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Leadership That Matters, Part 16

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I was giving Zach Green from MN8 Foxfire a tour of our department when I got a call from Lt. C down at Station 7.  There is some construction going on next door to the station.  The landscape contractors brought in some trees to be planted; in one of them, a nest had been built. Two baby birds were subsequently dropped onto the burgeoning garden forming in the shadow of the new cell phone tower.  

What do people do when they have a problem they can't readily solve? They call the fire department.  Since a fire station happened to be right next door, the contractors brought the helpless creatures to Engine 7's house.

Armed with their extraordinary problem solving skills, the crew came up with the right answer. They called a vet to get some advice and found that one was willing to take the birds in for us. The call to me was for  advice as to how they could carry out their plan, since the vet was in Bluffton, outside of our jurisdiction.  I told them to manage with what they had and to let me think about how to make things work out.  I was returning to my office at Station 7 anyway and told them I'd talk to them in person shortly.

When I arrived, the guys were huddled around their little project at the watch desk, feeding the birds worms.  They had a syringe and a catheter and were dripping warm milk gently into the two tiny birds mouths.  And they had a hot pack under a warm towel keeping the birds comfortable.  Solutions like these don't come readily to people who aren't engaged in their jobs.  These three firefighters, three guys who I wouldn't describe as "huggy", were tending these infant birds with all the gentleness of my 11 year old daughter, with real concern for their outcome.  

Was it their job to do this?  No.  Was it a challenge, especially since they didn't know what to do? Yes.  Did it fall into the scope of our mission?  No, but it was the right thing to do.

There are those who would argue that our resources are better spent elsewhere.  They might say that we have a responsibility to the community to provide fire and EMS coverage and this was detracting us from that responsibility.  I would argue that this was not the case.  I would also argue that the ability for our people to show compassion for even the most helpless of beings demonstrates to me a willingness to do the job we are charged with doing, while sharing our organizational values.

Transactional leadership has no place here.  What benefit did they get from these efforts?  What tangible bonus came as a result of taking in these birds?  There was none.  These firefighters did these things because they care.  And caring is an extraordinarily important part of leading altruistically.

Our organization has established integrity as one of our principal values.  Some describe integrity as the desire to do the right thing even when nobody is watching.  It would have been very easy to just get rid of these birds in the dumpster, or to tell the contractor it wasn't our job, or to tell them that they needed to call Animal Control, or any one of a number of excuses people can make for not doing what is right.  I wasn't around, I never would have known.  But that isn't the way we operate around here.  Our leaders, almost to a man, can be trusted to make good decisions even when they aren't popular or convenient or in the job description.  They know what we expect, they understand our shared values, and they set the example of leadership by demonstrating these values in their daily actions.

What examples of leadership tell you a person cares even when it hurts?  Can you look at yourself or at other leaders and say that the organizational value of integrity is continually upheld? When people act with integrity, it is often because their leaders have demonstrated their own insistence on acting with integrity.  When leaders don't demonstrate these values, the troops say, "Who cares?"  Of all the values an organization holds, it is the ones that the followers see their leaders demonstrating that they place importance on.  If you don't act like it means anything, you shouldn't be surprised if the troops don't feel the same way as well.

Posted by on May 18, 2012 • Filed under: administration-leadership, change, Command & Leadership • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

LTM, Part 15 Continued

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I won't keep you in suspense that long, as I am not a suspense writer.  He ended up succeeding and retiring about ten years later on his own terms, more or less.  The reason why? Because after I had my conversation with him and outlined my expectations, he was surprised that nobody had ever really sat down and had a similar assessment of his contribution to the organization.

Here was somebody who in his early years did the things he needed to have done, he took his tests, he maintained his certifications, but he wasn't your superstar employee.  He wasn't the one showing up at a half-hour before clocking in, or joining special teams, but he was doing a decent enough job and I won't say he was simply filling a spot, because he was indeed better than that, but he wasn't a rock star either.

As it happens, our department back then, and in the form we are now, happened to have a lot of rock stars.  Not that there was or is a problem with that, but as supervisors, we have to be careful that while we have high expectations of individuals, we are reasonable in their ability, both physically and mentally, to manage and succeed at that level.  If not, we may need to adjust.  We might need to be a little more realistic and of course, we may need to go to the Bag O' Tricks and use a different means of motivating this individual.

He had a high sick leave ratio, simple enough; is the problem an actual medical problem, or does he need to go to employee assistance to seek solutions to personal problems?  Regardless, I was the first one to literally say: "You have a sick leave problem.  We need you here at work.  If there is a health problem, we need you to go to a doctor and get it resolved.  If there is another problem, we can help with that too.  But otherwise, we need you to be here on your assigned day for the assigned length of time. Period."

That might not translate into "altruistic" leadership to you, but remember, sometimes we are too close to our own problems and need to have someone else put it into perspective for us.  But if you fail to address the issue, don't be surprised if the issue keeps occurring.  Sometimes people need to be pointed gently in a direction, and in this case, he got help.

These issues also carried over to some of the other challenges as well and we were able to resolve those as well.  The issue of some of the previous leadership styles, which you might want to understand, involved having inconsistent supervisory expectations.

Department wide, and this has carried over into our current existence, we have always had very high expectations.  But what it really comes to, if you dig deeper, is not necessarily an expectation for "Supermen", but an expectation for others share our organizational values.  This doesn't translate well to all of us, and there are those of us, myself included, who get mixed up a little in what it is we want from our people.  It really comes down to this: I don't need you to be the best firefighter or best medic in the world.  I need you to have the attitude that while you may be the best, that we put others first and we work together as a team.

I can teach you to be a better firefighter.  I can teach you to be a better medic.  I can't teach you to have a better attitude.  

Either you are receptive to my teaching you, or you are not.  Either you are receptive to being nice to our customers, or you are not.  

Either you are receptive to seeing that I am willing to trust you, or you are not. It is all a matter of attitude.

As much as I want my people to exceed, they have somewhat different values.  But so long as their work values are the same ones shared by the rest of the team, they should be okay.  I didn't need this guy to be a member of Special Ops, or even come out to some of the things we did on the weekends together.  I would have liked that, but the reality is that this individual was not a high achiever, and yet he was willing to do everything we needed him to do.  He was not striving to be an officer, he didn't want to lead teams, he wanted to fight fire, work on the ill and injured, and drive fire trucks or ambulances.  He was also okay with doing all the other more mundane parts of the job and with a smile on his face.  But he wasn't lining up to be the next chief.

This individual needed an officer who understood that.  He did not, however, need the other type of officer either, the one who given an individual who was not a rising star, was the absolute opposite and expected NOTHING from him.  He was not challenged, he could call in sick regularly without any repercussions, he did not train and any number of other problems.  This individual needed a leader who could switch tools in the middle of the job if needed.

Ultimately, we got his situation straightened out.  His sick leave was reduced to perhaps once a quarter, or less.  He actually was inspired by his colleagues to obtain additional certifications and he even showed up to some of the non-mandatory things we do. But the difference was, when we had an issue, we communicated.  We worked together to solve the problems and we were both receptive to each others' perspectives.  When you can have a relationship where both individuals realize their similarities and their differences, and you can agree to work together, you can achieve much.

Everyone is different. Even family members raised in the same home bring different strengths and weaknesses to the table, and the result of those traits, running up against the challenges faced by living day to day, multiplied by the opportunities to learn something and divided by the blown chances, all factor into the individual's attitude.  Humans are much too complicated to have a rote method of managing.

To say that all individuals will respond to good leadership is unrealistic.  While we have those who inspire us when we see them excel, there are those that you can give chances to and they'll exploit them every time.  But that is when another trick must come out of the bag. 

Posted by on May 17, 2012 • Filed under: administration-leadership, change, Command & Leadership, leadership • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Leadership That Matters, Part 15: The Bag of Tricks

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Emma, my oldest, wants to know all the secret Daddy tricks to winning in Monopoly.  She is 11, so advising her on strategy probably isn't going to be really effective, but she is a smart girl.  She might even already understand strategy but doesn't realize it as such, after all, she is becoming a pretty good chess player.  I don't know that I want to teach her my outlook on it, though, because I can be quite the cynic.

The problem is that Monopoly is a game that relies on the roll of die, on the actions and inactions of others, and your intellect is maybe but a percentage of it all.  Don't get me wrong; you can blow it.  You can screw things up so badly that you are bankrupt before you have spent an hour on the game.  Others can sense your weaknesses and exploit them.  If Caroline or Honora were to play Emma (they are 8 and 6, respectively), she could have their money in minutes.  But if, for some wild chance, Emma were to roll badly and regularly enough, there is only a certain amount of control you would have and others, if they are perceptive enough, could eat you alive.

I have, however, played Monopoly before with people who were not interested in winning.  In fact, I have played before where the goal was to be the first one to blow all your money and interestingly enough, if everyone is giving you chances to make money, literally throwing it at you, it is still possible to "lose" the game.  But it sure takes a lot longer.

We all have employees, subordinates, or colleagues that no matter how hard we throw opportunities at them, they still manage to screw them up.  We all probably know of a few people who have been given a hundred second chances and they still manage to miss the boat. You really have to say to yourself, at some point, how many passes is this person going to get before someone pulls the plug?

I said before that transformational leadership really depends on the ability of the follower to understand it.  They have to see that they are being given opportunities to grow, you are willing to guide them, but to be transformational, they are going to have to do something with what they have got.  Altruistic behavior on your part is great, but for it to be transformational requires the recipient to have a clue.  In light of this kind of failure, you probably should have some ability to push them in a direction in which the lesson becomes apparent.

When you are a middle to upper level manager like a Battalion Chief or an Assistant Chief, you have to rely on your subordinate officers to do their jobs.  I have had varying degrees of enforcement apparent from one officer to the next before, and surprisingly enough, that degree of variance isn't obvious.  Likewise, just the nature of certain personalities sometimes are enough to provide compliance where another officer isn't able to achieve the same.

Case in point: Years ago, I had the opportunity to walk into our old administration building at the same time a firefighter was about to be let go.  I was a pretty new officer and I had seen how this individual wasn't a high performer, but I felt like I could at least give working on him a try.  I intervened with the Deputy Chief at the time and asked if I could have a shot at it, to which he agreed to permit.

We gave the individual a few days off without pay to reinforce their narrow escape from termination and I digested their personnel jacket.  I saw some patterns that were troubling, but I was young, full of energy, and I wanted to prove my ability to turn someone around.  I was also armed with a bag of tricks that come from a long enough period of observing leadership styles and lots of understanding of strategy.

When the individual returned and reported to me for the first time, I laid it all out for their benefit.  This individual had been on the department for a number of years before I had been hired, he was older, and he was skeptical.  I explained some of what had transpired, including the fact that they were very close to being sent packing.  I also reinforced that I was the only thing that was standing between him and the door at that point.

Granted, that kind of explanation for most people should trigger the reaction of gratitude, but in this case, it was more along the lines of resignation. "Why?" he asked me, "Do you want to 'save' me?  I don't even know you that well."  I told him the truth: I saw some of the "leadership" exhibited by his most recent officers and I felt like their approach was not very effective. I felt like my leadership style might make a difference and I was not interested in seeing someone lose their job for reasons not entirely their own.  "Plus", I said, deadpan, "If I pull this off, I'll probably be regarded as a star."  While I said it for a little shock value, he laughed pretty hard when I told him that.  He stopped laughing when I told him that I wasn't sure that I COULD pull it off.  I explained to him that without his efforts, I knew I would NOT pull it off.

And I wasn't sure, to be honest with you because in reality, it comes down to the effort of the individual.  But I was willing to try, so I expressed my views on what he needed to do to improve, I explained my rules and my modus operandi, and I laid out my expectations.  When I was done, I asked him if he thought he could manage all that.  He looked a little beat up, 

So I'll talk in the next post about how it went and hopefully you'll tune in for the outcome.  See you tomorrow.

Posted by on May 16, 2012 • Filed under: administration-leadership, change, Command & Leadership, leadership • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Leadership That Matters, Part 14

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I got to talk to Capt. Tom (EMS12Lead.com) the other day after his return from IAFC's Fire/Rescue Med 2012 Conference.  After congratulating him on bringing home our spiffy new 2012 IAFC Heart Safe Community Award, he gave me a recap of the conference and some of the outstanding moments. One speaker he was enthusiastic about was Paul LeSage, author of the book Crew Resource Management: Principles and Practice. Chief LeSage, who retired as an assistant chief from Tualatin Valley, Oregon, is also a publisher, a clinical professor, and has a consulting practice.  

Chief LeSage spoke of "Just Leadership", which has a lot of the hallmarks of what we have been discussing here.  According to LeSage, the values shared within a "highly reliable emergency medical system" include actively seeking continual improvement and creating a "Just Culture".  As Capt. Tom put it, a lot of what Chief LeSage advocates as being a good leadership model starts with eliminating the "blame" culture, instead, creating a culture where errors and mistakes are used constructively to create learning.

These characteristics are right along the same lines as what we are saying is best: leadership should be, to the extent possible, transformational.  People should be led, rather than dragged, into understanding how challenges occur within our agency, and instead of beating people up, we should get to the root of the problems and address them, hopefully preventing a future issue.  This kind of leadership relies on crew resource management (CRM) and the human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) models, each of which look toward problem solving as being a cultural issue rather than purely as a performance issue.

Years ago, I was fortunate enough to be a participant in the United States Marine Corps' Total Quality Leadership program where many of W. Edwards Deming's theories on quality control were adopted.  While the CRM and HFACS models are different, in that they look toward behavior and communication, I find that there are aspects of quality improvement through the "zero defects" approach that  also are quite similar.  All three of these models really do look at taking the problems from a scenario and finding ways to solve for them, while putting the emotional side of the situation aside.  After all, if problems aren't "blame" and instead are "observations" with clearly defined factors, if we use logic to remove our hurdles, people should respond more constructively.  Errors or mistakes are discussed with the intent of solving the problem, and lessons learned can provide excellent lessons for others, hopefully avoiding the same mistakes again.

There is huge requirement, then, to leave your ego at the door.  It is hard to admit you were wrong, or that you made an error, especially in cultures where there is an emphasis on competition and hierarchy. CRM says it is okay at crucial moments to question an order.  HFACS says that even the smallest mistakes have contributing factors that must be considered in the pursuit of solving them.  These are principles that are not fully embraced even to this day in the firehouse.  "You mean the Chief made a mistake? Nonsense!"

Take a moment and look over some of the links I have provided, because they give you a little perspective on the next issues we will cover.  There is an undercurrent present that you must understand.  

  • The boss is not always right. Ego needs to take a seat.
  • When safety or catastrophic failure is at stake, ANYONE should speak up.
  • More eyes on the problem mean more chances of coming up with a successful outcome.
  • The vast majority of people who make mistakes don't do so deliberately.  What can we change to insure success?
  • Our situation requires constant analysis and reaction to the facts.

These are not embraced among your basic "dinosaur" officer.  These are, in fact, counter to the authoritative, paternalistic approach to leading that has been said to be correct for most of my lifetime.  These issues require a leader to do what is right, to take the best approach (even if it isn't their own approach), and they require the leader to serve others and to educate them.

Our understanding of what moves people to act intuitively and appropriately is evolving as we continue to learn.  Hopefully this series is doing just that for you as well.

Posted by on May 15, 2012 • Filed under: change, Command & Leadership, leadership • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Memory of Lt. Bruce Schultz, Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue

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Our department lost a dear friend yesterday after a long battle with cancer.  Lt. Bruce Schultz came down from Ohio back in the day when hanging out at the station for long enough would get you hired.  I remember that when he did this, we were faced with a longer than average lull in our hiring and he stuck in there until he got the call to the majors.

Bruce and I knew each other for just under thirty years, which for two people not from the same zip code, is a very long time.  Just like anyone who works together for a long time, we had our ups and downs, but honestly, he was a good man and would do anything for you if you needed it..  So, I know you are looking at that blue 1975 Datsun B210 and wondering, "What the hell does a 1975 Datsun B210 have to do with honoring a firefighter?"  Well, my hard drive crashed a while back and I don't have any old pictures on it, so unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Bruce for this memorial.  Instead, I posted a picture of a 1975 Datsun B210 in his honor. He, of anyone, would appreciate the sentiment.

I remember one night, when Hilton Head Island's night life wasn't what it is today (not that it's roaring around here at 0200 or anything), we went to Savannah to do a little drinking and to meet some young ladies.  This was right after he started dating his future wife, Dale, who also happens to be the sister of our "C" Shift Battalion Chief/Ops.  In those days, driving after you had a few cold ones was looked on as youthful indiscretion.  When we left the bar (Remington's, for all you Savannahians) I decided to go back to the Island by way of Interstate 516.

Anyone who knows Savannah knows that 516 goes in the opposite direction from Hilton Head Island. So a few minutes into this, we realize we have gone the wrong way, and I decide that my 1975 Datsun B210 (see above, only I couldn't find a picture of my car in red) is a four-wheel drive machine (it wasn't) and I tried to cross the median at relatively high speed (for a red non-four-wheel drive 1975 Datsun B210).  Bruce was not impressed.  

Bruce really wanted to go home at that point, except home was Station 6 and it's not like we were going to be welcome there in our condition either.  He was also dating Dale at that point, and really didn't want to do anything that was going to set her off either, like showing up at her apartment smelling like Budweiser.  The Georgia State Trooper that pulled up to see what we were doing wasn't impressed either.  But in those days, like I said, we weren't as enlightened about the dangers of impaired driving.  The trooper took one look at Bruce and I, decked out in our finest disco clothes, covered in grass and mud, and growled, "I've got to go to a wreck.  If I come back and find you still here, both of you are going to jail!"

Luckily, two U.S. Army Rangers, probably heading back to the base for the night and likely in the same condition as us, had also ditched THEIR car just down from us and got the same speech. As the trooper sped off, we made a quick agreement: we would help them push their car out of the ditch if they would help us do the same.  So that bond borne of a desire to return unscathed to our own respective beds was sufficient to keep us all out of jail and we limped back into port at Hilton Head none the less for the wear.  

Needless to say, not long after that, Bruce got married.  My roommates and I (also firefighters) used to joke that we would wake up in the morning, look out in the yard, and ask "who drove?"  We were a little wild in our younger days and I like to think perhaps Bruce took a look at the mess we were and figured he had a good woman and a good situation, and didn't want to mess that up.  He and Dale were together ever since and I, of course, was specifically prohibited from retelling that story, because Dale was and is a sweet, church-going woman and probably would have not looked kindly upon our little adventure. 

Bruce got cancer a while back and after a fight, thought he had it beat.  He returned to work for a while and was working at regaining his strength. Just like the demon killer-type in a nasty horror movie, Bruce saw it lying in the road, turned his back on it to get on with his life, and it came back with a vengeance.  

Not too long ago, Bruce was trying to be his usual self, I gave him a hug and asked how it was going.  He said he was going to keep working at it and wanted to try to get back to working condition.  Mind you, Bruce was moving very slowly at this point, obviously in pain, and minus quite a few pounds.  But he didn't let it get him down.

Like I said, I relieve his brother-in-law on the C to A shift change.  When I saw Cliff yesterday morning, he broke the news to me that the doctors at Duke gave Bruce two weeks to live and they were sending him home to be attended to by Hospice.  Bruce and Dale were determined to stick it out, or at least that was the face they showed us all.  Both of them felt like they didn't need any fussing over them. His children were going to come see him, as well as his year-old grandchild.  Cliff said he made sure he told his boys to go over and see him soon as well.  I asked Cliff if he thought it would be okay if I came by to see him today after shift and he said, "I'd just show up. I'm sure they'd like that." I said to Cliff, "You know, my grandfather got diagnosed with cancer in 1965 and they told him he had a few months.  He died in 1981."  But, I said, I'd make sure I went to see him. 

I did not get the chance to say goodbye.  Within four hours of that conversation, Bruce passed away.

I like to tell the funny stories after someone has gone, because I remember the good times and I think of how different we all are in our "adult" years.  I think the concept of a wake to celebrate the life of a departed loved one has a lot of merit.  Some people see that as almost sacrilegious, but I see it as something that we should be joyful for, because our friend or our family member, in this case, our Brother, is in a place where there is no pain.  And how can you not be happy about that?

I ask that you all keep Bruce's family in your thoughts and prayers.  They are good, good people and they will surely miss him, and even when we know that our loved one is no longer suffering, the times will still be hard to bear.  But with time there is healing and hopefully they can move to that place quickly and remember him for the person he was.

Thanks to Chief Barry Turner and our brothers at Bluffton Township Fire Department, the brothers at Burton Fire Department, and the others who have offered to cover the Island during the funeral, so we can be together and celebrate Bruce.  It's a shame that something like this has to happen sometimes to see who is there for you, but our departments have always had a good relationship and we would do the same for them as well, and that is truly brotherhood.

Posted by on May 12, 2012 • Filed under: Firefighter Nation • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,