The Organization
FEATURES
MANAGEMENT
An unhealthy competition and inflated self image has no place on the fireground, and can be detrimental to
“The last time that we were together, we talked about how important expectations were,” said George, the management consultant who was addressing a small group of volunteer fire chiefs in a leadership seminar (see FIRE ENGINEERING, November 1984). “We talked about how important it is for a leader to have faith in his ability to lead. We said that he should approach being a leader by expecting to be taken seriously and to be obeyed, not by doubting his subordinates’ decision to follow.”
“We also talked about how fear can tie you up in knots and stop you from doing things,” Harold called out.
“Different leadership styles were also talked about,” Frank added.
George nodded. Now, he wanted to address a subject that he felt might not be easily accepted or properly assessed by the leaders who sat in a circle around him. He reached for the correct words. “We talked about how the different types of leaders behaved, how they came across to those that they dealt with. One, the democrat, seemed to move towards people; the autocrat, in some ways, moved against people; and the ‘abdicrat/ in being unwilling and in some cases unable to share with or give to or ask from those whom he interacted with, moved away from people. I’m using very simplistic terms to describe a huge area of behavior, but it’s a way of looking at the different styles of leadership.
“As I said, we just described their behavior. We haven’t begun to touch upon the reasons why such behavior exists, and that’s the way it should be, except if the reasons for such behavior are causing or can cause the organization a serious problem.”
“I hope you’re not going to put us on a couch,” John jokingly remarked.
“No way,” George quickly replied, “none of that stuff. But I am going to tell you another one of my stories.
“During the 1960s and 1970s the Bronx, a borough of New York City, began to burn itself down in earnest. First, all the frame buildings went; then individual apartments in tenements went. The individual apartment fires grew to multiple apartment fires and eventually it was not uncommon for a number of floors to burn. As people moved from the area, abandoned buildings, sometimes five stories, burned. Things got to an impossible situation. Fire equipment was being worn out in a few years, and firefighters were being subjected to a great deal of punishment. In an attempt to alleviate the exhaustion and strain of the fire forces in the most active parts of the Bronx, a tactical firefighting force was created.”
“What’s the Bronx got to do with us?” Harold asked with a touch of sarcasm. “We’re volunteers and we don’t work in the Big Apple.”
George knew that he was rubbing Harold the wrong way. “It’s just a story about firefighters. Unless I’m mistaken, they’re about the same anywhere.”
“Let him talk,” Robert quickly interjected.
The group seemed to support Robert’s feelings. George continued, “The tactical force consisted of both pumpers and aerials. A call went out for volunteers and a young captain found himself in charge of a pumper in a busy area of the Bronx with a group of volunteers from all over New York City. The men had never worked together as a team, but all were experienced and knew how to fight fires.” George paused. “It’s difficult to describe what happened when the captain’s tactical company began to operate,” he slowly remarked. “I guess it’s accurate to say that a lot of cheap shots took place.”
“Like what?” Steve asked.
“Well,” George replied, “like the other firefighters in the area not being too friendly.”
“How could it be?” Steve asked. “I thought the tactical force was there to give the firefighters who were regularly assigned to the Bronx a break.”
George shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “What can I tell you? Somehow the tactical company was publicly accepted but privately rejected. I guess the reasons why the regularly assigned firefighters felt the way that they did would make a good discussion, and I would rather leave that up to you. Let me describe how the tactical company began its operations.
“The tactical company worked only during the afternoon and evening hours, and as they pulled into quarters, the regular fire company’s apparatus would be backed to the rear of the fire station and, in effect, put out of service. Even when the tactical company was out of quarters, the regular company would not respond to a fire alarm. The dispatcher would not send out the regular company until he tried to contact the tactical company by radio or unless there was no other company in the general area to respond. In reality, the tactical company completely took over the regular company’s activities. The regularly assigned firefighters would be listening to alarms hitting in and to radio activity that related to their area and remain in their fire station.”
“That sounds like a stupid system,” Steve remarked and looked at his fellow chief officers for a reaction.
George wanted to move on, so he quickly cut off a discussion. “Well, at least in the beginning that’s the way it was for the captain and his fellow volunteers. The captain hadn’t realized how his men were being treated. He began to become aware that things were not quite right when the captain of a slower fire station passed a remark. The captain made it known that in his opinion the tactical force was made up of bums. His reason? No sane person would work the crazy hours or do straight fire duty. Only someone who was a barfly or worse would want to work from 12 noon until 1 a.m. The young tactical captain defended himself and his men, but the remark had its effect. The tactical captain began to look around and found that, in general, both he and his men were not really appreciated or liked.”
“How did he work it out?” Steve wanted to know.
George quickly responded, “He had a meeting with his men, and he found out that his men were really disturbed with what was going down. They had been the butt of some pretty crude practical jokes and they had to put up with some awfully cheap behavior on the part of the regularly assigned firefighters, especially in the kitchen. A lot of times the regularly assigned firefighters would simply walk out and leave the tactical men to themselves.”
“But what did they do about it?”
George smiled. “They decided to show the whole Bronx how good they were. They decided to take their gloves off and to stop being nice guys. If they were considered bums, they were going to show the regularly assigned prima donnas how good bums could be. It was them against the Bronx.”
“Way to go!” Frank said. “How did they do it?”
“Well,” George responded, “they didn’t have to wait long.” He smiled and continued, “As a matter of fact, it was only a couple of hours. They responded second due to a church fire. At that time, three pumpers and two trucks as well as a chief responded on such a fire. The captain sensed that all the units would be in front of the church. He took his company up a side street and had them hook up to a hydrant. Then he had them climb over a fence and stretch a 2V2-inch line to a first floor door leading to the rooms at the rear of the church. They forced the door and, as luck would have it, they were right on the money. The fire was directly in front of them. They called for water and knocked the fire down in the room that was going on the first floor, then moved up the stairs to the room above that was also going. In effect, they single-handedly put the fire out. When they had the fire upstairs under control, the captain contacted the chief, who was still in the front of the church, and told him where he was and what was happening.”
“Unbelievable,” Frank remarked.
“Yeah. It really was some feeling for the captain and his men to watch the chief’s face, and especially the faces of the regularly assigned firefighters from the other Bronx companies. You see, the chief had been really upset. The first-to-arrive truck had gotten its aerial fly ladder tip stuck in the church’s rose window. He was so annoyed with what had gone on in the front of the church that he said he would write the tactical unit up for a citation, and, of course, that was just icing on the cake for the tactical captain and his men.”
Harold squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. “I feel that this story has a message other than the one I’m getting.”
“Let me take it a little further and then I’ll throw it open for discussion,” George responded. He looked around the group and read general agreement. “It seemed that for a long time the captain and his men could do no wrong, and they didn’t pass up a chance to make monkeys out of anyone who they came up against. Then, one cold winter’s evening the tactical pumper responded to a fourth-floor apartment fire in the rear of an occupied tenement. They were a bit delayed pulling into the fire scene. As the captain positioned his apparatus at a hydrant, he noticed that the first-due engine had already stretched a 1 3/4-inch line up the interior stairs to the flat’s door. He also noticed that the first-due engine chauffeur was having trouble hooking up to the hydrant. Without hesitating, the captain gave orders to stretch a 2 1/2-inch line from his apparatus.
“As he and his men approached the tenement’s entrance, he heard the first-due engine officer over his handi-talkie radio pleading for water. The captain also saw the first-due engine chauffeur get back on his apparatus, and he knew at that point that the chauffeur was either on a dead or defective hydrant. There would be no water for the first-due engine. It was a perfect opportunity for his company to stretch their line right past the dead 1 3/4-inch and say, ‘How do,’ as they called for water and put the fire out. The captain also noticed people bailing out onto the fire escapes on nearly every floor. It meant that the fire was taking over and that the heat and smoke was banking down into the building. His instinct told him that it was a bad fire and a tough situation on the fourth floor rear. When his men had the 2 1/2inch line at the apartment house entrance, he considered connecting it to the other company’s dead 1 3/4-inch line.” George stopped and said, “Okay, let’s open it up for questions.”
“What kind of questions?” Steve asked. “Did you finish the story? Does it have an ending?”
“Oh, it has an ending,” George replied, “but for now, tell me what you feel the tactical captain did.”
“He probably had his men stretch upstairs and put it to the firefighters who screwed up.”
George accepted Steve’s answer and looked over the group. “What do you feel the captain did?” he asked John.
“Based on what was going on,” John replied, “I guess I have to go along with Steve.”
“I think he and his men probably capitalized on the situation,” Harold added.
Looking at the group’s faces, George sensed that they all felt that Harold was correct. “Think of what you’re saying. A building is on fire. Lives are in danger. A fire company is in position on the fourth floor ready to go. All they need is water. The tactical captain and his men can easily supply that water by quickly hooking their hose line into the dry line, and you’re all saying that a professional fire captain will, instead, choose to do his own thing.”
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“Well that’s the way it looks,” Harold added.
“If the captain did as you feel,” George asked, “whose interests were primarily being served? The community’s, the organization’s, or his own?”
“He didn’t have the people in the fire apartment or the house at heart,” Robert remarked, “and that’s for sure.”
“Let me ask you, men,” George said, “do you feel that the captain’s fire company was a good one? I mean as far as firefighting is concerned.”
Robert hesitated and replied, “I think I can speak for the group. Yeah! They were good.”
“What made them so good?” George immediately asked.
“They were fighting mad and they were out to beat everyone’s head in,” Frank called out. “And to do that you’ve got to be good.”
“Competition,” Robert said. “It was competition that made them so good. You said it was them against the Bronx.”
“Okay,” George immediately called out, “let’s talk about competition.” He smiled and added, “That’s a good subject for a volunteer to discuss.”
“Oh no,” Harold disgustedly remarked, “now you’re going to tell us that competition is no good.”
George slowly responded, “If I tell you that, it would probably not be worth the effort of pronouncing the words. I want you to all take a few minutes and think about it. Better than that, form a group and discuss it. Harold, you report the group’s findings.”
While the chiefs discussed the tactical fire captain and the concept of competition, George prepared himself for the next step by writing on the chalkboard:
Moving towards people
Moving against people
Moving away from people
“Okay,” Harold said, “we’re ready.” He looked at the board for an instant and continued, “We’re in agreement that competition is not a bad thing unless it’s carried too far.”
“What do you mean by ‘too far’?” George asked.
“Well, like in the captain’s case, it can be carried too far.”
George nodded and said, “I feel that I know what you and the group mean. But let’s put it in concrete terms so that we fully understand. When we started the session, we mentioned the terms that I just wrote on the board. At that time, we applied them to the behavior of a leader in terms of leadership style. Now, I would like to use the terms in a slightly different way. Most of us are constantly involved in the three activities. It’s part of our daily life. Unfortunately, like the tactical captain, some of us get stuck in one behavioral pattern and that may not be good for the organization.”
“Can you explain your last remark?” James asked.
“Sure. As a group, you’ve already said that the captain was engaged in a sort of competitive game of let’s beat their heads in; and while it made his company into crackerjack firefighters, it also lead him to a situation that could hurt the community and the department.” George paused and asked, “Of the three statements written on the board, in your opinion, which of them most fully applies to the captain’s behavior?”
After a moment of study, Robert answered, “I guess the captain moved towards his men and against the other fire units in the Bronx. He also sort of moved away from the mainstream of the department’s thinking.”
“I guess,” Steve remarked, “any time competition takes you away from the department’s goals and especially if it places you against the department, you have to be careful.”
“Actually, we’re looking at competition, and it should be looked at,” George said. “But any time a leader tends to get stuck in one behavioral pattern, he should be careful. For example, moving towards people can be detrimental.”
“I thought that was good,” Steve said.
“Not if it’s based on a need that is not good for the organization,” George quickly pointed out. He continued, “Suppose the leader is moving towards people because he wants to be liked so much that he can’t move away from them or move against them?”
“How can a leader tell if what he’s doing is the right thing?” Steve asked.
George responded, “By asking himself, ‘Am I doing this for me or for the organization?’ If the tactical fire captain had done that, things might have been different.”
“Suppose,” Frank asked, “the leader is blind to himself. How is he going to even know enough to ask himself why he chose a particular course of action?”
“That,” George answered, “is the job of a chief supervisor. You should be alert enough to spot an officer who is stuck in an injurious behavioral pattern.” He paused and added, “Remember, you are concerned in behavior only as it influences the good of the department. You’re not a psychologist. If that chief at the church fire had taken time out to ask the captain why he was operating in the rear of the church without orders and in apparent disregard for normal department procedure, the story could have been different. That’s the reason why a good post-fire critique is so valuable. The chief must know when his officers are not operating in a balanced way.”
George looked at each chief before saying, “I don’t think any chief should allow any officer to engage in competition with other fire units for the purpose of beating in their heads. You see, in any such activity there’s a victim. The result of an organizational competition should not be the production of victims. In the captain’s case, the victims were any fire unit that could be beaten, and, of course, the citizens of the area that his unit served eventually became potential victims.”
“Well,” Harold said, “that’s certainly some speech, but I guess there’s some good in it.”
“Harold,” George said, “you mentioned earlier that New York City’s fire problems weren’t exactly your cup of tea.” George didn’t want to put Harold on the spot, but he did want to get another concept across. “Can you tell us why the tactical fire captain acted the way that he did?”
“He got angry. That’s the way I see it.”
“But why did he get angry?”
“I don’t know. I guess because he wasn’t being treated right.”
“Do you remember how he felt?”
“Yeah. He felt that the other firefighters didn’t like him or his men.”
“And so he got angry.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay,” George said and walked to the board. He wrote in large letters: IDEALIZED SELF
IMAGE.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Harold asked.
George smiled and said, “A lot of times we have an image of ourselves that’s not all that real. We can see ourselves as being who we are in a bit grander terms than we are, and the dangerous thing is that we can sometimes get angry when people don’t react to our idealized self image. In the captain’s case, just perhaps, he saw himself and his men as doing a noble thing. Perhaps because he felt that way there was a certain expectancy in his mind of how his noble act should be received, and when the firefighters in the Bronx acted differently, there was, in the captain’s mind, a reason to be deeply upset. Upset enough to act in a strong retaliatory way. He and his men sort of went to war, striking at anything that was in their way.”
Harold didn’t say anything.
George very carefully said, “Harold, can you relate what we’ve just talked about to a volunteer chief at an important committee meeting?
“With a lot of people that he doesn’t like,” Robert added.
“And with people that the chief feels don’t like him,” Steve said.
“Put him there with a program that he really wants and thinks is just great,” Frank chipped in.
“Set him up so that he thinks he is the greatest administrator of all time,” John called out.
“Okay,” Harold said, “I get the idea. The chief will get mad because they didn’t like his plan.”
“Of course, that’s true. But in a very real way it may also be because the chief feels that they are attacking him, and if that’s true, like the tactical captain, his reaction may be way out of line. The danger is that he will stop listening; stop trying to make his plan better by adopting suggestions. He may stop concentrating on the plan and start concentrating on personalities. Instead of moving towards and with people, he may move against them or away from them. If that happens, the organization may be the victim because the chief has entered upon a behavioral pattern that is injurious to the organization. The stronger a man’s idealized image, the greater his sensitivity to its acceptance by those who he interacts with. If they do not respond in an expected way, not only can the man have problems, but he may cause the organization a great deal of expense in terms of wasted energy, time and money.
“If your idealized image is out of whack with how you really are, then other people probably will not see you as you feel they should. For example, the tactical captain’s idealized notions of himself and his firefighters were not realistic.”
Harold nodded, “Okay, I got it.”
George spoke to the chiefs as a group. “Look,” he said, “the other day I was at a seminar with a group of volunteer chiefs. Another individual was conducting a seminar on something similar to what we’re talking about. A chief asked the instructor what he could do about covering up the buttons that he wears into every committee meeting. The buttons that others can push and either turn him into mush or into a rage. The instructor told him to deal with others on their terms; but that can be very difficult to do if you are reduced to mush or are in a burning rage.
“What has to be done requires going inside yourself and adjusting your idealized self image—at least toning it down to a point where you’re not deeply upset when others do not respond to you as you feel that they should. A good way to do that is to ask yourself, ‘Am I responding to this situation with the interest of the organization at heart, or am I responding to it on a personal basis?’ If the answer is personal, then try very hard to put the organization first. In the chief’s case, it may result in his listening to suggestions and seeing them as suggestions, not as attacks on his person as reflected by his idealized notion of how things should be or how he should be treated. That idealized self can really get in the way.” George paused for a few moments.
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“Can you tie in what you just said with our talk last session on how important it is for a leader to expect to be obeyed?” Robert asked.
George hesitated for a moment and said, “In your conceptualization of yourself as a leader, it is important for you to expect to be obeyed, but it is also important for you to have a conceptualization of self that allows for a variety of behavioral responses to your leadership role. For example, younger people may want reasons, still others may challenge or question. You should not see such responses as statements of disobedience, but rather as necessary steps to understanding and obedience, even if the final obedience may be a little down the path. In other words, you should have an image that reflects the reality of those with whom you deal and with the conditions of your work environment.”
“So you still should expect to be obeyed,” Robert added.
“Yes,” George answered. “Above all, you always must have faith in your leadership ability and in your ability to lead in a productive and healthy way.
“Actually, much of what we’ve discussed had to do with how a young fire captain responded to a situation that he found himself in and why. Competition for the promotion of self over the interest of the organization must be ruled as being destructive to the organization. This can be a difficult concept to grasp, but if the goals of the organization are important, it should be accepted. The concepts of human behavior in the act of approaching people, going against people, or moving away from people were presented as tools to use in viewing those who are active in an organization. If an individual seems to be stuck in one mode of behavior, he or his supervisor should seek to establish if such behavior is beneficial to the organization. If it seems primarily to benefit the individual, then it should be examined.
“Finally, in the interest of helping those individuals who sense that they are having trouble dealing with people, the individuals with buttons that others push, the concept of idealized self was offered. This is a difficult concept that has to be sensed rather than thoroughly understood. For each of us, there is some way in which we may regard ourselves in a rose colored light, a light that may not be seen or fully appreciated by others. If we see ourselves in that light, that’s one thing; but if we expect others to also see us that way, that’s another situation. The tactical fire captain had trouble and so did our make believe chief who attended the committee meeting. The buttons may start to disappear when the rose colored light is adjusted to reflect what truly exists.”
George hestitated before adding, “I was concerned over getting into these areas. We’ve touched upon some of the reasons why a leader behaves in a certain way. I hope it will be of help in your roles as volunteer fire chiefs.”
