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Sometimes We Need A Kick In The Head

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Not literally, of course.  But motivation to learn is directly proportional to the perceived benefit of the education and if there is no perceived benefit, we have to change that perception to achieve the team goals.

For example: Over the weekend, I was working on my porch, and the girls were on the swingset.  Our home actually sits on the ridge of a “100-year dune” so while the house and the porch are at a whopping  16 feet above sea level, the swingset area, which is about fifty feet from the house, is at 8 feet above sea level.  If you calculate the run to rise, you can see it’s not too steep.  It is, however, steep enough that walking off the porch, walking about fifty feet, engaging your subject, and walking back up the hill, back up the steps, and back to what you were doing can get real old if you have to do it OVER and OVER and OVER again.

So I’m minding my own business, trying to get the flowers and plants back to normal after yet another squirrel feeding frenzy, when I hear, “Daddy, can you push me?”  It’s Honora.  She has this sweet sing-song voice that will melt anyone’s heart.  I’m busy, but I break from what I’m doing, go down the hill, etc. etc. and push her.  Then I return to what I am doing.  For about a minute.

When she calls me the second time, I’m not stupid.  I detect an emerging trend.  I do a little bit of analysis for a living, remember?  So I consider that perhaps this is the part where I try some of the theory I pass along to upcoming leaders out, you know, put my money where my mouth is.  So I try to engage my newly minted four-year-old (she turned four this weekend) in the philosophy that you can give a man a fish and he can eat today, but if you teach him to fish, he can eat forever.  This is, of course, given you equip him with a fishing rod, show him what to use for bait, find him a decent fishing location, then teach him to gut, filet, etc. etc.  Easier said than done.

So when I go down the hill this time, instead, I try to convince Honora that learning HOW to swing is MUCH better than my having to come push her every minute.  Or it’s at least much better for me, but I digress.  She, however, wasn’t buying that.  She knew that eventually I’d come and push her, especially if she begged me long enough.  So learning HOW wasn’t really a priority on her chart.  I mean, if Dad will come push me, then why learn?

After about thirty minutes of cajoling, convincing, educating, etc. we were no closer to her being able to swing on her own than I was to having a squirrel-free garden, so I’m thinking you are getting the picture here.  No matter what, if someone doesn’t have a desire to learn, they won’t.  And I don’t care what kind of a leader you think you are, if you have someone who is just dead-on convinced they will learn nothing, that is exactly what they will learn.

I have had this revelation before, but it seemed like a pretty graphic representation of the phenomenon.  We have employees and co-workers for whom no one can teach anything.  They know it all, they have seen it all, and by God, you can’t sell them the idea that there might be a little to learn from everyone, no matter how inexperienced or poorly prepared that they are.  If anything, you might just learn what NOT to do.

Even more so, we have people that we are trying to engage that really don’t want to be engaged.  There are the performers, who seek learning opportunities, and there are the individuals who simply don’t have a desire to be motivated.  Well, there’s something to be said for that.  Is it that they don’t desire to learn or is it that the consequences of their failing to learn haven’t become clear enough or dire enough for them to get the message.

There’s the adage I have used for years about the difference between incompetence and unwillingness; if I were to put a loaded gun to your head and ask you to do a task , and tell you that I was going to pull the trigger if you couldn’t complete the task, the difference is that the incompetent still wouldn’t be able complete it and the unwilling will figure out a way somehow.  When consequences of failure are severe enough (and I’m certainly not advocating putting a gun to someone’s head), if you simply don’t know, you don’t know.  Thus there is a difference between motivation and education.

In any team dynamic, there is occasionally a need to point out the merits and the disadvantages of failure.  Some things should be pretty obvious, but in certain aspects of the job, one must be given reinforcement as to the consequences; not only as to what will happen if they fail in regard to the impact on the organization, but also in regard as to what your avenue of remediation will be to insure that it does get done.

We each have a responsibility to be able to do the minimum requirements of the job, and to do that to the standard upheld by the organization.  The problem is, many managers think that anything coming close to the requisite performance is considered “over and above” simply because they don’t currently hold anyone to the actual standard.  Learning anything, then, isn’t necessarily rewarded.  Learning is expected if you want to advance, but really, it should also be expected if you want to keep your job, especially if you aren’t fully competent at it yet.

When we just fix the errors rather than to educate the individual, we are, in essence, rewarding poor performance. Individual performance must be evaluated if we have a person who isn’t hitting the mark, so we can flag the problem, illustrate the issue, and to give the appropriate direction.  Then, in order for learning to occur, the individual must want to learn how to fix the problem and do something about it.  If the individual is sufficiently motivated, even if they don’t quite get it, they’re at least likely to seek assistance in solving the issues.  If they aren’t, you’ll probably find out the next time they need to perform the task. Hopefully it won’t be a catastrophic failure when you do.

Motivation comes to those who see value in what it is they are trying to accomplish.  Some people are able to motivate themselves easier than others, mostly because they have the benefit of understanding how their performance relates to overall team success.  This is also helped by a positive attitude, or at least an attitude of willingness to listen and appreciate another’s viewpoint prior to dismissing it offhand.

Motivation shouldn’t require being traumatized, but sometimes it seems like the only thing to cause a change in attitude is a lesson in tough love. When you can provide the appropriate direction, there comes the point, just as we must do with our children, where we must step back and let our charges fail on their own.

Our job is to be there to facilitate a change in behavior, help in redirecting the efforts, and to encourage them to find some answers on their own.  In doing so, we promote growth and independence.  And if we fail to do this, if we catch them every time, they’ll be dependent upon you forever.

Posted by truck6alpha on May 30, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Training & Development, change, education, leadership, motivation, officership, professionalism • Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Lessons In Humiliation In Future For Fire Daily’s John Mitchell

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While this first game has certainly evolved into a shootout, I’m impressed that my friend John Mitchell is able to see so far into the future that he envisions a possibility that I might be singing something to pay back our bet on the Stanley Cup Final.  There’s a lot of hockey left, but I see the Flyers eventually settling things down, then John can serenade the entire World Wide Web with his own special version of “Philadelphia Freedom“.

If there’s something I learned a long time ago, it’s that I never crow about “certain” wins or taunt anyone when we are ahead.  It usually always comes back to haunt you.  Any of you remember Hollywood Henderson predicting a Dallas win over the Steelers in the 1976 Super Bowl?

So you’ll have to excuse my tip of the hat to John for the first shot over the bow instead of a volley in his direction, because I’ve always been one of those guys who will hold my fire and maneuver in a little closer before letting fly.  In the meanwhile, I’ll hoist my beer to him in brotherhood, and later, when he finally sends me the link to the soon-to-be- famous webcast (as he is channeling his inner Elton), I’ll be the one on the fringe of the crowd, smiling and saying, “I told you so”.

Posted by truck6alpha on May 29, 2010 • Filed under: Uncategorized • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

FHZ Does “Sharing The Wealth” – First Due Blog Carnival

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Chief Harry DiezelI can’t begin to name all the people who have shared their knowledge with me over the years.  I have probably mentioned a time or two that I was fortunate to have been given an early education in the “family business”.  While I have never fought a fire with my father nor my grandfather, I have heard the stories, and in fact, a few of the firefighters who have fought fire for both of them actually moved to Hilton Head Island and fought fire for me.  I joked with one of our family friends who fit this description that he had the “honor of being a subordinate to three generations of the Mayers family”.  If you can’t take that kind of love in a firehouse, you are doomed.

At every opportunity, I formalized my training by attending as many fire schools as possible with some of the finest firefighters in the nation.  I have had the chance to talk HAZMAT over beers with Greg Noll, and likewise talk Rescue with the late, great Chief Ray Downey.  As a young officer I got to hang out with Chief Brunacini for the day when he was teaching on the Island.  And later in my career, I have had the amazing honor of working side by side as a committee officer with Carl Goodson, one of the finest leaders I have ever met.  I have had many other, lesser known, but quite inspirational and educated instructors and mentors along the line.  I have also worked directly for and with chiefs of local departments who continue to share their immense knowledge and insight with me.

Of all of these, however, until I met Chief Harry Diezel, who at the time was the Chief of the Virginia Beach Fire Department, I didn’t really have a vision of what my future in the fire service would be. What’s funny about it is that he was able to inspire a young officer candidate in sixteen hours of a seminar, by exposing to him to the potential of emergency services from an entirely different model than ever envisioned.

I have always had a strong work ethic and I thought I was a decent officer.  While was insistent on my crew being well prepared and well trained, in my early years as a company officer, my battles with management were often visible, bloody, and engaged head-on with no regard to the bigger picture.  Think “irresistible force meets immovable object”.  I knew I was good, I had swagger, and I had total confidence.  I was moving up the food chain rapidly because I was a John Wayne, no-nonsense, this-is-the-way-to-do-it kind of officer and in the ‘80’s, this was the personification of the model company officer.

As you also might have suspected, in the ‘80’s the notion of taxpayers as “customers” in the fire service was not widely accepted.  In fact, it was meeting pretty serious resistance, as it still does in certain areas.  I was no exception to the norm.  When it came to dealing with the public, I enjoyed delivering the emergency service, but as far as I was concerned, if you weren’t with us, you were against us.  After all, as taxpayers, you don’t have a choice in how emergency services are provided, do you?  If an issue came up in regard to providing fire protection, our take was, “Just listen to us, we know what we are doing, and we’ll tell you how to do it correctly”.

So when I had a chance to sit in a room over two days with Chief Diezel and learn about “paradigms” (BEFORE they became a cheap buzzword) and to learn about thinking with new perspective (again, before “outside the box” became clichéd), it was revolutionary.  When we talked about political strategy, it was fresh air and realization of a whole new approach toward selling service delivery.  When he suggested we read (and understand) “The Art of War”, not as a study in warcraft but as a guide for strategic living, it was before anyone else was suggesting any of these options.

Looking back on it, the things we talked about that weekend were shown to us as being “fresh” ideas ten and even twenty years later.  In some communities, when I come in and discuss a “vision for emergency services”, sometimes I get blank stares.  When I ask an officer candidate in another department what he or she sees in the future of emergency services, and they answer, “New trucks” or “more people”, I’m wondering why someone hasn’t tried to get them to see that our industry is affected globally, not just at city hall.

Harry got at least this one officer to embrace change, to accept that there might be alternatives to what we perceived as being the sole answer, and gave me the spark to explore and understand.  When I had the veil of ignorance lifted, it was like an entirely new beginning to my career.  I took classes on psychology and sociology to better understand the people both in the organization and in the community that I would have to motivate.  I enrolled in programs that were sponsored by the chamber of commerce and attended seminars offered to private businesses, and began to serve on boards and panels.  I realized in the ‘80’s that networking was a key element in political survival and marketing your organization wasn’t a bad thing.

Of all things, Chief Diezel got me to see that people do have a choice.  They may not have the ability to decide what agency comes when they call for help, but they have a choice in who is employed in that agency.  They also have a say in whether or not you get the apparatus and tools for the job, the fire stations to put the apparatus and tools in, and whether or not you get people to put on those resources.  These people also have the ability to put people in office who support you, and they can put people in office who will make your life miserable.

I have resolved to share this wealth with others through Firehouse Zen.  I have a vision of emergency services reborn, of revolutionary change in the way we operate and in the way that we engage the public to minimize injury and loss.  There are so many “leaders” out there who still have that veil over their eyes and have never understood the potential of a fully engaged organization.  Until they do, their department is condemned to being ordinary and marginal.  If there’s anything in this world I don’t want to be, it’s ordinary and marginal.

Learn to really be at the front of the pack and learn how to guide and push toward a goal of really effective service delivery.  More importantly, though, find someone who needs guidance, some young officer, and mentor them.  Give them the gift of vision and foresight and help them to prepare for all of the changes that will surely come in next generations.  Nothing you have gained is worth a cent if you don’t share it with others.

Thanks, Chief Diezel, for unwittingly inspiring me.  It was a great weekend.

Posted by truck6alpha on May 26, 2010 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Nation, Training & Development, change, customer service, education, government, leadership, motivation, officership, politics, professionalism • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Weekly Weasel – Installment 2

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ladder talk webI’m so happy that the Weekly Weasel seems to have intrigued some people, so let’s have another go at it. Our subject for today is the officer who sets a less-than-stellar example for his personnel (don’t worry, I have some “her” stories too, coming up).  This weasel is going to go by the name “Lt. Bubba”.

In Lt. Bubba’s head, he is an excellent example of leadership.  He has managed to cram his fat butt into his too small uniform pants for a while now (reminding me of trying to stick 11 pounds of crap into a 10 pound bag) and his cheap cologne and immaculate hair might cause one to think he is concerned with his image and how he is perceived by his subordinates. If this were truly the case, Lt. Bubba should probably re-evaluate his daily actions rather than his appearance, as this brings me to a short discussion on leading by example.

While it would seem intuitive that subordinates will perform to the level that they perceive their officer to be performing at, it is also true that newer members to a team will perform to the level that the senior members of a team are performing at.  Likewise, an entire organization’s attitude will ebb and flow along with the attitude of the chiefs.  There are, of course, always exceptions to this rule, because people are individuals, but just the act of watching someone who is engaged, inspiring, transformational, and positive will translate to the subordinates because they can see that this is the expected norm.

Lt. Bubba’s actions, however, are of an officer who is aloof, uncompromising, and negative, unless, of course, it is about some of his “heroic” actions taken during one of the many (many, many) war stories he likes to tell.  But once done eating his bear claw and reminiscing about the good ol’ days, it’s back to his office, where the door goes shut and one can only assume the amazing transformation of the organization that is going on in there (which is probably more primping, reading the latest girlie magazine, and of course, a little Solitaire on the computer, rather than anything productive).

His personnel, in the meanwhile, are milling about aimlessly.  They might get some training, and they might not. They will probably clean up around the station (because Lt. Bubba insists on a clean station, so long as it isn’t him doing the cleaning) and wash the trucks, but to me, most of this is just a replacement for checkers, because it certainly isn’t meaningful effort.

If coached and mentored correctly, personnel often manage to reach a high bar because they are interested in doing well unless there is a factor which causes them to do otherwise.  In Lt. Bubba’s case, it is his laziness, and although the clean station and the grooming seem to indicate a well-organized team, it is just a facade, because his personnel aren’t prepared to go out and do anything other than what he tells them to do, and certainly not prepared to think through a problem and solve it.

When personnel are unable to hit the bar, it is key to determine that cause and root it out.  This can be done through counseling, encouraging, remediation, or the less preferred method, discipline.  If individuals can understand when deficiencies occur and self-adjust, it is certainly a more pleasant method of doing so, but in the event that they can not, that is where the supervisors must step in.  Lt. Bubba is so busy doing as little meaningful as possible, that his personnel are adrift and might or might not get the direction they need.

In organizations with high standards and expectations, the community can sense this commitment and get their heads around that, supporting the organization with good response in the “letters to the editor”, and comments at the weekend BBQs around town.  This is what happens when you have good people, good training, good equipment and apparatus, good rules and guidelines, good staff support, and most importantly, good leadership not just from officers, but from the core leaders- the troops.

Lt. Bubba is all about the window dressing.  I know chiefs who say, “Well, there’s nothing I can pin on him.  His station is clean, his people are always in uniform, and they come in at 0800 and go home at 0800.  Exactly what is your problem with him?”

Well, when I put Lt. Bubba’s people on the fireground, they are constantly looking at others for direction.  Every order must be spelled out in exacting detail, because they don’t understand the difference between strategic, tactical, and task level decision-making.  They too are aloof and ask no questions, and don’t understand the inner workings of an incident, and when faced with a problem they have never faced before, are like deer in the headlights, because they have no critical thinking skills.  On medical calls, it is the same way; they don’t do anything unless told to.  I suspect that it is less a motivational issue so much as it is a failure to comprehend what the next step is in a certain event and to perform proactively.

As a leader, it isn’t just about making everything look good today, it is preparing your troops for tomorrow.  I mentioned this at length in my post the other day.  Lt. Bubba is big on window dressing and little on substance.  This appeals to some chiefs because they think, “Well, he stays out of trouble and he looks good.  I’m okay with that.”  Unfortunately, his personnel are working in a transactional leadership state and need to develop their own thinking skills, because when he is gone, they will not only fail to understand what they need to do, but they might just drift away in the process.

What kinds of techniques might be used to push Lt. Bubba toward coming out of the office and doing what is really needed?  What efforts must be made by his supervisors to develop a more effective team?

Be the catalyst for real change.  If you have a Lt. Bubba in your organization, the people under his command are starving for education.  They may not know it right away, but if shown the path to real teamwork, they might be the spark that moved that machine forward.  Progression and innovation come from original thought, not the parroting of rules.  Personnel need to be able to understand, so they can think for themselves when the time is present.

Posted by truck6alpha on May 25, 2010 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations, Training & Development • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Protect Your Loved Ones

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Give your subordinates a chance to succeed while you watch them closely.

Give your subordinates a chance to succeed while you watch them closely.

There’s been a lot of talk about death in my family lately.  I have been coveting a tortilladora for a while, a relatively heavy device for making homemade tortillas.  The other day, I bought one (they’re cheap, but I had to make a side trip to the supermercado to buy it).  Of course, when I did, my daughter Emma, who is my kitchen sidekick and sous chef, got attached to it.  At dinner, we were joking around and I announced that when I died, I would make sure I specifically left her the tortilladora in my will.

Of course, my three-year old, Honora, took this to mean that my death was imminent, and for the last week everyone in our family has been getting quizzed as to when we are going to die.  Explaining to Honora that I had no immediate plans to die wasn’t cutting it, and explaining to her that everyone will eventually die, but not necessarily over the weekend wasn’t doing it either.  All we can do, I guess, is to be reassuring and hope the discussion evolves to something else soon.

Heartbreaking as it is, however, it brings to mind that our life on this mortal coil isn’t forever and just as I tried to reassure Honora that it wouldn’t be within this pay period, we really have no guarantees that it won’t.  Interestingly enough, our buddy the Fire Critic was just reflecting on this very same subject the other day, while blogging about firefighter wills being offered to personnel.

As good as this sounds, and our department approaches this from a different angle, by providing a one-time benefit to all employees for $300 toward a will or financial counseling, I was hit with something a few years ago that made me spend that much and more as a result of our daughter Caroline having special needs.  Having a “regular” will drawn up would only exacerbate the problems for Caroline; we actually needed to have a specially trained attorney draw up our wills to include the creation of a special needs trust in order to keep the government from taking away any benefits that Caroline would have coming to her as a result of her having Down syndrome.  So the objective discussion is that not only do we need to plan, but we need to know what we are planning for.

The point of my post today is one of leadership, believe it or not, and it goes to the heart of your legacy.  While you may be doing the right thing by your people on a daily basis, there’s also the consideration that we need to prepare them for the event when we are no longer with them, for when we retire, or move to another position, or for any other reason (we’ll leave the realm of death out of it, but that’s another contingency, of course).

If you are a transformational leader, rather than simply a transactional leader, your personnel will already be understanding the need to engage themselves intuitively, to participate and stretch their comfort zones (with you nearby as a safety net), and to identify the areas they need to improve.  You should also be taking this time to coach these people- encouraging them, redirecting them, and allowing them to take small leaps, like leaving them in command of some incidents (like I said, though, with you at their side).

At the company officer level, this sometimes gets a little challenging, since you can’t necessarily turn over command of your company at the next worker to the new guy (there’s usually not enough of those to go around), but there are plenty of other learning moments.  Put them in charge of the company at training, or better yet, have them teach a few classes to the company.  Get them used to being in front.  Let them handle some alarm activations or medical calls or even some service calls as the CO.  Surprisingly enough, we probably had all kinds of training on how to handle fire, medical, and rescue incidents, but how about the critical thinking involved in solving a ruptured water heater call, or a public assistance request?  There are needs for the CO to not only solve for X, but also to be able to provide effective interaction and communication with the complainant to help them through the situation.

While you may have subordinates who can achieve this learning on their own, it is important for you to not only facilitate it, but to monitor it to insure that what these individuals are doing is what meets your criteria.  Coaching and mentoring involves your oversight; you just can’t leave it to chance that they will have absorbed what you have been demonstrating over the years.  While you may have looked upon your own mentor for years and figured out what he or she was doing and understood how they approached situations, not everyone has the same understanding level and while your subordinates may seem to have figured it out, there’s a good chance they are just parroting your moves as well.  Thus the need to have these folks achieve understanding and a deep appreciation for the nuances of each decision and how they came about.  It’s one thing to have someone do what you tell them to do, it’s a different thing to have them think through the situation on their own.

What do you want your legacy of leadership to be?  Do you really want to leave it to chance that your students absorbed the lessons?  Insure that you prepare your personnel for the future by realizing the entire situation and make preparations now to support them in the days to come.

Posted by truck6alpha on May 23, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Training & Development, leadership • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Let’s Get Excited

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Clear.

Clear.

I was seated at Mass when a young lady sat next to me on the pew.  Caroline was in my lap.  In the middle of Mass, the twenty-something girl pulled out a Blackberry and began to text.  While I at first mistakenly believed that maybe she was just texting something like “Don’t bother me, I’m at Mass” or shutting off the phone, she instead continued to text throughout the entire service, as well as hold a conversation with her friend next to her.  I guess it’s possible that she was drunk at 0900 on a Sunday morning, but I doubt it, so that just leaves pure stupidity.

Needless to say, I moved Caroline to the other side of me as to shield her from the burns that would certainly come when a bolt of lightning struck so close by.  God must have been in a particularly benevolent mood that day (but then again, no one gets hit by lightning that really deserves it, no matter how hard we wish it) and she escaped unharmed, free to annoy for another day.

While I have resolved not to let things like this affect my whole day, there’s no amount of understanding that I can summon that enables me to accept this as appropriate behavior.  But I digress; my example was actually to point out that levels of passion about certain aspects of our lives will be different based on our life experiences and our values, and as such, so much of what we do to make us more successful really depends on how much passion we devote to it.

And while I may not ever understand what the purpose of the girl going to Mass that day actually was, you can’t convince me that she got anything out of being there.  Was it the act of “checking the box” that caused her to attend church that day?  If she was raised to believe that showing your face at Mass was simply enough to say you attended church that week,  by definition, I suppose she scored.  But from the aspect of her seriousness about being there, like maybe to pray a little, even to check out what everyone else was wearing on Sunday morning, she was pretty much oblivious.

So my question is, “What are you really getting out of what it is you are doing?”  Are we just going through the motions to do what is expected of us, or are we devoting a certain amount of energy to the event?  If we don’t have a certain amount of passion about what it is we do, how can we expect to create any excitement about what it is we do in order to motivate the people willing to follow us?  If all we are doing is showing up to collect the paycheck or to feed our ego, we aren’t doing anybody any good. We aren’t being true to ourselves and we certainly can’t expect that we are leading others.

I spoke in other blog posts about my observations of Bruce Springsteen, my wife Kathleen, my friend Firuz – and of the passion they had for their own vision, to elevate what it is they do to art form.  I know firefighters who are just there from 0800 to 0800 and would much rather be doing something else.  And obviously if you’d rather be laying around, or hiking, or getting drunk, or something like that, career opportunities are pretty limited for those fields, but you should also understand that having a job supports your ability to engage in those activities.  When the job ends, so does the lifestyle.

But Firehouse Zen as a whole isn’t addressed to those who just want to punch the clock, especially since I doubt that many of them can read anyway.  This entire blog, if you have wandered here unexpectedly, is about leading in an ever-changing world, and how to be that transformative leader the masses look up to.

To me, however, the difference between passion and zealotry is that passion isn’t all-consuming.  There is certainly more to live than non-stop adoration, but if that adoration is bringing you that much closer toward total enlightenment, then maybe you’re onto something.

There are times we have to do certain things well that we’d much rather not be doing.  I am not the least bit passionate about taking out the trash or cleaning out the garage, but there are things that must be done and require doing.  My oldest daughter will sit at the table with four bites of something she doesn’t want and I keep trying to reason with her, that if she simply ate them quickly, she’d be done and moving on with her life, but it’s like trying to reason with a cinder block.  But what I have also told her is that if you have to do something you’d rather not be doing, at least have fun with it.  Get motivated about the task, understand the task, and make it happen.

So being a zealot isn’t the answer, and being a lump isn’t either, and in my eyes, passion sits closer to zealotry in the grand scheme of things, but isn’t quite there.  And I think you would all agree that being passionate about our job is necessary to achieve success.  It’s the question of what we want to do.  What is our vision of success?

We all have to remember, being a success isn’t defined by being the boss.  Plenty of people are happy and successful as middle managers or workers, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.  We can’t all be leaders in the sense of being the head honcho, but we can be leaders in that we set positive examples for others and provide an excellent service.  Whether you are the lowest grunt on the totem pole or the CEO, leading goes hand-in-hand with that passion for what you do.  That passion can be infectious; if people like where you are going and like what they see, they will follow you whether you like it or not.

Don’t just go through the motions.  We can all make our world a better place by leaning forward and putting extra effort into everything we do.  Build value in our actions and we will be seen to be more valuable.  But don’t plan on going anywhere soon if you can’t drum up at least a little excitement about what you think is important.

Posted by truck6alpha on May 19, 2010 • Filed under: leadership • Tagged: , , , , , , ,

The Weekly Weasel – Installation #1

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Integrity is doing the right thing in an ambiguous situation.

Integrity is doing the right thing in an ambiguous situation.

As you may have come to realize, of all things, Firehouse Zen is about leadership.  While many of the things we talk about here involve best practices, there are more than an acceptable share of the mediocre and downright lousy who continue to fill roles better suited for real students of the game.

So while we will host this special column from time to time (weekly might be pushing it a little), the intent is not to belittle these individuals, even though some of them might very well deserve it, but to illustrate a challenge in each case and to discuss the methods we can employ to guard against falling into those traps ourselves.

Since I sense a little trepidation from you all, I’ll start. There’s a person I know who is in a position where they could create a lot of positive influence, as they have the opportunity to work with many different agencies (and this person doesn’t work in my department).  Instead, our Weekly Weasel is such a suck-up and gossipy troublemaker that even the weasels get upset because he gives them a bad name.

Somebody who typifies this personality is Moses Gunn’s character Staff Sgt. Webster from Heartbreak Ridge.  Once you check out the link, you’ll know EXACTLY who I’m talking about.  So while Sgt. Webster is firmly ensconced in Major Malcolm Powers’ hindquarters building an “e-lite fighting team”, in actuality, he is a manipulative jerk who isn’t concerned with anything except making himself look good.  Just like this week’s Weasel.  So for argument’s sake, let’s call him Sgt. Webster.

Sgt. Webster lacks an essential quality of a leader: integrity.  He isn’t concerned with building an “e-lite” team, or he wouldn’t be so concerned with going around behind the scenes undermining the efforts of others.  In fact, the modus operandi of this type of weasel is exactly that: they are so worried that they aren’t going to look good, that instead of worrying about meaningful training and mentoring and educating for his people, he’s spending valuable time building a case for his resume.

Short and sweet learning moment here from Mick: “Don’t worry about your resume; just put your ego behind you, do an amazing job, build trust, and people will follow.  Your resume will build itself.”

So, while our weasel gets his comeuppance in the movie, it’s not always like this in real life.  In fact, I’ve been waiting for our real weasel to get his comeuppance for years, and yet he is still in the same position and hasn’t changed one bit.  Now for the moment you have been waiting for, the reason behind this endeavor.  The lessons.

First off, if you exhibit these traits, know that everyone can see right through it.  Integrity is an important trait because it fills in the biggest blank in a personal relationship; it tells everyone that if presented with an ambiguous situation, you will do the right thing.  Be that the right thing by the Golden Rule, or the right thing by the greater community, or whatever you hold dear as your guiding principles, this person should be depended upon to be fair and just, and they routinely fail to do so.  As a result, everyone can depend upon you to be all about yourself and they know who to avoid when they need leadership.

If you know you have these traits and want to improve yourself: sit down and identify what is important and valuable to your team.  And be honest, since what is important to you is you, while you are sitting there, put down what is important to you in another column.  And since you need to be true to yourself and be a leader, try looking at commonalities that serve you and serve your team and focus on those things, while avoiding the areas where you conflict right now like the plague (you’ll see why in a moment).  As you begin to achieve successes in these areas, you will begin to see something.  You will be gaining more trust, you will begin to look better, and you will start to realize that hey, maybe the team approach has some merit after all.  Because if your team looks good, as the leader, you look good.  Just maybe, you’ll begin to realize that those areas where you had some differences weren’t really as important as you once thought.  In fact, you might even concede on a few items because it makes you feel better.

Now for the fun part; if you have to work for or around this person and they aren’t reading this to realize what a jerk they are.  If you simply can’t avoid them (which is the best advice), then first off, never give this person any ammunition, because they will use it against you.  But if you lead by example and do the right thing, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.  Second, if you do screw up, beat that person to admitting it and take one for the team.  You will gain more credibility with everyone involved and while it might sting a little at first, owning up to your faults early will really defuse any situations down the line.  NEVER let anyone stack chips against you, because I can reassure you, they’ll call on them later.

If you have someone like this as a subordinate, the best thing to do is again, to set a good example, but also to reward the times when they are showing teamlike tendencies, and ignore any efforts to gain kudos on your behalf.  To acknowledge that someone has plowed your opposition under for your benefit is to encourage it, and who knows, tomorrow, Sgt. Webster might be plowing you under for his new project.  As flattering as it might be that this person will kill your enemies for you, know that you are feeding a monster.

Here’s the part where you share your moments with your own Sgt. Websters, offer advice for dealing with these schmucks, and maybe even share next week’s subject matter.  So feel free to comment, pass it along, “fan” Firehouse Zen on Facebook, or do whatever it is that makes you say, this is alright stuff.  Because the more of you who read this, the more enlightened we ALL will be.  Share the wealth and thanks for reading.

Posted by truck6alpha on May 17, 2010 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Training & Development, leadership, officership, politics, professionalism • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pay Attention: Vote for Leadership

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modified vert logo fbAs bad as it sounds, I’d like you to vote for my wife by going to this link at The Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette and voting for KPM Flooring as “Best Carpet” and also as “Best Customer Service”.   If you are wondering, “Why is he discussing this on FHZ?  Isn’t this an emergency services site?” Here’s why: I believe people who exhibit real dedication, leadership, and community stewardship should be rewarded. Especially when the person is an actual entity, working on Main Street (and in fact, KPM Flooring IS actually at 35 Main Street) and not some faceless corporation.

When I speak of leadership, I have made it clear that this isn’t an emergency service issue.  This is a societal issue.  Our communities need real leaders right now; leaders with faces, leaders with morals and a work ethic.  Leaders who value their people as much as they value their customers, and they value their customers like they value their neighbors.  Our “leaders” seem to have forgotten the key component of leadership: leading.  Not representing, not campaigning, not raising money, or pocketing money.  Not lying low to avoid conflict, but getting out in front and bringing sides together to achieve consensus.  Leading; as in setting a positive example, as in blazing a path, as in investing in your community by being there and working to make it a better place.  As in taking part and investing in that community and the people within it.

Kathleen devoted considerable time and vision to create an amazing experience for her customers and leads by example.  This is the same woman, who on Mother’s Day Weekend, flew to Baltimore and then drove two rugs to Syracuse from there because her customer needed them.  She didn’t appoint someone to do it, she did it herself, and she’s the CEO!

I have added links to the KPM Flooring Vision, where you can see for yourself what visionary leadership is about to her.  I have also linked the KPM Flooring Facebook page, and an article in CH2 Magazine to show that her company is not only an excellent flooring retailer, but a dedicated corporate citizen.  There is also this link to Hilton Head Monthly where on page 42 (albeit, last name misspelled) where she was one of Hilton Head’s Most Intriguing People of the Lowcountry and it describes her efforts with Caroline & Friends, the non-profit that we developed to advocate for families affected by Down syndrome.

To me, this is a way to reward leadership.  Likewise, I would hope that even though I’m going to lighten things up a little with “The Weekly Weasel” submissions, if you have someone who exemplifies “best practices” in leading, you’d let us know so we can talk about examples of good leaders.

And this is also a drill on the value of the network.  If we can use our network for good, to encourage good qualities by teaming up and helping one another, then it’s what the whole thing is all about.  I’ve seen so many networks evolve into lynch mobs instead of being a source to buoy one another and to facilitate growth.

While voting ends on Monday, I’m asking you to take a few seconds and go to this link at The Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette and vote for KPM Flooring as “Best Carpet” and also as “Best Customer Service”.

Thanks in advance and feel free to pass it on to people who will vote. Voting ends Monday, so hurry!

Posted by truck6alpha on May 14, 2010 • Filed under: leadership • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Upcoming Changes for Firehouse Zen

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FHZ SquareOkay, I spent some time looking over FHZ recently and came to some conclusions. One of the conclusions was that much of what I am writing is probably a little too heavy for day-to-day reading.  In other words, I think I’m boring you.

So to lighten things up from time to time, I’m planning to add some new features. I was, after all, a student of the snarky, satirical, and cynical before my pseudo-enlightenment; any of you who know me well know that side of me has never really left the house. I simply chose not to really share it on a site about leading (I don’t want to set a bad example).

However, I think I can probably drum up a little something from time to time that will be illustrative, informative, and irreverent, while trying not to hurt anyone’s feelings in the process. But trust me, there are a few folks out there who bring on an occasional swat in the head purely of their own choosing (you know them: the smug, arrogant, you-can’t teach-me-anything types?).

So to begin with, I’d like to hear from you. A contest of sorts: Give your smug, arrogant, etc. boss a psuedonym (that would be a fake name) and tell me a little bit (under 200 words, preferably) about the worst boss you ever had. Give a short example of their stellar leadership ability (i.e.; “sat around surfing porn while we packed hose in the broiling sun”).

If I like your example, I’ll get back with you to see how much we can post without the person figuring out it is them you are talking about, and we’ll see if we can learn anything from the village idiot. In fact, the title of this section will be hereby known as “The Weekly Weasel” (I’ll admit, a friend of mine came up with that- I’m afraid I can’t take credit for something that brilliant). So let’s hear from you.  (You can begin today, if you want).

I also plan on a section let’s just say we’ll call “Brain Surgeon of the Month”.    You should probably be able to figure this out.  Kinda like the guys shooting the gas cylinders with an assault rifle were to HAZMAT, or the guys with the leaf blower and the RV fire, these are people who stand out as a stellar example of leadership from the news that flies in the face of commonly accepted practices. You know; how NOT to run an organization kind of guys?  It shouldn’t be too hard to find some of those.

Otherwise, if any of those categories happen to entice one of my colleagues or subordinates to write in about me, I just ask that you change my name, so that at least I continue the delusion that you enjoy working for me.

Finally, I plan to go through these archives and maybe re-evaluate some of the past articles, update them, and recategorize everything for easier referencing.  So there might be a little construction going on.  Of course, I’ll try not to inconvenience anyone too much.

So let’s get interactive. Feel free to comment to this post with suggestions or e-mail me directly using the contact information.  I’m looking forward to the future and toward making this a site that more people want to learn from.  Because if we aren’t sharing and learning, we aren’t growing.  Have a safe day.

Posted by truck6alpha on May 12, 2010 • Filed under: leadership • Tagged: ,

Conflict

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web reddrive download 411Conflict is inevitable. Conflict will come regardless of how much you try to avoid it. Because it is inevitable, as a leader, you need to know how to deal with it. There are resources out there to point you in a direction, but really, experience is an excellent teacher as well, provided you work hard at understanding the underlying cause of conflict, how each of the parties involved in conflict create escalation, and how conflict can be effectively be used to direct issues.

I was listening today to a reflection on Lena Horne’s life today on NPR Radio; an author of a recent biography (James Gavin) spoke of her difficulties in having a mixed marriage in the Civil Rights Era.  While I don’t know if it was live or not, when someone like Dr. Maya Angelou calls in (and she did), it’s pretty interesting, especially when she calls to dispute the biographer’s take on the situation. I listened to her dissect most of what Gavin was saying about Lena’s struggles at that time. Judging from the silence, I could sense that Gavin was either humiliated, or coiling for a fight. After the commercial break, Gavin came back at the esteemed Dr. Angelou with a point-by-point rebuttal of her criticism of his own research. Did I see that coming? Certainly. When someone has just written a book on a subject and professes to have some  expertise on Lena Horne’s life is contradicted on National Radio, even by someone as reputable as Maya Angelou, you know he’s not going to let it stand. Have you ever experienced this same type of situation, either on the giving or the receiving end?

We can all sense tension when conflict is present. Some of us are more perceptive of the tension than others. The ability to be perceptive is an excellent asset to have. When another party is uncomfortable with a given situation, if you are in a position of negotiating with that individual, knowing how to defuse their anxieties can win them over. And as a leader, your job, like it or not, is a never-ending series of negotiations; getting people to do this, to not do that, inspiring people to create, talking people out of bad decisions, and any number of interactions. Thus, it is significantly valuable to be able to not only plan and direct actions, but to be able to read and interpret subtleties that translate into whether or not you are going to achieve success with those plans and directions.

Teaching someone how to intuitively perceive tension is like trying to explain that air has mass to a three-year old; we can feel it, but you can’t see it and it certainly defies explanation, so how do you explain that to them? We all know what it feels like in a tense situation, we can all agree on what it looks like when people are acting under conflict, but to be able to describe it to the uninitiated, well, it’s tough.

Likewise, when you are explaining to someone that they are obviously acting in a manner that is creating tension and conflict is nearly impossible. They may not feel like they are doing this and in fact, your suggesting it might just make the situation that much more untenable. I have found that when working with people like this, I even get defensive and sometimes say things that aren’t exactly contributing toward meaningful dialogue (actually, more often than not).

It sounds pretty cynical to suggest that you treat every exchange and interaction as a negotiation, but in reality, it is. I’m not suggesting that everyone you encounter is simply out for their own agenda, but realistically, you have no idea what the motivation is of the individual you are having an interaction with. I don’t care if it is your spouse, their motive may be entirely altruistic, but you have no way of knowing that for sure, unless you happen to be a mind-reader (which I am definitely not). Therefore, any interchange you approach must not just include what you expect to occur, but unless the return is apparent, explaining what they will get out of the situation will minimize the conflict as well, because in some cases, it leads toward more discussion of the benefits of the desired action and lends toward open communication.

Half of the problem, in fact, is determining what motivates the other party. Again, it may be obvious, and again, maybe not. Treating people with respect and understanding goes a long way toward finding out the needs of the people involved.

Another big factor in the equation is knowing conflict typology and by understanding how various types of conflicts evolve, using specific techniques to direct the argument toward a positive outcome for everyone involved. A great tool I have used is the University of Colorado Peace Study Center’s website “Beyond Intractability”, which gives you many resources to study conflict management and resolution.

Designed to aid students in studying conflict management, I have found the links to literature on the site extremely valuable. By understanding how misunderstandings occur, you can head off certain problems at the pass. Likewise, any texts you can find on strategic living, like The Art of War, The Book of Five Rings, or The Seven Characteristics of Successful People, are popular because they direct readers on methods to solve conflict. In reading The Art of War, you really have to get farther into the meaning of each interaction between adversaries, but in each situation, if you were to treat the “armies” in the context of opposing forces, you’ll find that there are a lot of lessons to be learned, as well as shared with your subordinates.

If you could come to work and engage others the entire day without conflict, there wouldn’t be any need for supervisors. Our job is to make sure that we further the mission and vision of the organization and that the resources allocated to make that happen are utilized to the most advantageous and efficacious means. Since the presence of more than two individuals means that at some point there will be a misunderstanding, a misinterpretation, or a disagreement on how to achieve those means, someone needs to be the deciding party. And even if you work alone, you are likely going to encounter friction and conflict with customers, suppliers, regulators, or others at some point. If you don’t take the time to understand what strategies solve problems in the most effective manner, you can go about finding these answers the hard way: by experimentation. All of these battles have been fought before, they are just framed differently. Don’t continually reinvent the wheel; learn about the classic conflicts, understand personality and motivation, and use the experience of many to leverage an advantage. By doing so you can develop excellent relationships, cause others to see you as a “uniter” rather than a “divider”, and impress everyone with your ability to solve problems.

Posted by truck6alpha on May 11, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Firefighter Nation, change, customer service, fire service, government, leadership, motivation, officership, politics, professionalism • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If They Can Do This, So Can We

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We are all brothers.

We are all brothers.

As is pretty often the case, as I was running around dropping my children off at school, I was listening to the Bob Edwards Show on XM Public Radio.  I find his interviews often provide me some inspiring moment that I quickly jot down to work off of and direct me toward a concept applicable to what we are doing here in FHZ.

This morning Bob was doing an interview with Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest who has made it a mission to work with young men who are in trouble in Los Angeles, particularly those involved in gangs.  Without going through the whole interview, which was excellent as it was, there was one moment where Father Greg discusses his efforts through Homeboy Industries to get kids off the streets and into a situation where they can learn a trade and get away from the gang lifestyle.  The story he told was of one youth (I think his nickname was “Clever”) who got into the program, and as was the case in some situations, actually meeting up with ex-rival gang members in the job and he was shaking hands and realizing he needed to get along.  However, there was one other guy there, “Trabiando”, who it was obvious that Clever had a deep-seated issue with; not only would he not shake hands with him, he wouldn’t speak to him or even look at him.

Father Greg related that he informed the two of them that if they couldn’t get along, there were plenty of others who wanted into the program, and they both admitted they wanted to work, so they remained enrolled.

A while later, Trabiando was jumped and unmercifully beaten by some gangsters near his home.  Long story short, Trabiando was put on life support for a period until he could be declared legally dead; in that period, Clever called up Father Greg and apparently, offered whatever help, donating blood, etc. that could be done.  Father Greg continued talking to Clever for a while, and Clever became choked up and said the reason he wanted to help, because, “He was my friend”.

What we need in our lives is more reaching out to others with divergent ideas and understanding of their perspective.  Father Greg said in the interview, “It’s hard to demonize someone when you know them”.  By that he means, the better we get to know our adversaries, the more equipped we are to see their point of view and the less likely we are to treat them with contempt.

Given the visceral feelings that many of these gang members have for their rivals, the fact that someone like Father Greg has been able to bring them to the table to talk with one another is nothing short of miraculous.  Since we in emergency services actually profess to be brothers, you’d think we could get past all the name calling and finger pointing for a while and team up to bring about needed change.

Why we can’t get a better understanding of volunteer vs. career, urban vs. rural, fire vs. EMS, and any other dividing line, I don’t know.  But instead of talking about what color helmets we wear and how many lights we have on our POVs, maybe we should be taking on issues like recruitment of good people, understanding why some communities require career personnel and some must do with volunteers, understanding that some of us choose to be career and some find that they can volunteer in their communities, and some can actually do both, and any number of subjects.

We have so many meaningful issues to solve that if we did, would bring our industry ahead by light years.  We have many brilliant minds in our midst that if they were to put away some of the rhetoric and listen instead, we could find ways to achieve our overarching mission.  There really does come a time when we must all put away our jealousies, our misperceptions, and our biases, and reach out to overcome our biggest challenges.

Resolve as an emergency service leader to make serious change in our industry.  Network and share ideas.  Provide positive feedback about something you DO agree with to someone you know is on the “other side” of whatever issue you are passionate about to show them you do have something in common and at least put the commonalities out there as a bridge for dialogue.

There are plenty off issues I am passionate about, but choose to put them aside for a moment and talk about issues that bind us.  If we can solve these challenges we can agree on, maybe, just maybe, we can tackle the other issues after we have had some successes and understand we are all on the same team; not just as emergency service providers, but as human beings.  Make the effort to show that you care about where we go, and be the change agent where you are today.

Posted by truck6alpha on May 3, 2010 • Filed under: Firefighter Nation, change, customer service, fire service, leadership, motivation, officership, politics, professionalism • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,