TEAM BUILDING
Team building is the process of taking a group of individuals with different needs, backgrounds, and expertise and transforming them, by various methods, into an integrated, effective work unit. Developing highperformance teams within the fire department is an essential duty of the department officer; it is more often than not overlooked, however, because we do not understand how to do it.
Team building is not something covered in the IFSTA manual or addressed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, so, therefore, we do not address our members’ interpersonal skills until there is a negative event such as a bad attitude, a heated discussion, or a physical confrontation. Fire officers can increase the productivity of their departments, reduce conflicts, and increase the overall effectiveness of the entire organization by acquiring a basic understanding of team building (not to be confused with teamwork, which is a by-product of team building).
While traditionally all firefighters experience a certain amount of verbal abuse from their peers, this “friendly fire” can be counterproductive if it is allowed to get out of hand. In addition, intercompany “competition” can have adverse effects on both individual and team performance.
You might suggest that you already have a high-performance team that produces results, satisfies the customer (the public), and satisfies its team members, but can you honestly say there isn’t room for improvement?
Energy, enthusiasm, commitment, dedication, involvement, cooperation, and ownership are the marks of high-performance teams. Do your personnel have all of them? Consistent and professional management is essential for developing effective personnel teams. The following approaches can be helpful in building such teams.
- The formation of successful teams begins with consistent and appropriate leadership. It is improper, for example, for an officer to draw attention to the failings of department members in the presence of peers. Yet, it’s a trap managers easily can fall into when department members are
- engaged in “friendly fire” while casually sitting around the kitchen table.
- A successful team is one that is given clear, understandable, and wellordered objectives. All players must be singing from the same hymn book. A good officer learns how to integrate the personal goals of each of the members with team goals—a task that can be difficult, since many individuals carry’ hidden agendas.
- All rules should be fair, and they should be applied in a consistent manner for everyone. Treating a member differently because, in the eyes of peers, “he/she is buddies with the captain” can cause rifts among members that—if they can be repaired at all—will require considerable time to repair.
- All teams in your command should be well-qualified, and members should have diverse skills and experience. Officers must create the proper climate and culture to foster the development of high-performance teams. Create a “work hard/play hard” arena within which your members work as a group and “play” as a group on off-duty recreational projects, such as refurbishing antique apparatus. Some members automatically will assimilate to the “work hard,” while others will fall into the “play hard” category. As the team concept develops. peer pressure acts as the catalyst for converting “players” to “workers.”
- Environmental influences have an impact on your team’s effectiveness. Policies and procedures, reward and recognition systems, overall organizational structure, and demands of your municipal government all significantly affect how well things run in your firehouse.
PUNNING FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE
Adopting a managerial style that incorporates the following steps can help ensure that personnel will perform to their highest levels of capability.
Identify departmental goals. Let each member know what is to be accomplished. Be very clear, as effective communication is vital for ultimate success. Let the members know that they arc accountable for these goals. Make these goals specific and measurable, and be sure they arc shared among team members and they do not conflict with other department goals.
Identify everyone’s role in the goal-attainment process. Every member must understand who does what. Here again, the need for clarity and understanding is critical, as are agreement and ownership. For example, a member believes he/she is better qualified to do truck maintenance than the member assigned that responsibility. The first member feels slighted. Situations like this are common in fire departments. It is the officers’ responsibility to identify these problems and resolve them.
Monitor processes. The processes used in carrying out department business influence efficiency. The decision-making process, the communication process, the meetings process — all should be evaluated: How often are the processes invoked? Who participates? What is accomplished? Individual leadership style affects team performance. High-performance team leaders don’t merely delegate, monitor, and keep a close watch on work processes and the ultimate product. They instead support team effort by empowering team members and facilitating the team’s autonomous functioning. Team leaders encourage team members to suggest new ideas and make changes, provide their own direction, and make important decisions affecting the team.
Remember that interpersonal relationships are involved. Feelings, attitudes, and emotions can run high. Be careful how you respond to these issues; your attitude can make the difference between success and failure.
Fire departments are steeped in tradition. So many times we hear, “We do it this way because we have been doing it this way for 50 years.” It’s time for a change!
Take a minute and think about your department. Have you been dealing with and accepting the same stereotypical personalities over the course of your career—The “loud mouth,” the “know-it-all,” the “brown-nose,” the “back-stabber”? Create a better growth environment in your department. Tell the cliques that the war is over and that it’s time to rebuild relationships through mutual respect and understanding. Realize that you probably will be laughed at and ridiculed, but don’t despair. It took 100 years to get us to this point; don’t expect change overnight.
Volunteer or career, it doesn’t matter. Building better teams in the firehouse improves the environment in which we live and work, makes us better coworkers and friends, and helps us serve the public more effectively.
