BY JOHN M. BUCKMAN
When you become a fire chief, you must first realize that you don’t have to control or know about everything that goes on in your department or make sure that it all gets done.
To be successful, a chief must develop and learn to delegate to his subordinates. With the many things that go on in a typical fire department, good subordinates are essential to success. A chief who micromanages is asking for personal trouble.
Below are some methods by which a fire chief can develop subordinates so that they become proficient and productive.
- Promote publicly and officially. Announce all promotions, first to the person being promoted, then to those directly affected, and finally to the entire department. A surprising number of officers are promoted without ever being officially informed or told exactly what the promotion entails. They then struggle to capture the legitimacy of their position.
- Delegate liberally! Don’t manage the department too close to the vest. Give officers the information, the authority, and the decision-making power they need to carry out their assignments.
- Get out of the way! When you give someone an assignment, the best way to support that person is to explain clearly your expectations and your timeline for the task’s completion and then get out of the way! Keep your fingers and your nose out of it, unless there is a problem or you are asked for help. Let your subordinates learn and grow through their own mistakes.
- Find out your officers’ expectations, and get feedback! Perhaps the best way to support your officers is to give them the kind of leadership that they need. Some officers require more direct supervision, while others can accomplish great things with little direct supervision.
- Don’t undermine your officers. Remain available to all of your subordinates, but refer subordinate complaints to the appropriate officer. Once you refer a matter, get out of the loop. Never allow volunteers to come to you directly just to get around other officers.
- Stand behind your officers. When subordinates act in good faith, support their decisions publicly. You don’t have to agree with every decision your subordinates make, but they must trust you enough to know that you will support them. When it’s apparent to others that a subordinate has erred and you feel a necessity to acknowledge that mistake to a group, express your confidence in that officer in the same sentence.
- Tell them how they’re doing. Give your subordinates day-to-day feedback on how well they’re meeting your expectations. Even the highest level officers will appreciate your noticing their accomplishments. Never make the mistake of thinking that your officers have risen beyond the need for praise. Conduct formal performance reviews at least twice a year. Coach them over the rough spots.
- Showcase your officers. Make sure that you as the fire chief give appropriate credit to all officers within your department for their contributions. Publicize their achievements, and hold them up to the world for proper recognition.
- Promote their careers. Find opportunities for your members to advance. This may not always involve a promotion but can include a new or more challenging assignment. The dedication this practice generates in incumbent officers will more than offset your loss when one of your officers ascends to a new position.
- Resolve disagreements. Nothing is more frustrating than to have no place to turn when you can’t resolve a dispute with another department member, especially if that member is a superior. When subordinates are involved in conflict with each other, it’s up to the chief to step in to resolve the issue in the department’s best interests.
- Move your officers from “me” to “we”! My father once told me to remember the “w” in “we” is indicative of someone who has support from others and “I” is usually one who stands out in front of others all alone. The person who is “we” is much harder to knock over, since the “w” stands on two legs. It is very important that officers within the department understand that it is more important for the department as a whole to succeed than it is for an individual person.
If a department is successful, the people within it are successful. It’s the fire chief’s job to squelch any self-centered kind of behavior by focusing his team on the welfare of all.
JOHN M. BUCKMAN is chief of the German Township (IN) Volunteer Fire Department in Evansville, Indiana, where he has served for 22 years, and first vice president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). He was instrumental in forming the IAFC’s Volunteer Chief Officers Section. He is an adjunct faculty member in the National Fire Academy residence program, is an advisory board member of Fire Engineering, and lectures extensively on fire service-related topics.
