By Jason Hoevelmann
Over the years, I have been fortunate to have had great mentors and friends who provided me with great advice about being a fire officer. I had two obvious choices when that advice was given: ignore it and do it my way or listen and trust in what they were telling me. After all, they were sharing their experiences from their times as officers. They had already seen what worked well and what didn’t, which allowed me to hopefully skip a few of the mistakes they were passing on. Additionally, I have worked for and witnessed some really bad officers over the years. In some cases, watching these bad officers was just as beneficial as listening to the advice of the good officers.
Couple this with the experiences I have had as an officer over the years. Yes, I did repeat some of those mistakes mentioned above. I have compiled “10 Commandments” for the fire officer to follow for success off the fireground. Some of these principles can be adapted for the fireground as well. These principles focus on the people side of things. This is by no means a complete list, and you may disagree with some of the points. That’s fine. The intent is to share information you can adapt for your situation.
Prepare.
This must be considered long before the promotion and as long as you are an officer. We cannot succeed in the fire service without preparation. Consistently improving and being engaged lay the foundation of who you are, create your reputation, develop leadership style, and create good habits. Prepare in every aspect to make yourself difficult to pass over for promotion, and be the officer everyone wants to work for:
· Prepare before promotion laying the foundation of who you are.
· Drill regularly and with purpose.
· Check everything every shift–no short cuts.
· Create strong, positive, and productive habits.
· Know your area, and be familiar with neighboring response areas.
· Build a consistent body of work as the foundation for your career.
Set Expectations.
After being promoted, one of the first things that you need to do is set your expectations and convey them to your crew and members. Base them on your past experiences, morals, ethics, and the mission of the department. Along with setting your expectations for the crew, let them know what your expectations are of yourself and allow them to communicate what they expect from an officer. It’s difficult to hold your members to standards and expectations they don’t know about or haven’t been made aware of.
· Make them clear and concise.
· List them for yourself as the officer, including goals and objectives.
· Do it in a timely fashion, preferably day one.
· Include daily in-house and tactical expectations.
· Reevaluate; don’t be afraid to adapt and change as needed and be flexible where it is allowed.
· Note and make clear non-negotiable items.
Know Your Crew.
It is important to get to know the members with whom you will be working. Form a relationship to help create the trust needed for a cohesive team. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to be good friends with every member, but knowing what their interests are and what motivates them is important when it comes to getting them to buy into the mission.
· Get personal; get to know them.
· Ask about their families. Get to know their names and activities.
· Be interested. More importantly, CARE.
Serve.
As firefighters, we are told that our primary mission is to serve our community and the citizens. This is absolutely true and something that doesn’t change when we become officers. But, in addition to the same servitude we need to display for our citizens, the officer must serve the members. The officer has to have the genuine ability to put his members ahead of himself without resentment or question. The team and the members are always first and foremost above the needs of the officer’s personal needs. Build that trust, and the same will be offered back from your members.
· Set priorities that put others above you.
· Serve your community.
· Serve the department.
· Serve your members.
· You come after them.
Listen.
It’s easy to get caught up in the extra daily duties outside of the normal tasks typical for a company officer. In those cases, it can be easy to discard or put off members who need to communicate something to you or who want advice or guidance. In other instances, distractions can get in the way of a meaningful conversation. Sometimes, we need to put our personal feelings aside about somebody and listen to what they are saying and appreciate the message. To effectively lead our members and gain and maintain their respect, we must actively listen. This doesn’t mean enduring complaining and whining sessions.
· Pay attention to your members.
· Actively listen; look at them, and pay attention. It’s important to them, and it is the courteous thing to do.
· Don’t jump to conclusions. Keep an open, unbiased mind.
· Respond with productive feedback.
Self-Evaluate. Be Humble. Self-evaluation and humility work together for this rule. We must be able to look in the mirror and identify where we need to improve. Without humility, that isn’t possible. It’s almost impossible to demand that our crew members get better and make changes without our requiring the same things of ourselves. Note where the challenges and struggles are, and obtain the resources to improve those areas.
· Frequently evaluate your performance and effectiveness.
· Identify areas for improvement, and create a plan.
· Seek out mentors and coaches for advice and constructive feedback.
· You’re not always right. Realize it, and accept it.
Be the Leader.
Being the leader isn’t about telling others what to do; it’s about getting others to do what needs to be done without telling them. Leadership is about creating an environment and atmosphere that allows members to excel and be better than you. Being the leader is about raising people up and helping them to achieve great things and to operate as a successful team.
• Get the most out of your members and team by giving respect.
· Be honest, even when it’s hard to do.
· Temper your emotions; don’t let them dictate your decisions.
· Admit mistakes, and own them.
· It’s not a one-size-fits all-process; know your people.
· Be decisive and confident in decision making.
· Accept constructive criticism.
· Provide constructive criticism.
· When the crew wins, give them the credit.
· When the crew fails, take the responsibility.
Don’t Make Excuses; Don’t Accept Excuses.
Excuses are counterproductive and the way of the weak. As the officer and leader, you cannot make them, nor can you accept them from your members. Excuses prevent from admitting admit where we were wrong or failed; therefore, they prevent us from learning and improving. Additionally, accepting and making excuses becomes habit forming because it’s the easy way out.
• If it’s wrong, fix it.
• When confronted by a superior, make sure the problem doesn’t happen again and that it gets handled.
• Don’t accept excuses from your members. Expect results, solutions, and accountability.
• If you use and accept them, so will your crew and members.
Do Your Job, The One You Have Now!
I have seen it over and over again: a member is so concentrated on the next level or the next promotion that all of his effort is put into that and his current responsibilities lack. The best way to be a strong candidate for promotion is to be the best at what you’re doing NOW! Think about who we like to promote; it’s not the opportunist or the manipulator. It’s the person that is the BEST! Concentrate on being the best at what you’re doing now, not where you want to be or where you think you should be.
· Take steps to improve and master your current job set.
· Know your role in the department and excel at i.t
· Don’t dismiss what you do now for the next position.
· Focus on your importance to the team.
· Master your current position and its responsibilities.
· Be dependable.
· Don’t get too far ahead of yourself. Slow down. Be in it for the long haul
Do the Things Others Won’t or Don’t Do.
Be a problem solver and the person who gets the little things done. There are plenty of tasks and jobs in the firehouse that don’t get done for one reason or the other. Do those jobs with vigor and pride. All of the little things that need to get done that are important to our success are the things that others don’t see, but the leader does and ensures they are completed without fanfare or notice. I like to compare this with chasing kinks on the fireground. The crew on the inside doesn’t know that 50 or 75 feet behind them the hose is kinked. The hoseline may not directly affect those on the exterior, but it directly affects the attack team, and it is everybody’s job to chase and fix kinks for the success of the team. Don’t worry about if anyone is watching you do good things; they will be noticed in the long run.
· Don’t walk past problems. If you found it, it’s yours. Own it.
· Don’t take the easy way out.
· Find things that need attention.
· Deal with issues when they happen; don’t put them off for later.
· Just because others do it this way or that way doesn’t mean you should
· Do the right things for the right reasons all of the time.
· What you are when nobody is looking is who you are.
I’m sure a great many of you are already doing these things. You may have your own items to add to this list. We have to understand our role in leading and create new and effective leaders that will be even better than we are and do greater things. The fire service and our communities are depending on it.
BIO
Jason Hoevelmann is a career battalion chief with the Florissant Valley (MO) Fire Protection District and a deputy chief with the Sullivan (MO) Fire Protection district. He is a 25-plus-year veteran of the fire service and has been instructing for more than 18 years. He is second vice president of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors. He is a co-owner of and lead instructor for Engine House Training, LLC, which provides hands-on training for firefighting operations and safety and survival. He has a BS degree in fire administration from Eastern Oregon University and has presented nationally and in Canada. He contributes to Pennwell through FireRescue Magazine, Fire Engineering, and blogs and podcasts. He is a member of regional Strike Teams 3 and 5 in Eastern Missouri.
