Let’s pretend you’ve just become the new captain of a crew that’s been together for a while. The captain who used to be in charge has recently retired. Now that you’ve inherited this ready-made, tightly knit bunch, you get to deal with all that it has to offer, both good and bad.
As any smart captain would, you do a little intel on your new crew and quickly realize the former captain, who’s probably drinking Mai Tais in Maui, has left you with a “problem child.” Evidently, one of the members of the crew was allowed to run amuck for 5 years without a bit of supervision. A few of the typical problem child attributes:
- A horrible attitude;
- The communication skills of a brick wall;
- Could teach a class on the art of passive-aggressive behavior; and
- Puts more energy into not doing a job than just doing it.
Do people like this really exist in our beloved fire service? Of course they do.
Firefighter Bill
How does someone become a problem child? From what I’ve observed, it all stems from a certain pattern of events. See if the pattern I describe here matches the behavior of someone in your department: Firefighter Bill (for lack of a better name) has been wronged by the department in some way; ask him about it, and he’ll tell you everything you want to know. Out of revenge or just plain dissatisfaction with his job, Bill starts to exhibit all the attributes I described above. He searches around for that special captain who understands him and shows him a little sympathy. Once he finds the captain who’s a perfect fit, he latches onto them so he’s free to continue to develop into a problem child. The captain either feels sorry for Firefighter Bill or is intimidated by him. Either way, Captain Spineless supports Firefighter Bill’s behavior.
Then one day, Captain Spineless retires or, worse yet, promotes to battalion chief so he can continue to not do his job. Now Captain Spineless passes the problem to someone else. Sound familiar?
Dealing With It
Unfortunately, there’s no one perfect way to deal with personnel problems that have been allowed to continue, but there are a couple steps you can take that seem fairly effective. Note: No matter which approach you take, when dealing with an inherited problem, you must have a plan that’s tailored to the individual you’re working with.
Start Fresh
When you encounter a personnel problem like this, the information highway will be congested. The fact is, many people have watched the shenanigans happen for years, and they’re more than happy to give you their view of the situation. Remember: The information you receive from other people could be biased, exaggerated or simply untrue. So clear your mind and the slate with the so-called problem child. It’s not fair to the employee or you to go into this scenario with preconceived notions. As a firefighter or engineer, you may have even had run-ins with this person, but as a captain, this is your opportunity to start fresh, so take it.
Unfortunately, most people (myself included) have a difficult time letting some things go from the past. You just have to remind yourself to be fair–that’s your job. You wouldn’t like someone judging you based on a bunch of rumors and personal opinions, would you? So don’t do it to someone else. As I’ve told my crew, “Get to know me a little before you hate me–we have time for that later.”
Communicate Expectations
One of the biggest mistakes we can make as company officers: failing to communicate our expectations. Always let people know where you’re coming from and what you expect of them. If you can’t pull this one off, cowboy, you’re in for a long ride.
Have you ever played the “I didn’t know that’s what you wanted me to do” game? Or how about the “You never told me I couldn’t do that” game? Well, let me tell you, they’re loads of fun if you like beating your head against a wall for no good reason.
Without a clear understanding of your expectations, the problem child on your crew will most likely make one or both of these statements.
Since we’re talking about expectations, we should probably review something called “department standards”?or standard operating procedures. Do you think there’s a difference between your standards and department standards? (You should be nodding yes right now.) Your standard is the standard, or expectation, you set for yourself and you–the company officer–are the only person who can be held to it. Everyone else should be held to department standards. Don’t get caught trying to enforce your personal standards over department standards (I hear it’s not comfortable during the jamming-down-the-throat phase of the process).
The bottom line: Make sure your expectations are fair, clear and understood. It’s always more difficult to go back and try to clarify your expectations when you should’ve made them clear to everyone on the first day you became their captain. If you let an unacceptable behavior go unchecked, you’ve given the impression that the behavior is acceptable. And the longer you look the other way, the longer it will take to change the pattern.
Not Going As Planned?
Some of these situations don’t magically go away after a clean start and a good ol’ expectation talk. Remember, you’re dealing with a seasoned veteran; Firefighter Bill has been a craftsman in the passive-aggressive trade for years. If he’s not responding to your initial tactics, it’s time to add a player to your team.
Talk to your supervisor and bring them up to speed immediately. If this thing goes sideways, and Bill’s behavior doesn’t change or gets worse, your chief shouldn’t be blindsided by the runaway train that’s now speeding down the tracks. Remember: A battalion chief should never find out about your personnel problem from someone else.
But if your boss has been around a while, he or she should expect this conversation. Most chiefs know what’s going on with difficult employees, but they’re often unable to make changes without the help of a company officer. If a captain is willing to accept and protect a difficult employee, the battalion chief has an uphill battle ahead. In order to change Bill’s behavior, the battalion chief must also change the captain’s behavior.
In any case, you and your boss need to have a chat-’em-up on the situation. If you’re doing your job right, you’ll have an action plan and a contingency plan in mind before stepping into your boss’ office. If you don’t, you might as well suck your thumb, assume the fetal position and admit you can’t do your job. Your boss isn’t there to tell you how to do your job; they’re there to give you guidance.
After you let your boss know the game plan and you’re both on the same page, it’s follow-through time.
Say What You Mean & Mean What You Say
I’m sure you’ve heard that bit of advice before. It doesn’t ring truer than in this situation. Firefighter Bill will be looking for weakness at this point in our game–I call it a game because it is, in a way. If you don’t think Firefighter Bill has a plan of attack to make your life miserable and make you look like a moron, you need a reality check.
Many long-term, difficult employees are very good at doing the minimum required of them while following the letter of the law, but they fail the attitude test. In fact, most of these problems don’t have anything to do with task-level requirements, they have to do with poor attitudes. Unfortunately, most fire departments don’t have a formal rule regarding acceptable attitudes. And things that are difficult to define are often difficult to enforce.
If your department can’t define a good or bad attitude, then you must. You don’t accept a poor attitude from a rookie firefighter, so why accept it from a veteran who’s supposed to be setting the example? Just because you can’t point to the definition of a good attitude in some rule book doesn’t mean you can’t define it and enforce it.
You then must sit down with your problem child and openly discuss the problem–their attitude–and that you won’t tolerate it. Clear the air, get everything out in the open, and explain what you consider to be acceptable behavior and the possible consequences for not meeting that standard. Tell them your definition of a good attitude. Say exactly what you mean; be professional, direct and honest. Now comes the fun part–enforcing what you said. If you don’t enforce what you talked about, you would’ve been better off not saying anything at all. The second you don’t enforce something you said you would, you’ve lost the battle.
It’s like a parent telling their child to stop acting up or else they’ll get sent to their room. If the child acts up, but the parent fails to follow through and send the child to their room, that kid has learned that mom or dad is just blowing smoke and it doesn’t mean a thing. Follow-through is the single most important part of changing any behavior.
Conclusion
These problems don’t appear and progress overnight, so they won’t disappear overnight either. It takes a tremendous amount of time, effort, consistency and patience to resolve complex employee problems. The ultimate goal: to change someone’s behavior and hopefully return them to being a productive member of your department.
From my experience and actively watching other captains deal with the same challenge, there are numerous possible outcomes. The main challenge for any officer is not worrying about the final outcome; instead, do your job and do the right thing, letting the chips fall where they may. Remember: You didn’t create this problem, so all you can do is your best to try and fix it.
Unfortunately, some problems aren’t fixable, and some employees may ultimately have to be let go. But don’t take it personally if it doesn’t work out as planned. If you’ve done your best, you’ve done what’s right for your crew and what’s right for the service.
