BY RAUL A. ANGULO
How do you define leadership? That’s a question I love to ask firefighters. If you are a “fire patriot,” there are two subjects that should interest you: fireground strategy and tactics and leadership. Without a real desire to learn these subjects, you will severely limit your potential for success in the fire service. If you are going to lead, you’d better be good. Good leaders attract better followers. Firefighters want to be led by the best-no one seeks out mediocre leaders.
Leadership is difficult to define. There are lots of fancy definitions in leadership books to help us, but we all recognize leadership when we have it, and we certainly recognize its absence when we don’t. You can define something by indicating what it is not.
Leadership is not management, which covers how an order is carried out. Leadership is why the order is given in the first place. There’s a similar distinction between strategy and tactics: Strategy is the plan (leadership) and tactics is how the plan is carried out (management).
When I think of powerful leaders, I usually think of military leaders. A leader’s true power doesn’t lie in what he can do; it lies in what he can get others to do.
The United States Army identifies the qualities it looks for in its leaders. Leaders must demonstrate
- versatility,
- adaptability to change,
- professionalism,
- exemplary ethical conduct,
- technical and tactical proficiency,
- excellent communication skills,
- the ability to build cohesive teams,
- analytical problem-solving skills,
- the willingness to seize initiative,
- the independence and confidence to operate with minimum guidance, and
- the insight and foresight of a visionary.
How many of these traits do you have? I’m still working on a few.
Leadership is easily confused with authority. Just because you’re the boss and have the authority to give orders and make others comply doesn’t mean you’re leading. You could be pushing (hopefully not uphill). Leadership requires that you persuade your firefighters to follow instead of trying to force them. It’s a matter of influence, not intimidation.
As a leader, you gain respect when you can persuade and influence your firefighters to successfully achieve your defined objectives. This is a win/win success. Through your persuasion, your team willingly accomplishes what you want them to do. Through influence, your team willingly executes your will.
This is called referent power, which in leadership is the result of being liked, admired, and trusted by others. When referent power is used effectively, others will comply because they want to please you and they want your approval. Referent power leadership will always carry more weight and influence than position power leadership. Do you have referent power?
Personal authority is that power conferred on a leader by his subordinates when they decide to follow him. No one can lead you unless you decide to follow. When you decide to follow, you give another personal authority to lead you. For a firefighter to give you the personal authority to lead, the firefighter has to believe that your value system, mission, and strategy perfectly agree with his own. Only then will he allow you to take control, and you will be allowed to maintain it only so long as you don’t do anything to violate this consensus. The leader becomes a “partner in leadership” with the firefighter. The more the leader and firefighter share in a common value system, the more personal authority the leader has. Once the consensus ceases, however, so does the ability to lead. A firefighter will not be led into a value system in which he does not share or believe. For example, politics, religion, and social cultures are value systems in which influential leadership is drastically curtailed if there is no consensus.
The promotion to captain, battalion chief, or fire chief will not make you a leader. You will be a top manager, but being a leader is something completely different. You can’t be promoted to leader. Leadership on any level is a simple matter of consensus that you will have to earn and receive permission to exercise. You cannot lead where others are not willing to follow.
I teach the courses Leadership I, II, and III and Crew Development Tips for the Company Officer through the National Fire Academy. In these classes, I pass out 3 2 5 note cards and ask firefighters to write down the real definition of leadership. If you want to know what real leadership is, you had better listen to those whose allegiance you want-the firefighters.
Here’s what they wrote.
LEADERSHIP ESSENTIALS
Lead by example. A leader is “the first ship in a line.” He does what he says, says what he does, acting in a way that his crew respects. He does the right thing. Subordinates want to conform to his rules, and he provides a consistent positive example and maintains his integrity to get his people to follow a correct, ethical, and moral example. He is responsible, is accountable, takes initiative, and is understanding. The ideal leader keeps expectations in the open and clearly defined so that goals are understood. He inspires subordinates to accomplish goals and work objectives by example with minimal verbal direction. He displays honest concern for his crew and knows a firefighter’s name at his memorial service.
Motivate others. A leader motivates his people to want to follow him. He can get firefighters to buy into the ideas and ideals he practices through his commitment to the team and being the best he can be. A leader can rally the troops to the fire department’s cause and get individuals to work together to accomplish a common task. His troops know he is there for them and with them. He inspires pride, cameraderie, and teamwork in his crews and uses these traits to be effective and efficient in his responsibilities.
Demonstrate competence. A leader is competent, knowledgeable, well-versed, and experienced in the areas he expects his workers to perform and thus inspires their confidence in him. He makes the best decision based on information and not on what is popular. He thinks with his brain, not his mouth. He cares about his people and brings out and develops his crew’s strengths and identifies its weaknesses. He’s a reliable person firefighters can count on and be proud to follow. He leads people, makes decisions, provides an example for his crew of what he wants done or expects to be done, directs and educates coworkers, and is a reliable role model.
Create trust. A leader creates an atmosphere that encourages trust. He can get his people to take action and to trust and follow direction by building respect, confidence, and competence. He shows trust in his subordinates. He can rally people behind his cause or ideal and take that trust and use it to accomplish goals and ideas.
Well, there you have it, These are the core values of leadership gathered from a random group of firefighters. Among the expected leadership qualities often repeated from firefighter to firefighter are trust, respect, knowledgeable, competence, and leading by example. As a leader, you must be consistent and have integrity in these areas if you want to be a leader firefighters will follow.
RAUL A. ANGULO is a 21-year veteran of the Seattle (WA) Fire Department and captain of Engine Company 33. He is president of the Fellowship of Christian Firefighters, Seattle-Puget Sound Chapter, and instructs on fireground strategy and tactics and fire service leadership. He is a member of the FDIC and FDIC West advisory boards.
