a serious off-duty injury or death of a member, any incident involving public dissatisfaction, and the list goes on.
There will also be obvious incidents that can wait: an alarm system on trouble at the station that does not impact operations, a minor property damage collision that does not involve other vehicles (i.e., striking a stop sign with a mirror). The challenge lies in the middle. The best advice that I can offer is: Let the boss make that determination. Over time, the boss will come to share with you whether the decision to wake him in the middle of the night or contact him in the middle of a meeting was warranted. This becomes the basis for future actions. If he is worth his weight in spam, your boss will never yell at you for contacting him, even with a seemingly minor issue. He should always provide guidance and instruction about the need to communicate with him.
When to Call
When you truly need to speak to your boss, pick up the phone and call. If he does not answer, leave a message and ask him to call you back. Do not just send an e-mail and check a box, thinking that you have communicated with your boss. You have not. At a minimum, communication only occurs when there is a sender, a receiver, a message, a confirmation of receipt of that message, and an understanding of the intent of the message.
When your boss provides you guidance with phrases like, “Call me anytime, day or night,” it’s because he is trying to ensure that you understand that he does not mind being woken up. There is nothing worse than waking up after a great night’s sleep, only to find out that something extremely bad happened overnight (like a member being arrested for drunk driving) and not being aware of it. The 6:00 a.m. news is not the time to learn that one of your firefighters is in jail. Nothing good will come from that, and a defense of “I didn’t want to bother you” is code for “I have no idea what the risks of your position involve” or “I do not respect your position enough to ensure that you are fully informed about something that you are going to get blindsided by.”
Conversely, calling the boss should never be a substitute for making a decision that is clearly at your level and your expectation to make. You don’t call your boss when deciding whether to stretch a 1¾- or 2½-inch hose. Make a decision and go with it, but remember to ensure that your boss is aware of the decision you made so he can either support it or alter it as needed.
An Art
The art of communication is just that-an art. E-mail and text messages are information sharing tools, not communication tools. You should trust and respect your boss enough to allow him to be the judge of what he does, or does not, need to know. What he chooses to do with the information you provide is up to him. Not informing him of something that he should know robs him of the chance to perform one of his most important jobs-supporting you.
