“Hey, Chief, I Got No Gloves!”?
MANAGEMENT
Beginning with this article, FIRE ENGINEERING will present a series of discussions identifying the leadership and managerial problems that “short-term” or popularly elected fire service leaders face. What would you do if you’re engaged in delicate conversation with town councilors regarding department operations and a member of the rank and file calls out:
The mutual aid drill involving over 20 units from neighboring communities had just concluded. The chief had spent over three months planning for the use of an emergency command matrix system, an idea that he had picked up in California and refined for local use.
From the corner of his eye, the chief saw the town’s executive and the deputy governor standing by the governor’s car. He walked quickly towards them. If the system was to be used, their approval would go a long way toward getting it accepted. As he walked, he noticed that the two men were anxious to leave the clutter and noise that surrounded the area, but the chief also sensed that they would give him a few moments before they dashed off. Whatever was to take place had to happen in a hurry.
“Chief Jones,” the governor’s aide said as the chief approached and stuck out his hand.
Just as the chief was about to reply, he caught sight of a firefighter from an engine unit that was quartered in the same fire station that he was. The look on the firefighter’s face sent a wave of apprehension through the chief.
“Hey, chief,” the firefighter yelled, “I got no gloves! Do you know where I can get a pair?”
There was a look in the town execufive’s eyes that was hard to describe. The governor’s aide moved toward the car, and the chief knew that the moment was gone.
“Keep in touch,” the town executive said through the window as the car pulled away.
“I’ll send a report,” the chief mumbled.
“How’d it go?” the firefighter asked as he approached the chief.
The chief shrugged. “Don’t know. All right, I guess.”
“All right,” the firefighter countered, “it’s better than all right. That’s the best damn plan this area’s ever had.”
The chief smiled and looked at the firefighter. Well, he thought, next month is the election for chief. Who knows what’s going to happen? “Now the gloves,” the chief said, “Let’s see if there’s an extra pair in the chief’s car.”
Later, the chief still could not fully resolve what he had sensed in the town executive’s eyes. He couldn’t nail it down, but he was quite upset over the feeling that it might have something to do with his leadership ability.
After supper, the chief reached for the phone. His friend George was a leadership consultant for a large paid fire department and for a variety of industrial organizations. If anyone could help, the chief felt George could.
The two-year role play
After a few moments of pleasantries, the chief launched into a full account of the day’s events. He especially focused on the firefighter’s request for a pair of gloves, and how it seemed to break in on a precious moment of spontaneous reaction by professional managers to the culmination of an orchestrated event that had required months of hard work, planning, and re-planning.
“I don’t know,” the chief said, “the moment was gone and 1 wanted so much to get their gut reaction.”
“Why didn’t you tell the firefighter to shut up and wait, or at least get his own gloves?”
“Do you think that would have made a difference?”
“Probably.”
The chief thought for a moment and then said, “I don’t know. You just don’t do that in the volunteers.”
“Why not?”
“Well, because they’re not paid firefighters. They don’t have to do what they’re told.”
“Then there’s no authority.”
The chief did not like the way George was going. “Sure there’s authority,” he replied, “but it’s different. We don’t have the same authority that a paid chief has. We’re elected by the same people that we’re supposed to be the boss of.” He paused and waited for George to speak, but there was only silence. After a few moments, the chief continued. “We have a two-year term as chief. I swear it’s like playing a role for two years.”
“A role?” George asked.
“Yeah,” the chief replied. “I don’t know how to get anything done. It’s like today, when that firefighter broke in on my conversation. He shouldn’t have done that. It wouldn’t have happened in a paid department.”
“Do something about it.”
“Like what?” the chief asked, “My term is up next month and I don’t even know if I’ll be elected again.” He hesitated for a moment and then added, “One thing is for sure, coming down hard on anybody is no way to win an election.”
“Ah,” George murmured.
“Yeah,” the chief added, “what a system. It’s impossible to get anything done.”
“Feel better?” George asked after a moment of silence.
The chief smiled. “Yeah, George, as a matter of fact, 1 do. Thanks for listening. I guess it does me good to realize that there’s nothing much that can be done.”
“I didn’t say that,” George quietly replied, “but it was good to hear from you.”
“Talk to you again,” the chief said as he hung up the phone.
George’s last remark wasn’t quite what the chief had expected, and he wondered what George meant.
Paralysis
“What happens when there are no major problems left?… Can a manager who sees himself as a problem solver be satisfied with such a situation?”
“Americans,” George said the next day as he addressed a group of volunteer fire officers, “especially managers, feel that every problem has a solution.” He hesitated for a moment and, after sensing that he had the group’s attention, continued. “In other cultures, the French, for example, there is an unstated acceptance that some situations, problems if you will, do not have a realistic solution. And so people learn to accept or to live with them.”
“This is supposed to be a class on leadership,” one officer remarked. “Are you telling us that we should not solve problems?”
George smiled. It was the response that he desired. He replied, “No. I’m not suggesting that you avoid problem solving. I’m just running the statement up the pole so you all can think about it.” After a moment he continued, “Look, cancer is a problem that may not have an acceptable solution, but many people learn to live with it and cope. They don’t expend all of their strength looking for a solution that may be beyond their ability to provide. And they don’t just throw up their hands and say, ‘Hell, there’s nothing that can be done.'”
Another member of the group scratched his head. “1 don’t really know what cancer has to do with the problems of a volunteer officer.”
“Well,” George replied, “Maybe you’re right.” He thought for a moment and added, “What I’m suggesting is that many managers equate problem solving with being an effective manager. There are some studies that tend to indicate that some managers look for problems to solve because they feel that’s what it’s all about. What happens when there are no major problems left? What happerts if there are problems that cannot be solved? Can a manager who sees himself as a problem solver be satisfied with such a situation? Can managers learn to be what they’re supposed to be?”
“What’s that?” a young officer quickly asked.
“Intelligent, reasonable, functioning managers.” George answered. “And problem solvers, but knowing that there are limits and perhaps situations without solutions. You know,” he added, “you’re also supposed to teach, direct, guide, organize, supervise, and control. There are a slew of such leadership activities involved in making things work the most efficient way possible. That’s what a facilitator does.”
“It sounds crazy to me,” an officer remarked.
“Yeah,” another chimed in, “are you telling us to bury our heads in the sand like an ostrich and hope a problem will go away?”
“No. I’m suggesting that you confront problems or situations realistically. If it’s within your ability and power, do something. If not, refer it to whomever has the power to do something about it. If you know nothing will be done, do whatever can be done on your level and then go on to new business. Don’t allow the knowledge that nothing can or will be done to become a crutch, an excuse to do nothing. Don’t allow your self-development, as a leader, to be crippled by such a situation. Situations without apparent solutions can paralyze those of us who are unable to cope with an uncertain environment.”
‘This is too heavy for me,” one officer remarked.
“Yeah,” said another, “are you talking about a problem being a guy who doesn’t do what he’s told or what?”
George realized that he had lost some of the officers. It was time for an example. “The other day I received a telephone call from a chief who apparently resented the way a firefighter interrupted him at the start of a crucial discussion with high authority figures. It seems that at exactly the wrong moment, the firefighter requested the chief to provide him with gloves. And from what 1 could gather, the chief was hurt by the firefighter’s lack of respect and consideration. It would also appear that the authority figures were not delighted with the idea of having a discussion with the chief in the presence of a firefighter who had apparently invited himself in as part of the group.” George paused to sense the officers’ attention. He chose his words carefully and said, “When I suggested that he should have told the firefighter to buzz off, the chief seemed reluctant to take my advice. Then the chief told me that he was up for re-election and that it was an impossible authority situation.”
There was silence in the group.
“Actually,” George said, “it’s an example where, because of a situation that the chief felt was impossible, nothing was done about the firefighter’s behavior.” He waited for a second. “Probably,” he continued, “nothing will ever be done to correct the firefighter’s behavior and probably nothing is or was ever done to direct or train other firefighters. They probably have done just about what they wanted.” George was being forceful and he knew it, but he wanted to make sure they all got to the point. “It’s a nothing situation. I mean the chief’s feelings got hurt and that’s about it. And probably the chief was hurt because it rained on his personal parade. But it’s a situation that describes how, for some of us, an impossible situation can be paralyzing. Hell, in the chief’s department, if all officers see the situation the way he does, it could be paralyzing on a scale that could be destructive on a department-wide basis.”
“Don’t you think that the chief was carrying things too far?” the same officer asked who had claimed the whole thing was too heavy for him.
George quickly replied, “If a man’s problem is that he feels there’s a tiger under his bed, and you know that there’s no tiger under his bed, to get that man out of bed, you have to deal with the tiger under his bed.”
A few smiles appeared on the otherwise serious faces.
“How do you do that?”
“Confrontation,” George quickly answered. “Get the man to face the tiger.”
“To hell with the tiger” one man blurted out, “how about the chief?”
George thought for a second. “The tiger, for the chief, is the election every two years.” He walked to an easel on which there was a large writing pad. “This,” he said, “is what I would suggest that he do.” Then he wrote the following:
CONFRONT
Challenge
Authority
Formal
Informal
RESOLVE
In the here and now Tomorrow Next year or so Never ACT
George picked up a pointer and placed its tip close to the word “confront.” Then he said, “Confront means to stop avoiding the issue. Challenge means to stand up and take the issue on. However, you have to be realistic and that’s where authority comes in. You have to tackle the problem on whatever level of authority has the power to do something. If you don’t have the power, then it’s above your head and you’re going to have to refer it to a higher level-that’s if you do it according to the formal authority chart structure set up by your organization. If for some reason you decide that’s not the way to go, then you go informally, like going political.”
George pointed to the word “resolve” and said, “At this point, using a realistic manner of thinking, you ask yourself if the problem will be resolved right now, tomorrow, next year, the year after, or will it ever be resolved? In the chief’s case, he had evidently decided that he did not have the authority. He evidently did nothing informally, and he evidently had decided that the authority situation would never be resolved because he had to be voted into office.”
George paused. He studied the group and moved the pointer back and forth under the word “act.” He slowly said, “This is what the chief failed to do. Oh, he became a great planner, but he didn’t act to make everything work the way it was supposed to work, including the firefighter who lost his gloves.” He hesitated again and then continued, “As a matter of fact, sometimes managers who feel they’re in an impossible situation ask impossible tasks of the organization. It’s sort of like a self-fulfilling prophecy. A manager feels the organization is impossible, so he makes a plan that’s impossible for the organization.”
Facilitator
“Crazy,” one officer said. “You mean you got all of this just from the chief’s phone call?”
“Well,” George remarked, “sometimes the signs of paralysis take on strange dimensions.” After thinking for a second he added, “Paralysis is very costly to a fire department, no matter what form it’s in. That’s why it’s better to think of yourself as a facilitator.”
“You mentioned that before,” another officer remarked. “Can you fill us in on what you mean?”
George replied, “It’s easy to be a facilitator. You concentrate on acting instead of procrastinating. You don’t get all tied up and paralyzed. You,” he picked up some notes and placed them in a neat pile next to his briefcase and carefully said, “stop bellyaching about what you can’t do anything with and do something with something you can do something about. That’s not good English, but it just about covers it.” George picked up the magic marker and went to the easel pad. He wrote:
ACCOUNTABILITY
“Perhaps the chief didn’t hold himself accountable for his total job as chief, and perhaps he didn’t hold those who worked for him accountable for their total job performance.”
One officer asked, “What do you mean about the last part?”
George looked at his wristwatch and placed the papers into his briefcase. He said, “1 had the sense that the chief felt that the firefighters could not be ordered around too much. No, it was more than that. He seemed to project the feeling that since they were volunteers they couldn’t be expected to respond to supervision like paid firefighters.” He looked at the group as he completed his thoughts. “Voluntary compliance is one of the highest forms of authority acceptance in our society. It seems odd that the chief should feel the way he does.”
“Voluntary’ compliance?” the officer questioned.
“That,” George said with a smile, “is the subject of our next session.”
