BY JOHN M. BUCKMAN III, CFO, GIFireE, CFPS
Although leadership styles vary, depending on the situation, all good leaders have certain common characteristics. These traits are prerequisites for a successful leader.
Good leaders hate to fail because they are deeply committed to the task before them. They refuse to accept failure. This desire to succeed is driven by intense pride, which forms the foundation for successful leadership. Specifically, every good leader shares seven qualities: preparation, respect, integrity, discipline, enthusiasm, morality, and courage.
PREPARATION
Good leaders do their homework. They lay the foundation for success by learning the technical aspects of the job. They must have technical proficiency in the business; although they don’t necessarily have to be experts, they need a certain skill level to remain credible. The team captain of a basketball team must know how to play basketball. Similarly, the commander of a fire company must be a credible firefighter. A good leader also prepares by building an early working knowledge of his team members-their challenges and opportunities. What are their responsibilities, and who are their partners? Where does the team fit into the bigger picture? Lastly, good leaders spend time learning human behavior because people skills are critical to leading.
RESPECT
Good leaders respect themselves as well as their teams and competitors. Never arrogant or boastful, they stand their ground and carry themselves with authority. They demand as much of themselves as they do of their teams. Although demanding, they are never demeaning. They understand what every member of the team brings to the company or department. They value team input and create an environment in which all are welcome and comfortable.
INTEGRITY
There is no gray area when it comes to integrity-it is foundational. Leaders cannot succeed if their people do not trust them. If they bend the rules and say what is convenient, they may succeed in the short run but inevitably will come up short in the end. Good leaders fight to protect their integrity. Once they lose it, they can never get it back.
DISCIPLINE
Effective leadership requires personal and professional discipline. The people behind the leaders must admire the way they run their personal lives. Good leaders do those things we expect responsible folks to do: stay healthy, balance their checkbooks, and take care of their relationships. They have to follow the rules they make. If they are not willing to stick by them, then neither will those they lead. We call this having a good work ethic. But good leaders also know when they need a break. They are no good to their teams if they are sick, run down, or distracted.
ENTHUSIASM
Groups take on their leaders’ personalities. If the leader is excited about the mission, so is the rest of the group. Enthusiasm is contagious. No leaders worth their salt are dull. Leadership requires passion and fire. People have to believe in what they are doing, and do it with zeal. Good leaders must convince their company that what they are doing is important, and do so with energy and passion. If leaders are not passionate about leading, then they probably ought to find something else to do.
MORALITY
The importance of having good morals may sound simple, but it is not. Leaders must know right from wrong-there is no compromise here. Sometimes they simply have to lay the marker down and take the heat for standing their ground.
COURAGE
If the leaders don’t have the courage to pull the trigger, none of this matters. The leader must be willing to step up and execute. Courage is the most undernourished of our core values, yet it is the most critical. All the values we routinely discuss-faith, hope, charity, and so forth-don’t mean anything unless we have the courage to execute.
LEADERSHIP STYLE
There are as many leadership styles as there are fire chiefs. Some styles are better than others, but there is no one-size-fits-all approach that works for everyone. Good leaders tailor their approach based on a given situation. Are the leaders new to their company or department, or have they worked their way up through the ranks? Does the company or department have a track record of success, or does it have problems to resolve? What are the competency and proficiency levels of its members? These and many other considerations will determine a leader’s style. Ultimately, it will depend on the leader, team, and mission.
The Leader. What works for one leader may not necessarily work for another. All good leaders are not the same. They come in all shapes and sizes, with varying abilities and strengths. As a result, leadership style is unique to the individual. It is very much personality-driven. We naturally migrate to an approach that fits our disposition. Anything else would be awkward and forced. A leader’s experience and expertise will also affect his choice of style.
The Team. Leadership is about people. Successful leaders build and sustain effective relationships with the members of their teams. They know what makes their teams tick, individually and collectively. They understand what motivates them. They find that delicate balance between pushing and pulling their people. They master the complexities and dynamics of their teams. The size and composition of the group will affect how leaders interact with their teams. The larger the group, the harder it is to be hands-on and up close. Just as good leaders adjust to their own personality, so do they adjust to fit the personality of their team.
The Mission. Unless leaders know the mission, they can’t lead their people to carry it out. Good leaders begin with the mission and go from there. They posture their teams to meet the specific demands of the task at hand. At times, the mission will dictate a hands-off, leisurely approach to facilitate creativity and innovation. At other times, it will demand close supervision and specific direction to garner immediate action. In the end, it’s about finding the right style and produce results.
Two questions that leaders inevitably face tend to shape their style:
1. Does a good leader have to be liked? Some bosses we like working for; others we don’t. Some have an even disposition and can make their people feel comfortable. Others raise their voices and are terse, direct, and less nurturing. In my career, I’ve seen both of these styles work. Leaders don’t have to be liked to be effective, but it is better for everyone-including the leaders-if they are. Sometimes they won’t have the luxury of being liked-it just goes with the territory.
What leaders must have, however, is respect. Their people have to respect both their technical and leadership skills, or they won’t follow them-especially in life-saving missions.
2. How much input should a leader get? Leaders may run their teams by consensus, directive, or a combination of the two. A leader who operates by consensus sits down with members of the organization and solicits their full input. By the time a decision is made, the contentious issues are off the table, and everyone has full buy-in. Although this approach is the most conservative, it’s also the least likely to produce bold results. It follows the law of averages.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are leaders who use directives. They determine with minimal input what they want to happen and then order its execution. Such leaders do not include members of the organization in the decision making. Because they bypass the time-consuming, deliberative process, things happen quickly. Sometimes audacious, this approach likely will miss good ideas and alienate members, so many of the decisions have to be undone.
Somewhere between a consensus leader and a directive leader lies an optimum combination of the two-a leader who values the team’s input but isn’t hamstrung by indecision. Such a leader surveys the task, looks for solutions, and makes a timely decision. This combination preserves the capacity for quick reaction yet allows healthy discussion. The middle-of-the-road approach is generally the best.
No cookie-cutter method exists because different situations require different approaches. This type of situational leadership is a smart way to do business. It makes sense for leaders to tailor their approach with varying degrees of consultation, empowerment, and supervision, based on the group they’re leading and the task at hand.
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
The way leaders take command or take charge of an organization is important. They must have a strategy and must think through big issues before they begin. If they take the time to develop a game plan before they start their job, they will not respond to events as they happen but will direct the success of their organizations.
Vision. Leaders must first have a clear understanding of where they want their organization to go. This vision will set the baseline for everything they hope to accomplish. It is the first and most critical step. Without it they allow the others to set their priorities and end up having the immediacy of the task determine its importance rather than having the importance of the task determine the immediacy. They should refer to the vision periodically to ensure that their organizations stay on the path they choose. By the way, everyone in the organization must understand what the vision is. Leaders have to keep things simple, avoiding a level of detail that would be confusing.
Mission. Subsequently, leaders must develop the means of getting to the ends they envisioned. This is their mission (I mentioned its importance earlier). The mission is the meat of the vision. It is every leader’s purpose. In the mission, leaders flesh out what they want to accomplish or what they have been asked to accomplish. Every organization must have a clearly defined mission. Without it, leaders will find themselves adrift. All members of the team must be able to articulate why they are there-what their function is. That is what the mission does for leaders.
Goals. Leaders should then take the process one step further by setting specific goals-the measures for gauging whether they’re getting close to fulfilling their mission. Leaders won’t have all their goals when they start, but that is okay. They should maintain a healthy degree of flexibility when they formulate their goals. Leaders’ goals will grow and change over time as they get feedback from their teams. Good leaders must also be sure they don’t set goals that don’t match their mission.
TACTICAL LEADERSHIP
Though essential, strategic leadership can take you only so far. Effective tactical leadership is required to ensure the mission is executed efficiently on a day-to-day basis. An effective leader must facilitate strong two-way communication, create an environment that fosters success, equip his people, and hold them accountable to high standards.
Communication. Establishing and sustaining good communication are difficult but essential to success. Leaders must be able to take whatever they have inside their heads and transfer it to the people behind them. Followers must understand and be clear on what’s expected of them. Leaders have to make sure that the guy at the bottom of the organization chart gets in. Certainly, the frontline managers or team leaders must know what the expectations are, but that is not enough. Leaders have to mechanize in such a way that the word gets out. They can’t stop at one level down. This takes time and energy. Leaders must be wary of getting bogged down in the details and forgetting to broadcast their message to the organization. They have to let their people know that they are thinking about them, and team members have to know that leaders are not just in it for themselves.
Listening. This is a two-way street. After leaders send out their messages, they must listen for responses. They must talk to their people on a routine basis and find out what’s going on in the organization. Good leaders sit down with their people in the dining facility, spend time on the work floor, and get out if they’re afforded the opportunity. Leaders should also put a human face to their policies and programs. Doing so will make them better leaders, and their organization will progress as a result. It is important to avoid being accusatory or defensive as people give honest feedback. When leaders sit with team members, they should remind them of their importance to the success of the team. One caution-effective leaders don’t let such meetings turn into gripe sessions about supervisors. They should support the leadership team.
Environment. The leader is responsible for the climate of the organization. A group will not function, much less succeed, if the members of the team are threatened, uncomfortable, or mistreated. There’s no room in the workplace, or anywhere else, for intolerance. Leaders have to talk to their people repeatedly about equal opportunity, fairness, sexual harassment, and other inappropriate behavior. They cannot assume everyone will play by the rules. They must remind the team regularly. This is especially important during a high turnover. Instead of taking values for granted, good leaders must instill them in their people.
Setting High Standards. Leaders encourage success in their organization by setting high standards. Doing so squeezes productivity out of people who never knew they had it. We naturally want to do well. In many cases if they set the bar high enough, the team will not only reach it but surpass it. This is a business that demands excellence. Because we cannot tolerate a margin of error, we require dedicated professionals who understand that anything could cost people their lives. Therefore leaders must ensure they have quality people. However, they should not expect all team members to achieve their personal standards-everyone can’t be number one. But leaders should still set high standards and should not apologize for them. Leaders who are satisfied with satisfactory will find that the same is true of their teams.
Equipping. People need tools and resources to succeed. The first question a leader should ask when things are not going well is whether the team has the proper supplies and training to accomplish the task. Failure is not always a problem-the team simply might not have the skills or resources it needs to succeed. Sometimes this means fighting for dollars or extra training time for their people. The better they are individually, the better the team will be collectively.
Accountability. Leaders must fix and demand accountability-this is part of the business. It’s hard for new leaders, but they have to do it. If a team member has been told to do something, the leader must follow up to see if it has been done. Otherwise, the team won’t take the leader seriously. The follow-through is most important. When followers aren’t getting it right, they have to be told-and that’s not always easy for first-time leaders. They can’t let their people stay outside the lines too long because it’s not good for them or the organization. Accountability involves more than controlling bad behavior. Leaders also have to tell their people when they have got it right. This is an easy thing to do, but we probably don’t do it nearly enough. One of the greatest motivators is a pat on the back and congratulations for a job well done. Thanking people will encourage them to do even better. Leaders should do this in public because it will also motivate their coworkers.
Handling Adversity. All leaders go through adversity, which is guaranteed. They’re going to screw things up. They are also going to lie to their people (unknowingly). When that happens, good leaders pull the people aside and set the record straight. They admit being wrong and apologize. It is not a sign of weakness to do that.
The capacity to lead is not a genetic trait or an accidental ability. People are not born to be good leaders. On the contrary, good leadership is the result of calculated study, deliberate practice, and sometimes painful experience. Admittedly, everyone can’t be a good leader.
Some individuals will always be followers because of their personality or natural disposition. Yet some people who have the innate potential to lead never do. Many never get a chance; others never take the risk. But for those willing to lay it on the line, leadership offers the opportunity to achieve great things. It’s personally and professionally rewarding.
Leadership is critically important-organizations rise and fall on the quality of their leaders. As I’ve laid it out here, it is a complex endeavor. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist-it takes someone smarter! The strategy and tactics of leadership require intense effort. But when the leaders figure it out, there’s not a more satisfying job. It’s incredibly fun and rewarding. ■
