Strategic Planning for Training and Professional Development

BY MARK WALLACE

Effective fire department training and pro-fessional development don’t just happen. Even in the best economic times, they are critical aspects of creating future excellence within the fire service. The economy is impacting all fire department budgets. If your fire department has not already cut its budget, get ready. It won’t be long.

Except for responding to emergencies, preparing to respond is the most important function within a fire department today, although some may argue for other priorities. If an organization relies on its legal mandates, however, what we are required to do is fairly specific. You must consider federal and state mandates because this is where continuing education, certification standards, and training mandates are often located.

A local problem occurs when nonfire service policymakers (city council members or elected board members) find tax revenues falling and hence must cut the budget. Local governments must balance their budgets (i.e., revenues = expenditures). Training and professional development allocations are often the first place they look for cuts. If they don’t really understand the fire service, they may consider the fire department’s relatively large training budget as excessive compared with that of other departments. Some call it “fluff”; others consider it “job perks.” If this is the case in your community, an effective department strategic plan is critical for effective operations; it’s one of your primary tools.

Strategic planning can assist with justifying and producing effective training and professional development programs and increasing firefighter safety, wellness, and knowledge by advancing the agency’s effectiveness. “Proactive futuring” can help you plan for tomorrow.

Let’s first start with strategic planning, which Dr. John Bryson defines as “organized common sense.”¹ It’s a process that makes risk-taking decisions systematically and measures outcomes against your expectations. In my book Fire Department Strategic Planning: Creating Future Excellence, Second Edition (Fire Engineering, 2006), I explain the steps of the “Fire Department Strategic Planning Model” (Figure 1). Over the past 20 years, I have been working to perfect a strategic planning process that is specifically designed for the fire service and that has proven effective in producing the desired outcomes in a variety of fire departments.

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TRAINING

How does this apply to training and professional development? To answer this question, we must address a few more basic questions. Why do we train? Why is training so important in the fire service? Simply, we want our operations at real emergencies to run smoothly and effectively. Therefore, the first time we execute a skill or face a specific problem should be during training and not when someone’s life (including yours) is at stake.

It leads to a simple vision of what you want your training program to cover. The best programs would effectively prepare your personnel for real operations and service delivery, whatever that will be in the future in your locale. Since you will operate the way you practice, your vision of an effective training program would be to perfect operations based on the scenarios and incidents you expect to face at some time in the future. This sounds easy enough, but then you have to add in the details of what “perfection” looks like. This may be explained in such a way that your personnel would have the effective training, the right equipment, and sufficient personnel to meet the challenges of the myriad emergency incidents you will face in the future.

Virtually everyone who makes critical decisions under extreme emergency conditions is now studying and will continue to study everything about US Airways Flight 1549. The outcome wasn’t luck. The captain and crew made their “luck” long before (and just before) Captain Sullenberger and his crew rolled down the runway for their flight to North Carolina, which ended unexpectedly in New York’s Hudson River. Training and experience were critical. The knowledge, skills, and abilities required to make their own luck and perform in a situation no one thought they would face that day were developed over their entire careers; they didn’t just happen. There is a direct relationship between fire service training and professional development and the constant training and development that airline crews receive.

Many state and federal mandates stipulate the number of hours; the subjects; the job performance requirements (JPRs); the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs); the required certifications; and so forth for many positions within the fire service. They form the minimum training requirements for each year or over a specific length of time. Various certifications also have specific continuing educational requirements.

A typical firefighter-paramedic requires about 400 hours of training or continuing education each year to meet the annual training standards, if he has the typical certifications offered today. If the mission of the department’s training program is not only to meet the time requirements but also to achieve effective outcomes at emergencies its personnel face, that critical component of the department’s strategic training plan is well on its way. These details help explain the importance of training and why other cuts should come first.

The next component is examining your department’s philosophy of training, whether or not it is explicitly defined. You must understand what it is and then shape it into what you would like it to be if it’s not there now. Once your department gets this far along in the planning process, you should have a more thorough understanding of your current training situation.

Your fire department should not base its training program on just what it likes to do but rather on the anticipated future emergency incidents your personnel will likely face. Consider both past and potential future incidents. As you assess this external environment, you should recognize both training challenges and opportunities that the community presents and other factors that are not within your control but will impact what you will be required to do as first responders. State and federal mandates are essential factors in assessing your external environment. You must realize, however, that most of these mandates are unfunded. On the other hand, some training is or at least can be funded. This includes training at the National Fire Academy (NFA), the Center for Domestic Preparedness, and others venues. Many states have state-funded training programs that may provide additional options.

The next phase is to assess your department’s weaknesses and strengths, those things that are controlled within your department (your internal environment). Use this assessment to develop your annual training plan as well as specific training goals. If response to motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) is a big part of your department’s everyday response, your training program should have an effective vehicle extrication training program, for example. Many training programs will try to focus on fixing their weaknesses. Although compensating for weaknesses is important and efforts should be made to shore up areas where a department is not as prepared, equipped, or skilled as it believes it must be, the best departments focus their programs on their strengths. EMS; MVA rescues; and, yes, even resetting alarm systems are the bread-and-butter calls of many fire departments today. Your local situation and emergency circumstances will help you define your department’s “distinctive competencies.”

All too often, fire departments spend only 20 percent of their time doing what they do best. At the same time, fire department personnel (like every employee globally) feel that their strengths are used in only 20 percent of their work every day. At the same time, most organizations are built on the flawed assumptions about their personnel—e.g., that each of them can learn to be competent at almost anything and that each person’s greatest room for growth is in his areas of greatest weakness. The world’s best managers are guided by the assumptions that each of a person’s talents are enduring and unique and that the greatest room for growth for each person in their organization is in the areas of his greatest strengths.²

All of these considerations will help you identify the strategic issues of your strategic training plan. What problems does your department face? What are your strengths? What can be done to make your strengths even stronger? What emergency incidents and responses do you anticipate happening regularly? What disaster is most likely in your community? If it happens, does your department have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to deal with it effectively? What are the gaps? What do you need to shore up?

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Many effective strategic training plans focus on the first-line or company officer who has been assigned a group of individuals that he must mold into a cohesive tactical team.

It is ultimately up to the individual company officer how effectively his fire company operates. Therefore, many strategic training plans have a two-pronged approach. To create and maintain an effective strategic training plan, the department must have an effective professional development plan. The department is responsible for developing the system, and it is the company officer’s responsibility to implement it.

A strategic system of professional development is the recommended approach to develop the department’s personnel so that they are ready to meet the demands of higher ranks within the organization, beginning with that of the company officer. The elements of a strategic plan for professional development are basically the same as those for the strategic training plan and include the following:

• A personal vision of the desired or ideal career.
• Defined mandates for career advancement or promotion that include requirements regarding experience, training, certifications, and education.
• An assessment of the challenges and opportunities the community presents for the department and its corps of officers.
• An assessment of the weaknesses and strengths of an individual compared with the demands, needs, and desires of the department’s leadership.
• Identifying the strategic issues the department’s professional development program will face in light of the current situation within the community.
• Development of departmentwide strategies for professional development.
• A process of proactively creating the desired future, one step at a time.

It is then up to each individual to determine how that person will proceed and set his career objectives within the department. For this to be effective, you must have a strategic career plan. It might be as simple as doing the following:

• Write a plan.
• Identify a timeline.
• Identify those people and systems that support your plan.
• Identify any gaps, comparing your plan to the requirements for advancement including experience, training, certifications, and education.
• Determine SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented, and time-defined).
• Identify the next step in the process—i.e., “next needs” or what you need to do next.
• As you take the various steps along this path, reflect on the direction of your progress and reconfirm your ultimate professional goals.
• Discuss the following with others who have achieved the goal you seek: What was helpful and necessary in achieving it? If they had to do it again, what would they do differently? Why?
• All along the way, evaluate your success to redirect your progress as needed over time. Since the fire service is not static, reaiming your sights on your career target may be necessary.
• Do what you plan.

This process is more a cyclic spiral to your ultimate goal rather than a linear progression. Sometimes, the target will move, and your desired career goal will shift. At other times, the nature of the job or its JPRs may shift, requiring additional or different KSAs.

When you look at the core process of what we call “professional development,” it is really about “professional action.” Professional action has three interlocking components, like the three sides of a triangle or a three-legged stool. Each component is required for the strength and resilience of the total package. The components must include the following:

• Professional values and commitment.
• Professional skills and abilities.
• Professional knowledge and understanding.

Design your strategic plan for professional development so that it explores and fully explains how your process is putting you in the best position to obtain your career goal and achieve the position of your ideal career path.

It starts with your personal vision of the career path you are taking. It describes the short- and long-term goals along this path. No one can effectively jump from recruit firefighter to chief without occupying a number of intervening positions along the career ladder. At each step or rung of the ladder, you must identify and meet the required KSAs and JPRs for each position, which will necessitate a defined plan; it is better if your plan is written. It can be in any form you prefer—e.g., your personal journal or a file on your computer.

Your career, however, won’t simply move along on its own. There will be a series of developmental activities or steps specific to the next higher position you seek along the way. Once you achieve the next higher position, carefully evaluate your preparation and your performance for that position. You must work on all identified gaps in your preparations and experience and revise your personal development plan as needed after periodically reviewing your progress and, ultimately, your career development. Don’t forget to check your progress against your vision for an ideal career periodically, since your target may have shifted over time and you may need to adjust your aim. With each revision comes a new vision of your desired or ideal future, and this cyclic process begins again.

SET GOALS, PLAN, DO, REFLECT

A very simple way to look at this seemingly complex professional development system is as follows: Set Goals, Plan, Do, Reflect (repeat). Between setting your professional development goal and writing out your plan, you must consider your knowledge and beliefs about what you are about to set out to do. This may help give context to the process as you work to more fully develop and write your plan. This is really a strategic process in that it requires you to understand the critical issues that will guide you as you move forward. You may decide on a number of strategies that you believe will help you achieve the goals of your plan. It involves a basic gap analysis as you reflect on your progress so far before setting new goals—before you Plan, Do, and Reflect again at the next iteration of your professional development.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AIDS

Fortunately, you are not alone in the process, and there is help available. The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) offers the Officer Development Handbook, which presents a continuum for training and education from the Firefighter I up to the Fire Officer IV position. It provides specific recommendations for supervising, managing, administrative, and executive fire officer levels, based on the applicable National Fire Protection Association standards, and includes specific outcome requirements for training, education, experience, and self-development.

The handbook also provides basic information on three other professional development opportunities: the Degrees at a Distance, the Executive Fire Officer, and the Chief Fire Officer Designation programs. The Degrees at a Distance Program, sponsored by the United States Fire Administration’s National Fire Academy (USFA/NFA), is an independent study degree program that has agreements with seven accredited colleges and universities across the country. It allows personnel to obtain a bachelor’s degree with concentrations in either fire administration/management or fire prevention technology. Educational requirements are a key component of effective professional development plans, and this program provides a relatively easy way to obtain a fire service-focused degree to meet the promotion requirements that many departments have today.

The Executive Fire Officer Program is another USFA/NFA initiative designed to provide enhanced executive-level KSAs for those moving up through the ranks within the fire service. Each year, the NFA has more applications than available positions in the four-year program. Those accepted attend a two-week resident course each year and must complete an appropriate applied research paper to complete each course. On successful completion of the fourth course and fourth research paper, the student receives certification as an Executive Fire Officer.

As you progress to the chief officer rank, the NFA has a full range of mid-level professional development courses. Considering the travel stipends, no-cost lodging, and low-cost meals, it is a good value and among the best training anywhere. Unfortunately, too many courses have open seats. All who are looking to advance in the fire service today would do well to take advantage of this great opportunity and fill every available seat for every course offered.

The Chief Fire Officer designation is aimed at fire officers at the administrative level or higher and involves documenting your education, experience, training, and community involvement in a portfolio. The Chief Fire Officer Assessment Commission, a core group of peer assessors affiliated with the Center for Public Safety Excellence (formerly the Commission on Fire Accreditation International Inc.), critically reviews the officer’s submission. The self-assessment portfolio with accompanying documentation is awarded points according to standard criteria. If the applicant receives 150 points, that person is designated as a Chief Fire Officer. This designation must be renewed every three years with documentation of additional continuing professional development and involvement. Many view this designation as the highest possible achievement a fire officer can reach. Currently, there are 616 Chief Fire Officer designees worldwide.

As a Chief Fire Officer designee, you are then eligible for membership in the Institution of Fire Engineers, United States Branch, in what amounts to a reciprocity agreement with the IFE of the United Kingdom. As an MIFireE designee, you will join roughly 11,000 fire service professionals worldwide, opening a whole new resource and perspective on the fire service.

More and more promotional requirements list advanced degrees such as Executive Fire Officer and Chief Fire Officer designee as desired, if not required, credentials to be considered for chief officer positions. How far you go in your career is up to you.

Endnotes

1. Bryson, Dr. John M., Getting Started on Strategic Planning. Jossey-Bass Audio Programs, 1991.

2. Buckingham, Marcus, and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. Now, Discover Your Strengths. The Free Press, 2001, 6-8.

MARK WALLACE, MPA, EFO, CFOD, MIFireE, is chief of the McKinney (TX) Fire Department and a former Colorado chief and public safety director/city manager. He is the author of Fire Department Strategic Planning: Creating Future Excellence, Second Edition (Fire Engineering, 2006). He helps organizations initiate effective strategic planning using his 40 years of experience.