Over the holidays, I had the opportunity to see the play “A Christmas Carol.” It’s the tale about Ebenezer Scrooge, a bitter old man who’s haunted by three ghosts, the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Future. The Christmas Past and Christmas Present ghosts force Scrooge to look at scenes from his life. Regardless of the joy or sadness they bring, Scrooge can only observe. Through these visits, Scrooge is forced to reflect on where he went wrong.
The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge all the way back in time to when he was a youngster. For comparison’s sake, this might be the time when your fire department was just getting started. Scrooge was just like your fire department of years gone by: young, innocent, filled with hope and ambition. This play portrayed a young Scrooge who was full of good intentions. And keeping with the analogy, those who led your fire department in the early years were also full of good intentions.
Over the years, your fire department developed organizational traditions and culture. In his early years, Scrooge was very caring, and he put the needs of others above his own. But over the years he lost his focus and became a very selfish man. Likewise, over time, some people serving the fire departments in their communities have lost their focus. Instead of putting the needs of the organization above their own, they’ve became selfish.
Over time, Scrooge lost his focus of what was important. He developed some bad leadership (and life) qualities and was set on a course that led to his making the same mistakes over and over again. He did this to the point that the mistakes became habits and he could not see the serious errors of his ways.
Unfortunately, some fire departments have grown up much the same way as Ebenezer Scrooge. The organization started out with good intentions. However, somewhere along the way, the members started making mistakes, and some of those mistakes developed into repeated behaviors (a.k.a. traditions). And because it happened slowly over time, they didn’t realize there was anything wrong with some of those traditions. Unfortunately, as was the case with Scrooge, an organization may not see the errors of its ways until it is haunted by ghosts.
GHOSTS OF FIRE DEPARTMENT PAST
These ghosts live in many fire stations, but it’s hard for you to see them because you are so used to seeing their images (your traditions) day in and day out that you accept their presence without question. These ghosts may take on many different forms throughout the fire stations of America. Some of the Ghosts of the Past are the firefighters who entered structure fires without regard for wearing proper protective equipment while berating those who wore breathing apparatus. Others are the freelancing firefighters who did not respect or follow the legitimate orders of their superior officers, on or off the fireground. And they got away with it because the elected officers were more interested in being popular than holding people accountable for insubordination. There are the ghosts of the firefighters who were more interested in the social benefits (most of which revolved around alcohol) of being in the fire department than actually providing service to the community.
Unfortunately, some departments are still haunted by these Ghosts of the Past who are the now-retired firefighters who never found a new way to occupy all the time they used to give to the fire department, so they still roam the halls of the fire station. Some of these ghosts haunt the progress of the fire department by trying to keep the department the same way it was when they were active firefighters. The day will come when each firefighter passes from active to retired status and will fondly reflect back on the days when they were primed firefighting machines and recall how good the fire department was. They may believe the department will never be as good as it was when they were active. Because some of these ghosts are still present in the fire station, in the flesh, instead of rattling chains, they haunt the station by saying things like, “You don’t have to do it that way; we never did and things always turned out okay.” “Why, in my day, we …” (followed by a story about some unsafe fireground activity). Are any of these ghosts haunting your fire station?
GHOSTS OF FIRE DEPARTMENT PRESENT
These ghosts are current firefighters who live day in and day out haunting the organization by carrying on traditions that keep the department from progressing. They say things like, “We do it this way because that’s the way it’s always been done.” “We tried that once back in 1982, and it didn’t work then and it won’t work now.” “We’re just a volunteer fire department-we can’t do things like those big city departments do.” “Why are we getting rid of that engine? It’s a perfectly good truck” (even though it’s 30 years old and is out of service for repairs more than it runs). I can almost hear the chains rattling as I type these lines. Are any of these ghosts haunting your department?
Some of these Ghosts of the Present are downright dangerous. Maybe in your department these ghosts don’t understand or appreciate the benefits of using an incident management system. Others may be responding to calls intoxicated. Maybe your Ghosts of the Present still insist on running every vehicle in your fleet to every call with lights and sirens blaring even though the call could have been handled by one engine responding routinely. Perhaps some of your present ghosts still think of the fire department as “a men’s club, and there sure ain’t no room for gals.” It’s not for me to tell you what your ghosts look like. I’m sure you know who they are and how they haunt your department.
GHOSTS OF FIRE DEPARTMENT FUTURE
You may recall in the story of Scrooge, this was the faceless Future Ghost who did not utter a word. He was also the ghost Scrooge feared most. In your department, this is also the ghost you should fear most. Remember it’s the Ghost of the Future who forced Scrooge to look at things to come. Your future ghosts are those youngsters who are new in your department, full of hope and wonder for what the future holds. Or maybe they’re the young men and women who haven’t even joined your departments yet. What will become of them? The answer lies with how much they are influenced to continue the undesirable and dangerous traditions of the Ghosts of Fire Department Past and Present.
This is a good time to pause and reflect on the fact that, as Casper once said, “Not all ghosts are bad.” If the Ghosts of Fire Department Past and Present have been progressive and visionary and your department has a history rich from your ghosts who learned from their mistakes and stayed on the cutting edge of change, this will be reflected in your traditions. If this is the history of your department, then you have strong traditions, the future will be bright, and your future ghosts will prosper.
However, if your past and present ghosts have failed to help your department progress and you are muddling through without vision, making the same mistakes over and over again and resisting change at all costs, then your future ghosts are destined to carry on that tradition.
What can you do if the halls of your fire department are haunted with Ghosts of Past and Present? First, if you believe that some of your past and present ghosts have impeded and continue to impede the success of your department, you’ve already taken the first step by realizing some traditions need to change and some of your ghosts need to move on to the afterlife (i.e., life after their fire department service is done).
Now, before the letters to the editor start flying in, this haunting tale is not about bashing those who have served with distinction to establish all the wonderful traditions of the fire service. If you have your pen in hand and you’re so mad you’re trembling, you’ve missed the whole point. It’s about identifying the one reason some departments progress and others do not. If it’s tied to your history and the ghosts that haunt your past and present, then you have some work to do to get your department back on track.
How do you make sure the future of your department is full of all the success it deserves? Here are some tips:
Develop a vision. What makes a good department good? What is the right culture for your department? How do you get there? Before you can get to where you want to be, you have to understand where that is. In other words, if you’re going to go on a journey, you have to know the destination before you can map the trip out or you’ll wander aimlessly.
Make a list of all those ghosts still haunting the halls of your firehouse who need to move on to the afterlife. In other words, identify the traditions and culture that need to change. At the same time, make a list of the good traditions and the positive cultural aspects you want to preserve-just as when you’re planning to take a journey, you list all those places along the way you want to visit and those you want to avoid, like areas of road construction that will slow the trip.
As you involve your members in developing this vision, expect some resistance. If done properly, the visioning process is going to identify the ghosts who need to go. In other words, some things are going to change. This is going to make some firefighters uncomfortable, not the least among them the Present Ghosts who think that everything’s fine “as is.”
It is very likely that once you start down the path of changing some traditions and the culture of your organization, you’re going to experience some turnover. Don’t let this discourage you. Think of those who leave as the ghosts who’ve decided it’s time to move on to the afterlife (life after the fire department).
The pace of change is important. Some of these ghosts may have been roaming your halls for more than 50 years. You’re not going to be able to change an ill-formed culture overnight. The best way to change the culture of an organization is like the way an orthodontist straightens crooked teeth. The doctor doesn’t take a pair of pliers and twist the teeth back into alignment. If he did, it would be very painful and the patient would be extremely traumatized. Instead, he applies subtle pressure over a period of time to make change that lasts. Chasing out undesirable traditions and changing a culture is a marathon, not a sprint.
Learn from others. There are roughly 19,000 volunteer fire departments in America. Among them are thousands of examples of organizations that have overcome their ghosts and enjoy a positive, progressive culture while preserving important traditions. It’s easy to find yourself thinking that you’re the only department that has these problems, that somehow, you’re unique. Even though you may think you’re unique, you’re not. There’s plenty you can learn from your peers.
But to do that, you have to be willing to get outside the comfortable four walls of your firehouse and see what others are doing. Attend some of the top-notch leadership schools and conferences.
Don’t overlook the valuable resources on fire service Web sites. Some offer message boards and threaded conversations where you can (in some cases anonymously) post a message about your ghosts and get some free advice from all over the world.
Caution: What works for one department may not work for another. There are no guarantees offered with the advice dispensed here. The people supplying the advice haven’t necessarily experienced success with the advice they’re dispensing. It’s up to you to decide what’s good advice and what’s not.
As it was for Scrooge, I’m sure there are some of you just plodding along in your department, not realizing that you have some ill-conceived traditions that are at best hurting your success and at worst placing your firefighters in danger. Then, WHAM! You get the Ebenezer Scrooge wake-up call. In the fire service that might be, for example, a significant firefighter injury or death attributed to freelancing or the lack of an organized incident management system. Even Scrooge didn’t change his ways until the Ghost of the Future showed him a tombstone with his name on it. ■
RICHARD B. GASAWAY is chief of the Roseville (MN) Fire Department and has been a chief officer for 16 years. He has a master’s degree in business administration and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program. Gasaway lectures on management and leadership topics throughout the United States and Canada.
