By John R. Bennett
The fire service is struggling to recruit and retain personnel at the national level. So how do fire departments engage prospective new recruits and develop future personnel in the field?
In a recent webinar on leadership and all-level succession planning, Anthony Kastros touched on the recruitment and retention challenges for the nation’s fire service.1 Although recruitment is not my passion, professional development is; and the circumstances Kastros noted are part of why fire department leaders are now “learning to adjust to the new worker.”
- The Staffing Dichotomy: Quality vs. Quantity
- Change Management: Recommendations for Prechange Success
- Developing Leaders for the Next Generation
- Building the Ladder: Officer Development Programs
This shouldn’t make us afraid that we are lowering standards or that we are trying to make “us” fit the newer personnel. Instead, it presents an opportunity to cultivate a foundation of development that speaks to generations. Instead of a stagnant, benchmarking system, a foundation of development offers a functional environment. It fulfills a mission by focusing on developing firefighters. It is an approach that is naturally adaptable, rather than being reinvented with every new turn of leadership or with each generational, economic, or environmental shift. We’re talking about how we build our people.
Trying to make things thrive by centering around processes, simply insisting that people adapt to the system or die, assumes that people are all the same or can be molded to be the same. Focusing on mission and people, on the other hand, addresses the reality that both mission and people change over time, individually and generationally. By shifting to developing people (for who they are, not manufacturing them) with the intent to fulfill the mission, it allows them to adapt to changes in time, demands, industry, society, and other factors in a more appropriate manner. Notice what it is not: Changing the mission to fit the people.
The Fear of Change
Making this change in mentality throughout the organization will be a gradual process. As a kid I never connected with what my mother told me about how much longer the “Let’s Go Fishing” TV show took compared to what I saw. A 10-hour day was compressed into 30 minutes for my entertainment! I find myself saying the same thing to my wife about the efforts and resources required in the house-flip shows. Where we are in the fire service is not a single-episode show with a big reveal.
We have the opportunity to deeply influence not just the organizational culture, but thousands of lives with a reach that spans generations and positively affects entire communities. It starts now, with any one of us. If one person evolves, things are different than they just were a moment ago. And when we have a culture driven by leaders within, we get a shift that, instead of swinging, is constantly shifting like a kaleidoscope. That scares some of us— by the time it’s in full swing, things may look very different than any of us expected when we began.
We can choose to start something and let those we mentor shape that future and its outcomes. Or we can choose to hold tight onto past identity because we don’t want someone else to mess with the subtle influence that we had on it. The truth is this, however: the future is going to be different than we intended, regardless of the actions we take or reservations we have. Thus, we ought to be intentional about our influence, so far as is possible.
We don’t frequently consider “nimble” or proactively evolving organizations in government, nor do the terms “modern” and “government” go together easily. Yet both are possible, and I’ve even seen a shift in our own very traditional government here.
Changing Our Approach to Developing New Firefighters
There are a couple of rules to this shifted game specific to fire service recruitment, retention, professional development, and succession planning.
- Unwavering rigidity in practice has little home here. A portion of that is a tough one for me to swallow, but easy to embrace when I know what can come of it, especially when protecting core values.
- Being led by our future leaders is the best way to “get ahead” instead of chasing this thing. Recognizing that others have something to contribute, as opposed to “You’re too inexperienced to have any value,” frees leadership to engage more powerfully for the benefits of all.
- Empowering a culture that has pride can’t be forced or even created. It must create itself.
These are fairly abstract notions, but that liberates us to 1) focus on work more than concepts, 2) let go of what we can’t control because we’ve acknowledged it, and 3) really use those disadvantages to our advantage—simply by recognizing it and being willing to respond with (as opposed to to) it.
The Old Way vs. The New
This type of change and embracing the unfolding future doesn’t come easy for me. I think the “old” structured way I have historically done things and built people and teams works: follow along, go with the time-tested development methods that arose from past generations in the fire service. Being obedient, a firefighter would be eons beyond where you thought if you had merely proceeded on your own. This is not because of me, but because we’re working together for you and all of us.
Yet there are few and far between who enjoy such methods anymore and fewer who are responsive to it. You can’t make people responsive to a given structure, nor is that a productive use of your time. Do we take the 100 people knocking on the door and just keep sorting through them for the handful who will fall in line, say, “Yes sir, may I have another,” to our high-stakes system? Or do we take the 100 and learn how to show the 100, “Look, you can climb a mountain too!”
A brilliant friend of mine once told me about an anatomy professor who could recognize, within the first class or two, everyone’s learning style. She separated the room into groups of similar learning styles. (She would mix them up from time to time on tasks and projects to learn about working together.) My friend himself has an innate talent for teaching to peoples’ learning styles and needs, meeting them where they are. By removing himself from the process and understanding their interests and approach, he is able to take them where they need to be.
This is very different than me asking for you to trust me and simply follow my system.
A Foundation of Development: Influencing Future Generations
Kastros said, “You can’t help how they think until you get them. Humble them [by being humble], by going through the toolbox with them… not by showing them what a dumbass they are. Now you know who you’re dealing with.”
Who is going to be more successful? Who is going to reach more people? Who is going to have a broader impact? Who will keep organizations—that is, the people who make up those organizations—moving forward? Who will shape the future forces that we need without watering down standards, all while creating successful and nimble futures?
And who is going to save a ton of energy and stress? (That goes for the organization, too.)
But, you say, I want the future and its outcomes to look a certain way. That’s a recipe for failure, and always has been. Success of that sort is transient.
Some people feel that, when getting people into the fire service, “If you can’t handle it, don’t come.” This just in: They already aren’t coming! And they’re leaving for the agencies that are very strong, or they’re out of the service altogether. And so we’re back to square one.
As a solution, I propose this: A foundation of development that speaks to generations. One that is naturally adaptable instead of being reinvented with every new administration, generation, industry, or social shift. This starts with the people within, and results in an open framework of how we build ourselves and others.
So now the next step: How do we make those mental and cultural functional shifts? Individually and organizationally? One overwhelming and tedious step at a time is old school (my way or the highway). That’s not how today’s young professionals learn. That’s not representative of a thriving, agile organization that people are attracted to. On the other hand, a go-at-it-all-at-once onslaught of change is not viable, either. There is a space between these two approaches that provides a broad, fertile area to thrive in, especially when we, as leaders and personnel, engage our new generations and plan for their future success.
References
1. Kastros, A. Webinar: Leadership and Succession Planning for the Next Generation. Fire Engineering, November 7, 2023.
John R. Bennett is a lieutenant with the Seminole County (FL) Fire Department. He has 22 years of experience in the fire service and a master’s degree in education and exercise physiology.
