Have you ever been in a situation where you didn’t feel comfortable speaking up? The words start to form in your head and you can feel them on the tip of your tongue, but nothing comes out. For whatever reason, you let the moment slip away, only to let that scenario play on repeat in your head hours later. I bet most people have experienced this at some point in their career.
You may be the new rookie going to your first fire and see your captain’s waist strap is dangling, not clipped in, before you enter the structure. You want to say something, but you don’t because you think you’re too new. Maybe you’re the senior member on shift, and the captain is giving a firefighter an unusual amount of extra work. You might say, “Maybe he deserves it” or “He probably did something messed up.” Perhaps you’re the company officer, and when your chief asks you how morale is at the fire station, you repond, “Things are great, chief,” knowing all too well they are not.
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These are just a few of the many situations where people are put in a position where they could speak up but don’t. So, why aren’t people speaking up when the situation clearly calls for it?
Personalities
If you’ve taken any in-depth leadership course or were ever curious about what type of personality style you have, then you know about the Myers-Briggs assessment. The assessment focuses on four areas: the way you direct and receive energy (extrovert vs. introvert), the way you take in information (sensing vs. intuition), the way you decide and come to conclusions (thinking vs. feeling), and the way you approach the outside world (judging vs. perceiving). Certain personalities are more willing to speak up than others; these are typically your extroverts. Now, it’s not to say introverted people don’t speak up. They do. They are just less likely to.
Working at the fire station, all of us have encountered that one individual who isn’t afraid to speak up about anything. Having a filter isn’t in his vocabulary. Now, at times, having this individual in your station is great. He can be your spokesperson when issues arise and the higher-ups need notification, but there are times when he is a disaster and causes more friction in the station than is necessary. This can be especially true for company officers. “Disagreeable people who are powerful (and, thus, visible) can also serve as antisocial role models and encourage others to behave more disagreeably.”1
Having a selfish, combative, and manipulative company officer or chief causes more tension and chaos. It also sends a signal to other personnel on shift that specific behavior is acceptable. This can be a disaster for station morale and any civility between crew members. This type of communication is almost always counterproductive and will cause others not to speak up when they should.
Identifying your personality style will allow you to understand how you interact and handle certain situations. If you have identified yourself as an introvert, you realize that you may not speak up as willingly, so you may have to go outside of your comfort zone. Realize this: Your thoughts and ideas are just as important and contribute to the overall mission as the next person.
Pressure
This is a common issue in the firehouse, primarily when groups are formed, and you want to be part of the tribe. The problem arises when peer pressure leads you to say or do something that does not reflect your true intentions just to fit in with the group. There are also times when organizational or political pressures may cause personnel not to speak up or, if they do speak up, they are not taken seriously.
Some of you may remember the failed NASA Challenger launch. What NASA discovered after a thorough investigation was that an O-ring had failed during launch. “Well, that’s not a communication issue but a mechanical issue,” you may be thinking. That’s true, but what NASA discovered after looking deeper is that multiple engineers did voice their concerns about the cold weather and the O-ring failure. However, political and organizational pressure mounting to proceed with the launch on time stifled the concerns. Ultimately, pressure to remain on schedule superseded safety concerns that cost the lives of seven astronauts.
Political, organizational, and peer pressure are aspects that are part of the fire department. Our job is to not fall into the trap of mounting pressure to change our views if they don’t coincide with our morals or beliefs. Also, when safety is concerned, any organizational or political pressure should never change our stance on the overall safety of the objective and our people.
Normalization of Deviance
In normalization of deviance, departure from correct or proper behavior becomes normalized in a corporate culture.2 In the fire service, it happens when individuals don’t speak up because what they are seeing may be common practice or has become acceptable behavior in their department—for example, not wearing a seat belt while in the apparatus. You may be new in a department, and when you first start riding on the truck, no one is wearing a seat belt. Everyone knows they should be, but it has become normalized, and no one says anything about it.
Breaking established practice is difficult in the fire department. Firefighters are set in their ways, and we don’t like change, but we shouldn’t be our own worst enemy and normalize practices that we know are wrong. Be the person who breaks the cycle and makes a positive change. Speak up and say something about it, or lead by example and be the positive change.
Culture
The culture of your department or station is the biggest reason individuals don’t speak up. Starting off at the station level, think about the culture at your station. Are the senior firefighters, the company officers, and the chief encouraging conversation or stifling it? To determine how well your station is doing, consider this: Do people ask for feedback? If no, then almost certainly the culture at your station is not congruent with speaking up. How can you determine that? If your company officers or chief regularly asks the crew how they are doing or how they can improve, they are opening themselves up for constructive criticism. This is not an easy pill to swallow for some, but if they are genuine, they will actively listen and not be defensive. Now, if individuals get defensive and shut down the conversation or make excuses when you start speaking up, you know it was just for show; they don’t want your feedback.
Great leaders continually seek constructive criticism so that they can continually improve their abilities. They also want to know when issues arise so that they can mitigate them at the lowest level before they escalate. Leaders must be proactive and create opportunities for direct, informal interaction with employees at multiple levels. They must use such opportunities to build trust by consistently welcoming feedback, even if it challenges their own beliefs or decisions. Afterward, they follow up on it and report back what actions are being taken.3 By continually asking for feedback, they establish an opportunity and an environment for open communication without the fear of retaliation or the concern falling on deaf ears.
An entire department is no different from a station. Does your department ask for feedback and, if so, do the higher-ups make the necessary adjustments, or do they just appease you?
Moving Forward
A solid understanding of why individuals may not speak up at work is a starting point for how fire departments can collectively make the necessary adjustments for effective changes. Every firefighter is in a position to make positive changes in his department and the fire service as a whole. You can be the voice that makes the difference and makes positive changes, or you can foster your environment and culture to allow people to speak openly. Each aspect works in conjunction with each other and enables every firefighter to have the essential tool that promotes change—a voice.
References
1. C. Anderson, D.L. Sharps, C.J. Soto, and O. John, “People with disagreeable personalities (selfish, combative, and manipulative) do not have an advantage in pursuing power at work,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), vol. 117, no. 37, 15 September 2020. https://bit.ly/38YZQXp.
2. J. VanderMay, “Normalization of Deviance: Definition, Examples and Solutions,” www.ostusa.com, 2020. https://bit.ly/3ajuBGt.
3. J. R. Detert and L. K. Trevino, “Speaking Up to Higher-Ups and Skip-Level Leaders Influence Employee Voice,” Organization Science, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 249-270, 2010. https://bit.ly/3Mcg6S8.
DANIEL VECCHIOLLA is a battalion chief and Virginia-certified fire investigator for Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Fire & Emergency Services. He began his fire service career with the Chesapeake (VA) Fire Department and transitioned into the Department of Defense six years ago. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in public administration from Old Dominion University and is working on his Ph. D in organizational management-leadership at Liberty University. He received his Fire Officer designation through the Center of Public and Safety Excellence for which he serves as a peer reviewer. He also has his Fire Investigation Technician designation through the International Association of Arson Investigators.
