BY CEDRIC PATTERSON
In our Fire Officer Training, we were taught the value of communicating expectations to our crew when assuming a new leadership role. This lays out expected norms for our subordinates and crew members, giving them a clear picture of what response is appropriate in any situation. As the officer progresses and becomes a savvier leader, he appreciates the value of soliciting feedback from subordinates on members’ expectations of their leader. A third and often overlooked set of expectations are those we have of ourselves as leaders.
What Leaders Should Expect of Themselves
Before you can effectively lead others, you must master the most difficult leadership task of learning to lead yourself. Your own expectations of yourself should be foremost in all that you do. Defining and consistently staying true to your own leadership principles and philosophy will allow you to lead from what leadership experts call a position of “moral authority.” Positional authority provides a small degree of influence in that subordinates will follow the leader because of his position. In contrast, moral authority provides greater influence: Subordinates follow the leader because of who he is and because of the trust and respect the leader has earned.
RELATED FIREFIGHTER TRAINING
- Chase Sargent: Expectations and Leadership
- The New Battalion Chief: Establishing Personnel Expectations
- Alan Brunacini: Expectations and Boundaries
Credibility Is Key
Credibility is key to developing moral authority, and consistency in applying your own expectations is the path to credibility. Positional leaders lead with words, whereas moral leaders lead with credibility. As an officer moves into a new leadership position, his words will outweigh his credibility. The new leader is a blank page. Subordinates can only take the leader at his word, since there is no track record against which to judge those words. Soon, however, credibility will outweigh words. Leaders will have a track record to validate their words against, and subordinates will follow accordingly. Once the leader’s credibility is established—good, bad, or indifferent—words will mean less than previous actions. The leader who has been consistent in matching his actions to his personal expectations will have gained moral authority. The one whose actions do not match his words will not.
Words Must Match Beliefs
For these reasons, you must clearly define and constantly evaluate what you expect of yourself as leaders. Do your words match your belief system, and do your actions match your words? Notice that matching the words to the belief system comes before matching the actions to the words. You can only fake what you don’t believe in for a short time. No matter what the words are, your actions will always default to your belief system. Therefore, the leader must first believe what he is saying before he will put those words into practice with actions.
What You Expect of Followers
The second most important expectations are those that you have of those you expect to follow you. This would appear self-explanatory. As a new leader, you want certain situations to bring about certain responses. You want your employees to be on time, to be ready to respond, to follow the rules, and to follow orders.
We have fireground expectations. Communicating clear and consistent expectations before an incident or before any situation arises that requires a desired response eliminates miscommunication.
Expectations and Effort
Another consideration is the relationship between expectations and effort. For both the officer and the subordinate, expectations reflect the effort expended. An officer who recognizes great potential in a young firefighter will invest more time and effort into developing that firefighter. Likewise, a firefighter on whom an officer has placed great expectations will respond with greater effort. It is human nature to want to live up to others’ expectations. The officer who sees the potential in a young firefighter to become an engineer is more likely to spend a few extra minutes during morning checkout with that individual. This extra effort, in turn, generates additional effort from the firefighter.
Conversely, if a leader has low expectations of an individual and expends minimal effort that reflects those expectations, the subordinate is likely to respond in kind. This won’t necessarily apply to those subordinates who are self-motivated, since they will usually seek other avenues for development and opportunities to contribute. However, those who are less driven will live up to or down to the expectations of them.
I once observed a captain in charge of a small station who seemed to have no aspirations of ever doing anything more. His supervisor had invested little time and effort in his development, and he lived down to the expectation that he was only capable of managing a small station and crew. We placed that same captain in an environment where he was told that he was not only capable but expected to be ready to fill in as a battalion chief when required. He embraced the challenge, living up to and exceeding the expectation.
Believe, Encourage, Show, and Teach
Leadership guru John Maxwell coined the acronym BEST when describing how leaders can push subordinates to strive to achieve high expectations: Believe in them, Encourage them, Show them, and Teach them. Believe in them by letting them know they have something significant to contribute to the department as a whole. Encourage them through coaching and feedback. Show them through the effort you expend toward them. Teach them to accomplish great things without you.
Reliability, Competence, Compassion
The final expectation is that which your subordinates have of you, which should never exceed the expectation you have of yourself. Most subordinates in the fire service generally want three things from those who are in charge of them: reliability, competence, and compassion. They want to be able to take you at your word, know that you have the knowledge and ability to keep them safe and execute your duties, and know that you will keep their well-being and best interest in mind when making decisions.
Reliability and compassion without competence do no good to the firefighter whose pay is incorrect or who finds himself in a bad fireground situation because of his officer. Further, competence without compassion will make the subordinate question the officer’s motives or agenda. For example, consider a seasoned battalion chief who is a tactical expert on the fireground but at the same time would berate an employee for recent performance and attendance, even though the chief knows that that employee’s mother is terminally ill.
The officer answers the subordinate’s three questions about him by his actions over time. Most officers will say on day one, “You can trust me. I’ve been doing this a long time and will keep you safe. You mean the world to me.” These words will outweigh the officer’s credibility because he has no track record against which to measure his words. However, if his actions don’t support his words, these words will soon ring hollow.
Integrity and Consistency
Integrity and consistency lead to credibility. Integrity goes beyond simply telling the truth. In addition to honesty, it also means doing the right things for the right reasons. Consistently communicating facts as they are, acting in the best interest of subordinates, and taking a genuine interest in their well-being and the well-being of those they care about will build credibility with the subordinate over time. Taking a genuine and consistent interest in your members, their families and loved ones, their hobbies, and their wellness over time will validate your statements about caring for your team. Also, listening more than speaking will show that you are interested in what they are saying.
Clear and consistent expectations provide not only a benchmark for measuring performance but a tool to set a positive tone for leadership. First set your expectations of yourself as a leader. They should be higher than any expectations you place on others and higher than the expectations that others place on you. These expectations should mirror your belief system and guide decision making. Expectations you place on others should dictate the amount of effort you give to and receive from your subordinates. Raising the expectations you have of others can often bring about an elevation in their performance.
Finally, those you lead have expectations of you. They want you to be reliable, competent, and operate in their best interests. Fulfilling these desires through your actions and words will allow you to lead with moral authority. Leading with moral authority and using expectations as a tool to enhance performance will set a positive tone, enabling you and your team to accomplish great things.
Reference
Maxwell, John C. (1993) Developing the Leader Within You 2.0. Nashville, Tennessee.
CEDRIC PATTERSON is an assistant fire chief with Navy Region Mid-Atlantic in Virginia Beach, Virginia, responsible for the oversight of operations, fire prevention, and fire department training for five military installations in southeastern Virginia. He began his career as an active-duty firefighter at Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona, in 1996. Patterson has a master of business administration degree in strategic management of organizations from the University of Houston-Victoria as well as a triple designation from CPSE (CFO, CTO, and FM). He is also a current candidate for the public leadership credential from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
