Hey Loo, can I …

IT WAS A SUMMER SATURDAY AND THE LAST DAY OF THE TOUR.
I was a new engine officer at an engine-aerial-ambulance house.

Firefighter Doe reported a problem at the 7 am line-up. One of his tires was damaged on his way to work.

Virginia had blue laws – meaning that retail stores would be closed when we got off duty Sunday morning.

Doe could not get his tire fixed until Monday. Starting a family vacation Sunday morning, he wanted to know if it was OK to get his car to the tire shop this morning.

Doe wanted to take the truck company portable radio with him. The aerial would pick him up on the way to a call. The informal leader of the group was filling in as the truck officer and said it was fine with him.

What would you do?

CAULFIELD REQUEST LEVEL

This is the second of five leadership levels described by Hugh Caulfield. The firefighters already checked your credentials and now what to know how you will play the game.

This request clearly violates departmental regulations. You have three choices:

Permit the activity
Refuse permission
Provide a vague response (i.e., “just this once”)

Often a new supervisor does not provide a clear answer, an understandable effort to work within the unique fire station work environment.

Providing a vague response forces the supervisor to play this game on every issue. This saps energy and results in an unhappy and unproductive work group. Allowed to fester, this escalates to confrontation, open warfare or conquest.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU

Caulfield says that the fire officer wins the leadership game when the station runs on his or her terms. Only the individual knows the importance of five leadership style elements:

Compliance with rules and regulations
Firefighter satisfaction
Productivity
Risk
Leader satisfaction

The first time I read Winning the Fire Service Leadership Game I was surprised at this assertion. Months (or years) of preparing for a promotional exam creates an extreme supervisor behavior.

EXTREME SUPERVISOR VERSUS REAL LIFE

Most promotional exams reward the candidate who demonstrates an extreme supervisor behavior when confronted with issues requiring a company officer action.

Consider this situation: C-shift firefighter who is running 20 minutes late calls the station to get a B-shift firefighter to cover his position at the start of the work day.

The department requires FRD 375, an exchange-of-shift form, to be submtted 24 hours in advance, signed by both company officers and approved by the affected battalion chief.

The fire officer candidate will dock the C-shifter for 20 minutes of leave-without-pay, propose discipline for the C-shifter for not following the exchange-of-shift policy and notify the B-shift battalion chief of the failure of the B-shift firefighter and company officer to comply with the regulation.

That may be the expected response for the promotional exam.

If this is the real life response by the new C-shift company officer at the first occurence, it certainly is not a vague! This may be an over-the-top response that damages the new company officer’s credibility.

On the other hand, this may be a severe but acceptable response in some fire departments.

CONFRONTATION

Vague, fuzzy and inconsistent supervisory responses often lead to the third Caulfield supervisory level: confrontation.

Supervisory responses that do not match the fire station culture, even if it satisfies the department’s operational requirements, will lead to confrontation.

Changing a supervisory response, like denying future requests to take care of personal issues on a Saturday AFTER allowing Doe to go to the tire shop, will lead to confrontation.

Later colums will cover the confrontation, open warfare and conquest levels. Also discuss Caulfield’s benevolent dictator approach.

Michael “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: Principles and Practice textbook. Click “Urban Commander” under Categories to get all of the articles.

Caulfield’s Leadership Game Rules

The two games that are played at the same time.

Spheres of Influence

Level 1: Getting to Know You and Checking Credentials

Also on FireGeezer…

Caulfield’s Leadership Game Rules – November 2, 2009
Timely Discretion – November 30, 2009
Dirty Shoes at Task Force 1 – December 20, 2009
Spheres of Influence – October 26, 2009

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jerimiahtenhouse

what about the career fireman who have been cleaning your toilet and pulling your ceilings for 23 years, as I have ( could of passed the chiefs test, but didnt drink the coolaid) ....I love the bosses.....always the experts.....23yrs FDNY BRONX...still runnin the show from the sideline....25 yr old bosses....pplleeaasssee.

Fire Daily

Refuse permission.

My problem isn't the tire, in fact, I don't have a problem. My responsibility to the department, to the community, and to the crew is is to have a properly staffed and ready company to respond at all times.

I would also have a cup of java with the informal leader filling in as truck officer, explaining how "solving one problem" could end up creating many more, both today, and down the road if such permissions were granted.

Thanks for shining the light on fire service leadership. In my opinion, the vast majority of "issues" can be avoided with leaders who have effective people skills. Without followers, there are no leaders. You need to have followers buy into what you bring to the table Finding a way to do that on a consistent, predictable manner is paramount to the success of your group.

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

I *wish* I went with the cuppa coffee with both Doe and the informal leader. With inexperience and gold-badge-itis comes brash, quick decisions that takes months to undo.

Dal90

There's multiple options in my mind.

First, call your wife to come down and pickup the tire and bring it to the store. But maybe she's working.

Second, ask a fellow firefighter to run the tire down to the store and get it repaired. That way you don't afoul of the shift trade nonsense outlined above. It's a Saturday, it's likely one of them will be out running errands anyway and it wouldn't be a big inconveince.

Third, if departmental policies allow sick time preceeding a vacation period, burn a sick day. If departmental policies are so inflexible to not allow some discretion in a matter like this...that they have to pay o/t to someone held on coverage doesn't break my heart.

Fourth is to ratchet strap the tire to the back bumper, drive over to the tire store, drop it off, pick it back up later in the shift. Mission accomplished without breaking crew integrity.

The problem with options four or the one in the original scenario is should "the big one" hit during shift, you may end up not being able to pick the tire up later. The first three guarantee you'll have it for tomorrow.