The Power of Diversity: It May Not Be What You Think!

By Eddie Buchanan

When the topic of diversity in fire departments crosses the human resources (HR) chief’s desk, it often brings the dreaded sense of counting things—how many personnel by race and gender and how these demographics correlate to the community demographics. Although it is a goal to match your department demographics to those of the community from an HR perspective, that alone falls short of the potential power of diversity in our organizations. There is much more potential in creating a truly diverse organization.

We should also acknowledge that our natural tendencies also play a role in diversity. It is true that we naturally gravitate toward others we view as being like us. Smart HR managers use this concept when selecting entry-level interview panels. Identify those in your organization whom you would like to “clone” and use those people on your interview panel. By natural tendency, they will gravitate toward those to which they most closely relate.

But, it is important to train the interview panel to look past surface-level bias, such as race and gender, and look for individuals who possess values that are similar to your star players and your organization. If you can find a good values fit among your candidates, the tactical training will come with relative ease in spite of previous experience.

To discover more power in diversity, imagine that you have a band full of bass players. How would that music sound (no disrespect to bass players)? What makes a band work is the diversity of its members, all leveraging their unique talents in a way that makes them successful as a group. So, although our natural tendency is to be around those like us, it is important to recognize that we need diverse talents and skills to be successful in our mission.

Looking Beyond the Numbers

Let’s try a different perspective when it comes to diversity in our departments. Let’s look for diversity that brings us an advantage in how we provide care and service to our community.

Diversity of Skill

Diversity of skills is one of our greatest strengths in the fire service. Most firefighters have other job skills they use on their time away from the fire service. Some firefighters are also plumbers, electricians, mechanics, and so on. These skills are highly valuable when you run an alarm call at 0300 hours for what turns out to be a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) issue. Having a firefighter on your crew with HVAC experience may be invaluable at that moment.

Many complain about the lack of mechanical skills of the new generation. True, they may not understand how to start and run a saw on their first day, but these are trainable skills. If they do not know, teach them. That’s your job! What they may bring to the table is an impressive understanding of technology. They may not be able to conduct routine maintenance on your engine, but they can build you a Web site. As a leader, your job is to recognize these hidden talents and leverage them in a way that maximizes your ability to serve the community.

Diversity of Culture

You may have grown up and lived within a certain culture in your community, but it will take only a few minutes in the fire service to understand that we do not always respond to areas of any one specific culture. We will see all types of cultures in our business, and our mission is to help without judgment. You may not need to understand every culture where you are called to provide service, but having diversity of culture on your crew may help you to understand. Through understanding, you may find greater empathy, compassion, and respect. This may allow you to better serve and integrate within your response area, which improves your ability to meet your mission. Even if you are in an area that lacks substantial diversity, you likely will encounter diversity through the transient populations on local interstate highways or the railroads.

Cultural diversity also provides your crew members an opportunity for individual growth. We tend to fear what we do not understand. Working together across cultural lines allows us to understand different belief structures and develop as human beings.

Diversity of Language

You only have to crawl inside a wrecked vehicle with a trapped patient who speaks a different language from yours for a few moments to appreciate this one. Diversity of culture may also bring diversity of language, and this may prove invaluable to you as a first responder. This will allow you to communicate more effectively when you most need it. You may think, “Well, I’ll just use my smartphone to translate to whatever language I need.” This sounds plausible in theory, but when you are lying on your belly in broken glass in the middle of the night trying to talk to a semiconscious, trapped patient, you may find it less than ideal. You will likely find it incredibly more effective to yell for your partner who speaks the patient’s language to come crawl in the car with you.

Diversity of Size and Shape

You may think it is best to have a crew full of 6-foot, 4-inch linebackers who can break doors with one swing, but think again. Yes, it’d be good to have one “door breaker” onboard, but do not discount the importance of the smaller-framed firefighter. On more than one occasion, I’ve looked past what looked like the front line of a professional football team to call for the smallest firefighter on scene. Instead of needing someone to make a big hole, I needed someone who could crawl into a small hole to make a rescue. Much like your toolbox, you want diversity or choices, not a box of flathead screwdrivers. Sometimes you need brute force, and sometimes you need finesse.

I’ll also discuss gender here. As with the other forms of diversity, there are times when it is advantageous to have a female on your crew and times when you need a male. Each provides benefits, and each should be valued equally. Notice that I didn’t identify the “door breaker” as male or female. I know members of both genders who meet that description.

Diversity of Perspective

Perspective is a broad term. It could have social, political, financial, or cultural references. The old saying goes, “Don’t judge someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” You may not know what it’s like to be poor. You may not know what it’s like to be rich, a conservative, a liberal, or acutely allergic—we could go on indefinitely. The broader the perspective of your team, the more in tune with the community your organization will be. Through trust and communication, we can learn from each other and find ways to better serve those we protect. By having broader diversity in our organizations, we can gain a better understanding of how to provide the best service.

Where the Power of Diversity Stops

There are times where diversity is not helpful. There are some areas in which our departments should stand firm and demand compliance. We’ll use the term “consistency” to represent this concept of requiring members to be the “same.”

Consistency of Values

Consistent values are the essence of what it means to be a firefighter. Values of integrity, compassion, and honor are nonnegotiable constructs that must be consistent in all firefighters. Regardless of the category in which firefighters are demographically, they must demonstrate these core fire service values consistently. Those who do not possess these core values should be eliminated from our ranks.

Consistency of Ability

Although diversity of size and shape is important, every firefighter must be able to meet the minimum physical requirements of the job. Regardless of age, gender, race, religion, rank, or experience, we must all be physically capable of doing basic firefighter functions. Just as every Marine is a rifleman, so is every operational member of the fire service a firefighter. Having taken the oath of a firefighter, we each have a duty to maintain a physical readiness for combat at all times. All operational personnel must be ready to pick up a hoseline and advance to extinguish a fire or make a rescue.

Leveraging Diversity

Empowering others requires that the leader appreciate skills and abilities others possess that are greater than their own skills and abilities. In some cases, leaders may feel a bit insecure when they empower others to outshine the leader’s abilities. But, this is exactly the point! No one is perfect at everything. As leaders, our job is to identify talent and organize it in a manner that best serves our community. This has little to do with rank or traditional organizational structure. Sometimes, it is better to connect the talent to the problem rather than funnel an issue through an extensive chain of command.

Formal Authority vs. Leveraging Talent

There are some situations where formal authority and chain of command are important to the process. For example, counselling a firefighter for performance is an authoritative, process-driven task. There isn’t much room for consultation outside of the chain of command in these circumstances. But, there are instances when time, resources, and circumstances allow for more collaboration.

Apparatus design is a great example of leveraging the talents of the organization. Consider reaching out to the end users of the apparatus for input. Identify personnel who have talents related to apparatus and tactics, and bring them together in a group. Empower them to make design decisions. Challenge them to meet with vendors and communicate exactly what they need to work in the field. Put those end users in front of the executive leadership to pitch their ideas and gain support. Then push them to see it through to production, factory visits, and final acceptance. Sure, your logistics chief probably has years of experience and has designed apparatus in the past, but he isn’t out there doing it today, nor will he ride that apparatus when it finally arrives.

Look for other ways to empower subject matter experts in your organization. Be careful to avoid “death by committee” traps where projects often go to die a slow death. Apply time, resources, and deadlines to move projects along. Appoint an executive champion to shepherd projects that are complex. Most importantly, be prepared to stand behind the outcome when it is reasonable, even if the approach to it isn’t exactly the way you might have done it. The team deserves the benefit of your experience but should not be constrained by your experience.

The power and creativity of any fire service organization are astounding. The more we bring diversity into our organizations, the more powerful we become. As leaders, we must recognize the benefits of instilling diversity in all of our processes and organize the talent available to best serve our communities. Stand fast to preserve those nonnegotiable attributes we demand of all of our personnel. Connect the talent in your organization to issues and empower them to solve problems. Stand ready to remove barriers that stifle creativity.

Yes, you will likely have to comply with various regulations related to demographics, and that is fine. In reality, people who have earned the title of firefighter have already demonstrated their value well above the norm of society and deserve respect and dignity. Their demographics are secondary to their incredible value as firefighters.

We often already have the players on our team to make beautiful music. We need only to organize them and develop a culture of trust and encouragement that will allow them to sing regardless of the categories in which society may have placed them.

Eddie Buchanan began his fire service career in 1982 and is an assistant chief for Hanover (VA) Fire EMS. He is a past president of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors and a former recipient of the George D. Post Instructor of the Year Award. He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for FDIC International and Fire Engineering.