Photo by Tim Olk.
By Jay C. Sendzik and Vincent J. Vitiello
The fire service possesses many unique managerial needs. It necessitates a semimilitarized structure, a distinct team spirit, and a strong disciplinary influence to ensure concerted and instantaneous reactions in emergency situations. It requires high-quality leadership and an extremely wide range of technical competence. In addition, it requires an ability to deal with the public in minor and major crisis situations.
The fire service is not profit oriented and it has an obscure productivity pattern. It is a major consumer of tax dollars, uses costly equipment, is heavily dependent on staffing, and has difficulty measuring effectiveness in relation to cost. However, despite the complexity of these needs, the fire service continues to play a vital role in providing public safety.
The threat of fire and the multitude of other related emergencies is always present. Today’s fire departments must combat these threats with less staffing and fewer financial resources while, at the same time, coping with tremendous increases in hazards. As a result, it is imperative every effort be made to deliver these services with the greatest degree of efficacy.
Since the principal resources of fire departments are its personnel, the underlying determinant of whether a fire department is successful in achieving its objectives lies with the individuals that comprise the organization. As such, competent leadership of firefighing personnel is more important than ever. This holds equally true in career as well as volunteer fire departments and pertains to all leadership ranks, from the first level supervisor to the chief of department.
The following discussion is based on our personal observations and experiences. In each of our capacities and in addition to educational studies, we have had the pleasure of being leaders as well as observing leaders, both good and bad. Each circumstance has enabled us to personally observe as well as experience the outcome of good and poor leadership (provided by others as well as by ourselves, individually) as it impacted many and varied situations in emergency and nonemergency environments. The following thoughts regarding the most valuable qualities of a leader in today’s fire service are applicable to all ranks and levels of leadership whether career or volunteer:
- Passion. Be consistently passionate about your job, your duties, and your responsibilities. It’s contagious, and your passion will trickle up and down the ladder and extend laterally to individuals you would least expect. Nobody wants to work with or for a whiner and complainer. People are always watching you even when you are not cognizant of it. They are attuned to verbal and nonverbal messages and easily detect negativity. Accept and embrace your role as a leader. Be positive; believe in what your doing; and, most importantly, believe in your people.
- Management style. Literature and personal opinion on management are infinite. The management style spectrum runs the gamut from dictatorship to laissez-faire and a host of styles in between. However, the finest leaders frame their management style to the situation at hand—an emergency vs. a nonemergency setting. The best leaders make every effort possible to know their personnel; they understand what makes one person “tick” may not have any impact on another. The most effective leaders operate as situational leaders and manage personnel contingent on their people’s unique personality and motivational traits as well as the uniqueness of the situation presented. This is not an easy task to accomplish in any environment, let alone during an emergency incident in an organization with a semimilitarized structure. It requires constant work, patience, and commitment on the part of the leader. However, the rewards of situational management are immeasurable. Think of that mentor, teacher, supervisor, and so on who you admire and who personally inspires you. That individual has such a positive impact on you because he was more than likely a situational manager.
- Technology. Whether you a Generation X-er, a Millennial, or a Baby Boomer, understand that technology is here to stay. It continues to provide the most critical up-to-date information at lightning speed. Yet, with all of the numerous advantages and benefits of technology, it cannot replace face-to-face communication. That e-mail or text message, with the most well-designed and sophisticated emoji, will never replace an actual telephone call or in-person visit. People are not computers; they have feelings and emotions that need to be expressed and, currently, technology does not accomplish that task as well as people can.
- Listen. Leaders give orders and provide direction. The leader’s job is to make things happen; this lends itself to focusing more on speaking and focusing less on listening. The ability to direct one’s attention toward actively listening is, once again, situationally based on the time constraints associated with an emergency vs. a nonemergency. Nonetheless, as circumstances permit, the benefits of active listening are vital to one’s leadership success. It provides a barometer as well as an avenue for critiquing, adjusting, and improving your leadership ability. Active listening communicates empathy and makes people feel valued and encourages them to share their thoughts and ideas. People want to be heard, and their suggestions can be beneficial to your leadership as well as to the leadership of the whole organization.
- Train perfectly. The notion that “practice makes perfect” is not true; “perfect practice makes perfect.” Don’t get bogged down focusing only on the “what if” situations at the expense of compromising your organization’s ability to handle those incidents to which the department responds the overwhelming majority of the time. Focus on preparing perfectly and training perfectly for the types of incidents that are most frequently encountered by adhering to department standard operating guidelines (SOGs) and policies. This will continually reaffirm and reestablish structure. This “perfect practice” will serve as the basis for planning and developing the proper response protocols to handle the multitude of potential “what if” situations.
- Lead. Leadership is necessary and just as important off the emergency scene as it is on the emergency scene. If you cannot properly manage personnel off the emergency scene, do not expect to be able to manage them on the emergency scene. Be decisive as well as clear and concise with all communications. Be accountable and hold others accountable. Maintain a high level of integrity and set the standard for others to do nothing less. Don’t be reluctant to delegate and know that people will rise to the occasion, and never cease to amaze you with their hidden talents and abilities. Capitalize on their potential and allow them to refine and continually develop their capabilities.
- Embrace change. Change is inevitable; it is the result of being progressive and responsive to the changing times and its related improvements. The notion of “we do it this way because that’s the way we always did it” is so passé that it lost its justification at least a generation ago. The easiest way to embrace change is to stay current with the latest developments in the profession. Read the recognized journals and related literature, return to school and study for an undergraduate or graduate degree, attend and participate in seminars and training outside of your organization, and so on. Readily discuss the latest trends and developments with your personnel and encourage them to do the same. Brainstorming and the sharing of ideas is infectious and beneficial for everyone.
- Humility. Be humble and reminded that you are always replaceable. Admit mistakes, learn from them, and share the knowledge gained. Recognize the value of your personnel and do not hesitate to share their significance to the organization. Openly and willingly recognize the efforts of others as opposed to claiming credit yourself.
- Discipline. Discipline often makes people feel uncomfortable. However, it provides the framework within from an organization accomplishes its mission or objective. Discipline should not have an immediate negative and punitive connotation. Individuals want to know what is expected of them as well as the parameters of how they achieve expectations. Essentially, the people under your command expect and want to be led. SOGs and departmental policies should provide that direction in clear and concise terms. When individuals deviate from those guidelines and policies, take quick and decisive action based on the severity of the issue. Actions must be consistent and follow accepted best practices of progressive discipline including oral reprimand, written reprimand, suspension, and termination.
The aforementioned discussion is by no means an attempt to “reinvent the wheel.” However, in an environment where people are constantly being bombarded with information from many different sources, it is critical that organizational leaders continually refocus and remain cognizant of valued leadership personas.
In our present but ever-changing society, leadership is more important that ever. One’s leadership abilities are often honed and shaped through positive and negative experiences. Both encounters provide valuable learning tools that allow us to choose what works and dismiss that which does not.
Proper leadership style will serve to cultivate and guide personnel toward the organization’s mission that allows it to perform to its full potential. This is critical in any organization, but in the fire service this can literally mean the difference between life and death. As a result, the safety of your personnel and the citizenry they protect will be best served through consistent competent leadership on all managerial levels.
Jay C. Sendzik is an attorney with the law firm Sendzik & Sendzik in Brick, New Jersey, who has concentration on fire service in the government sector for more than 40 years. Sendzik provides legal counsel to 14 fire districts and conducts in-service programs on personnel management and other legal issues. He was admitted to the Bar of the State of New Jersey in 1977 and has been admitted to the Federal District Court for the District of New Jersey and the Pennsylvania Bar. Sendzik is a graduate of Amherst College and Delaware Law School.
Vincent J. Vitiello spent 25 years as a firefighter with the Maplewood (NJ) Fire Department, retiring as chief of department. He is a former fire official and level II fire instructor. Vitiello also spent 10 years as an educator with the Edison (NJ) Public School System. He is the fire administrator for the Township of Lakewood (NJ) Fire District. Vitiello has a bachelor of arts in health and physical education from William Paterson University, a bachelor of science in fire safety from New Jersey City University, a master of public administration from Kean University, and a master of social work from Fordham University. He is also a licensed social worker in the state of New Jersey.
