BY KRISTOPHER T. BLUME
Traditionally, fire departments in the United States follow a hierarchical model of command and control that uses authority structures with policies and protocols to guide employees in decision making during emergencies. More specifically, firefighters and officers in this organizational leadership style are expected to follow strict rules, protocols, and the commands of their superiors. However, as times change and research and experience more commonly collaborate, alternative leadership methods are explored and developed, such as mission-driven culture (MDC), in which the leadership style decentralizes decision making. The leader’s intent guides decision making, combined with subordinates who are authorized and expected to act according to their best judgments.
This leadership strategy differs from traditional emergency management strategies in which subordinates must obey commands and follow strict policies/procedures or face consequences despite the potential for improved outcomes obtained by deviating from the rules. Therefore, MDC focuses on each mission and allows subordinates more freedom to make life-or-death decisions in the face of unforeseen and unfamiliar circumstances.
My first exposure to MDC came from Brian Fennessy, then the chief of the San Diego (CA) Fire-Rescue Department. His work in implementing this leadership ethos within the organizational culture has always resonated with me as being a great fit for fire service organizations.
An essential aspect of MDC is found within the name itself: It is mission-driven. The mission of firefighters is the operational doctrine that organizes their work and abilities. Among the most significant changes in transitioning from traditional leadership to an MDC is moving away from emphasizing the rote process toward maximizing successful operational outcomes. MDC has six core values: service for the common good, a high state of trust, the pursuit of truth, form and function defined by the end state, individual initiative, and continuous improvement. These values are established in the formation of an MDC in a fire department and aid in its implementation, which is based on several assumptions.
MDC Assumptions
An MDC is developed and implemented under the following assumptions: uncertainty, friction, and danger.
- Uncertainty means that every decision made in real time will be imperfect—i.e., any decision made in an emergency will have flaws.
- Friction is the point where difficult decisions are made; MDC assumes that those closest to the event will generally make the best decisions. As military historians, specifically, Carl von Clausewitz, have time and again concluded, proximity to an event gives the leader the best vision of how to accomplish the mission. This removes the dangers of making decisions from somewhere outside of the event’s radius, including incompletely understanding the situation, delayed awareness of rapidly changing events, and an inability to seize on the initiative when presented. “An on-scene view is worth a thousand radio transmissions” sums up the value of incident proximity. This makes the decisions made within the radius more circumstantial and flexible.
- Danger assumes that even a well-trained operator who is taking reasonable precautions can still be injured or killed. Under this assumption, no matter who makes the decisions, risk is always risk.1
These assumptions acknowledge that situations are complex and challenging in emergencies, and no single set of rules or policies will guarantee successful operations in all circumstances. Once MDC is understood, any team, fire department, or leader can appreciate its benefits.
MDC Benefits
One crucial aspect of MDC is that it encourages placing focus on the current operation, enabling all to identify a clear mission, which inspires engagement and helps boost performance.2 According to Groscurth,3 mission-based culture has several benefits.
First, at the individual level, a mission-driven firefighter encourages loyalty across generations, a common purpose found in a common cause. Successfully performing one’s job with autonomy increases retention and job satisfaction.
Second, MDC improves strategic alignment by helping leaders establish and balance priorities. Leaders can focus more on aspects of their position that grow and benefit the department instead of the decision making and the accountability that is on their shoulders.
Third, focusing on missions provides clarity since it guides decision making and judgment, considering that having a clear sense of what matters most helps leaders determine the best path of action.
Fourth, operational outcomes and performance within missions can be measured, making feedback and employee development more effective and efficient.
Spreading and balancing accountability are significant factors with MDC. This also comes with numerous benefits. For example, MDC maximizes employee engagement as a critical driver of organizational performance by increasing accountability on all levels. Moreover, by increasing autonomy and removing policies/procedures that limit the choices employees can make, MDC can enhance the potential for positive results and lifesaving actions.1 MDC can optimize the balance of safety, efficiency, and effectiveness to best deliver service to those in need. Finally, by avoiding the culture of permission, subordinates can take more risks, since it allows them to focus more on taking opportunities to make a difference than on worrying about breaking the rules and being punished.1 MDC encourages quick thinking and fast actions, which can impact the lives of many whom firefighters serve.
Finally, after implementing and establishing MDC, numerous benefits will appear, including decreased grievances, increased retention, fewer lost days, increased organizational productivity, better quality risk decisions and discussions, increased trust, fewer surprises, and higher support internally and externally.
Developing an MDC
When undertaking a move to an MDC, keep in mind that culture change is complex. Fennessy4 asserts that it is important to be personally invested in the change; trust and reassurance are essential. It is through trust that leaders can allow subordinates to assume the role of leader and decision maker in emergencies. Reassurance reminds subordinates and operators that their judgments are valid and will be supported.5
Fennessy also cautioned that when making a change to an MDC, legal counsel is imperative. In using legal counsel, communication can eliminate and mitigate potential administrative and operations problems that come with changes. Moreover, in using legal support, staff members can see that there is additional support available to them in situations that require difficult judgment calls. And finally, through legal counsel, boundaries, the line between good decisions and bad outcomes, and simply wrong decisions can be articulated.
Recognizing “Leader’s Intent”
A leader’s intent, according to Fennessy,4 is the first step in changing a fire department’s culture to a mission-driven one. A leader’s intent incorporates the task, the purpose, and the end state. The task represents the objective and goals of the mission. The purpose is the why of the task or assignment—i.e., why the mission must be undertaken. Finally, the end state is how the situation should look after the mission is completed. By ensuring the leader’s intent, departments can ensure the best results from an MDC and that all benefits are gained from it.
A Leader’s Role in an MDC
A leader’s role in an MDC is essential, regardless of whether more power is placed on subordinates in the process. For example, mission-driven executive leaders have an essential role in administering quantitative accountability for the organization and in embodying the needs of those they lead.2 This means that leaders in an MDC are responsible for the needs not only of the communities they serve but also of their employees themselves.
In an MDC, a leader must communicate the task, the purpose, and the end state of a specific operation, mission, or assignment. Moreover, leaders are expected to provide the resources needed for said mission or assignment. This is the extent of a leader’s role, and it is up to subordinates to decide how to complete the mission. Without input from either leaders or line personnel, firefighters—at all ranks—are expected to act with the intent of the organization’s mission—i.e., decisions should be made following the mission’s intent.1 MDC focuses on training subordinates and officers to use their judgment rather than just to obey and follow orders, rules, and policy. The organizational members are enabled to disobey orders if chaotic circumstances change the situation’s dynamic and the mission can only be accomplished through that disobedience.
Five Questions
According to Burns,6 mission-driven leaders needs to ask five questions to increase the effectiveness of an MDC.
“Are you well-informed and keeping critical audiences informed?” Specific delegations must be in place to allow effective communication to and from all levels of leadership.
“Are you taking calculated, necessary risks?” Are employees more likely to take risks to make a difference than they are to be scared into indecision? This is an MDC essential since it increases autonomy and initiative.
“Can you effectively lead and get out of the way?” Being a leader who can get out of the way means that you can maintain your responsibilities but still encourage autonomy.
“Can you predict the future?” Can you anticipate the programs and policies needed to ensure you can manage any future incidents when they come along?
“Can you do all of this with compassion?” Compassion provides psychological and physical benefits such as lower heart rates and switching off the body’s threat response. In asking these questions, leaders can mitigate the difficulties that come with decision making during a time of crisis.
Increasing Ownership and Organizational Accountability
In a fire department setting, implementing an MDC increases accountability and ownership several ways. For example, line staff are required to explain their actions to leaders; no matter what choices and decisions are made, those making the call need to back up their decisions and stand behind them. Backing up decisions ensures that an individual is accountable for every decision he makes. In traditional management, an individual could avoid accountability by blaming protocol or orders. As a result, company officers and department chiefs do not have to take the fall for all decisions subordinates make and spread accountability across the board more effectively.
Achieving and Moving the Organizational Mission Forward
MDC can help each hierarchical level of the fire department to move the organizational mission forward. Firefighters, for example, receive more opportunities and scope to foster successful outcomes within a mission. Moreover, with increased scope of autonomy and decision making, firefighters enjoy more job satisfaction.
Furthermore, MDC allows for advancements of the organizational mission from the company officer. Allowing autonomy among company officers empowers them with more responsibility and more freedom to do their job with satisfaction and success. Additionally, when you acknowledge and meet their needs, firefighters feel more fulfilled and thus more capable and willing to support the mission and operational request. Firefighters thus have more opportunity to focus on tasks rather than red tape, purpose rather than rules, and the end state vs. the potential trouble they might get into.
Finally, MDC positively impacts the department chief’s ability to accomplish the organizational mission. By alleviating the burden and risk of split-second decision making by chiefs who are often not on the scene, decisions can be made in a more circumstantial way that can ensure balanced and appropriate action is taken.
An MDC within a fire department is one in which autonomy and the authority to make decisions during times of crisis are distributed among leaders and subordinates, increasing accountability and job satisfaction for all. The numerous benefits of an MDC include foremost the increased ability for firefighters to save lives and successfully complete their missions.
Implementing an MDC is a slow, arduous process, but with cooperation from leaders across the ranks, open communication, legal counsel, and increased trust, fire departments can successfully integrate into this system. This cooperation is essential since it is through leadership that these changes are made. MDC can be successfully implemented in all fire departments across America to increase the efficiency of the services that firefighters offer.
Endnotes
1. Smith, Mark, and Don Whittemore. (2021). “Mission-Driven Culture.” Retrieved 27 November 2021, from https://bit.ly/3lFhrX0.
2. Brookes International. “Mission-Driven Leadership—First in a Three-Part Series.” (2021). Retrieved 27 November 2021, from https://bit.ly/3GjVjuK.
3. Groscurth, Chris. (2014). “Why Your Company Must Be Mission-Driven.” www.Gallup.com. Retrieved 27 November 2021, from https://bit.ly/3NOSIeX.
4. Fennessy, Brian. “Discussion Guide: Building a Mission-Driven Culture.” PREP Talks. https://bit.ly/3GAPPM6.
5. Knight, R. (2018). “How to Manage an Insecure Employee,” Harvard Business Review. April 25, 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2022 from https://bit.ly/3N97gG4.
6. Burns, R. (2021). Council Post: “Five Questions Mission-Based Leadership Must Answer in Times of Crisis.” www.forbes.com. Retrieved 27 November 2021, from https://bit.ly/3ajq8DP.
KRISTOPHER T. BLUME is chief of the Meridian (ID) Fire Department, with more than 20 years of fire service experience. An instructor at the National Fire Academy, he is graduate of its Executive Fire Officer (EFO) program and an author, a lecturer, and an independent consultant.
