Hugh Caulfield was with FDNY from the 1950s to the 1970s. Recruited to teach at the first Line Officer’s Development Program. About 2000 lieutenants and captains were trained when the program closed in 1973. Captain Caulfield became a Special Projects Officer at the Division of Training. Completed a public administration master’s degree while at the Academy.
Appointed Assistant Professor at the Fire Science Department at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Fire Engineering published Winning the Fire Service Leadership Game in 1985. A cult classic for urban fire officers, Caulfield’s stories and issues still ring true. Professor Caulfield died in 2006.
SIMULTANEOUS GAMES WITH DIFFERENT RULES
The first game is played by the firefighters and first line supervisors. The playing field is the fire station.
The winner of the first game will control the hour-to-hour activities within the fire station. Owning the bugles does not mean you will win the game.
The second game is played by the company officer and command staff. The playing field is the department and the winner is the person with the best ability to control turf, power and politics to satisfy personal needs.
Caulfield learned about the second game when he ran into command resistance when starting Phase 2 of the Line Officer program:
Firefighters in the Bronx were going to ten fires a day, sometimes having to crawl under apparatus to get away from the junk being thrown at them from the rooftops. Yet , the Fire Commissioner could become upset about a firefighter in a dirty shirt!
The utter foolishness of such demands, which the grapevine said came from the back seat of a chief’s car as it sped through the Bronx on the way downtown, made the craziness all around the City even harder to take.
Later postings will cover five stages of the leadership game.
LEADERSHIP EAP
Part of the Special Projects Officer job resembled an employee assistance program. A lieutenant or captain would call the Division of Training and ask the Chief for help with a leadership problem. Captain Caulfield would handle.
The goal was to get the leader to conform so that he would not get hurt by the formal organization. Provided a way to resolve delicate problems without using the department’s formal authority.
Caulfield obtained permission from the division and battalion commanders to respond to the first line supervisor. The chiefs would stay out of it unless Caulfield told them he could not resolved the problem. If successful, the chiefs would be informed that the first level leader and his game were back on track. No details were ever requested by command staff.
21st CENTURY CHANGES TO THE GAME
Your playing field is defined by the municipal personnel regulations, labor agreement, federal regulations and standard operating procedures. Game details come from the results of grievance determinations and lawsuit settlements.
Each department has a different set of boundaries, what is routine for Department X may violate a federal court order in Department Z.
WHY 2009 IS LIKE 1973
Caulfield felt that the FDNY strike on November 06, was due to failure of the game between the first line supervisors and command staff.
If you scan websites of the largest IAFF locals today you will see examples of discontent with the city council, fire chief, union president, or the labor bargaining team.
Accusations of not doing everything that they can for the rank-and-file. Hinting at unholy labor/management alliances to protect the senior members at the cost of the newbies.
Dramatically increased workload + significantly reduced resources + real or threatened layoff of firefighter postions.
Ninteen months after the ’73 strike, NYC laid off 40,000 city employees, including 1,600 firefighters. While 700 were rehired within three days, 900 members lost their permanent job. (related articles HERE and HERE)
Company officers need to master the game.
SIDEBAR: WHY DEFINE URBAN AS “MORE THAN 400″?
IAFC and NFPA use “400 full-time firefighters” as the definition of a metropolitan fire department since organizing the Metro Chiefs section in 1965. There are unique organizational dynamics and supervisory issues. For the balance of this series, we will use the term metro-sized fire departments.
Mike “FossilMedic” Ward
URBAN COMMANDER is an irregular feature aimed at career staff working in metro-sized fire departments. It will cover topics that were too esoteric, short-term or “sharp” for the Fire Officer textbook. Click “Urban Commander” under Categories to get all of the articles
Also on FireGeezer…
- Paul Lepore: Practice Your Paramedic Skills while Applying for a Career Firefighter position – April 2, 2011
- Los Angeles Chief Millage Peaks to retire – June 27, 2011
- Is Minneapolis Fire still boarding up buildings? – October 13, 2011
- City Council approves LAFD redeployment 12-2 – May 19, 2011
