How many times have you thought, “If I was in charge …”? I think most folks have a pretty good idea of the things they would do differently if they “ruled the world” for a day. As I get older, I find myself thinking about this with a new twist–I think about the things I would do differently now, even though I WAS in charge back then.
Perhaps a better question: Who should rule the fire service world in the future? And what leadership skills and qualities are we looking for?
We Need Energy!
When my son was younger, I used to volunteer occasionally in his kindergarten class. The high point of the day for the kindergarteners was finger painting. They would get so excited, so “in the moment,” that I wished I could bottle their energy and use it later. When I returned to the office, the negative energy and attitudes would just sap the life out of me.
At a recent bi-state injury-control meeting of Washington and Oregon public educators, I caught a glimpse of that childlike energy. It was positive and palpable. And it made me think that public educators just may be the future leaders that the fire service needs.
Hear me out. What skills are going to be most important for future fire service leaders? The list could get long, but I think we can agree on the following:
- Good communication skills. If we can’t articulate our issues and needs, we have no hope of gaining support for them. That includes writing and speaking as well as listening (which few of us practice!).
- Partnership and collaboration. The fire service is faced with a “new normal”; we can’t function like we did before. We must dust off some of the old ideas and perhaps give them another try–things like self-inspections, or farming out some work with a blanket permit to a limited number of trusted fire protection contractors. These ideas might work, and they might not. But linking up with partners we like, and perhaps even those we don’t, will be key to giving such ideas a chance, especially as the recession continues to wreak havoc on local governments.
- Ability to demonstrate results. I don’t believe we can just declare the number of minutes in which we need to respond–though response time is indeed critical. Rather, we must consider the interrelationship between our prevention programs and emergency response. A building that has burned for 20 minutes before anyone noticed and called 911 isn’t going to benefit much from a 4-minute response. It will benefit, however, from a combination of early detection, fixed fire protection and effective emergency response.
- A refocusing of our efforts. We’ll need to focus even more of our efforts on residential properties where our ability to regulate people and enforce codes is severely limited. This is difficult, even for the most progressive in our ranks.
Finding Them
Where do we find all these skills in the fire service?
Look to your public educators. If you’ve written them off because they’re friendly, outgoing and sometimes play with puppets, you’re making a BIG mistake. That kind of energy is hard to beat down, and it will serve them and you well when things get tough. They’re communicators. They’re collaborators. They’re used to doing a whole lot with little or nothing–because that’s what we’ve traditionally given them.
When things get economically tight, we cut them first. And still they work with heart and passion. It’s not like someone is going to picket City Hall when a public educator is cut, like they do for emergency responders. No, it takes enlightened leadership to save public education from the budget axe. Do the math–the votes are on the line, whether it’s your union or the community talking.
For the future of our fire service, we must recognize the leadership qualities exhibited by public educators and try to capture a part of their energy and their leadership. We might even try to emulate them.
That said, don’t bring puppets to your next City Council meeting! We can only stand a little out-of-the-box thinking at one time.
