The interview and assessment for those who aspire to the ranks of junior or senior fire officer are much different than the interview to join a department or to promote to engineer. Instead of only personal knowledge, experience and competence being tested, the officer candidate also must demonstrate an aptitude for leading others, for decision-making and for organizational commitment.
Start with why
When you advance to the interview stage of the fire officer selection process, you and all of your competitors likely have or had similar duties. Each of you likely had some degree of success thus far in your career. Each of you is able to basically articulate the mission of the organization and its purpose, such as saving lives and protecting property.
All candidates are required to demonstrate their knowledge of how the organization does what it does by recalling standard policies and procedures. What several candidates overlook is the why. Why does your department exist? As important, why do you want to promote into this position?
Some desire the prestige and power that come with the position. Others want to more formally mentor and train the next generation of firefighters and EMS providers. Those who aspire to the chief officer or fire chief ranks might be interested in driving policy and change or even cementing a legacy within the department. The answer for many might be some variation or combination of all of these things. Learning your individual “why” is something that must be accomplished not only for the purposes of the interview but also for the purpose of self-motivation.
In his book, “Start With Why,” Simon Sinek illustrates leadership and product marketing via three circles. “Why” is in the center, “How” is in the second ring and “What” is in the outer ring. He contends that companies and individuals market themselves from the outside toward the inside of that circle. However, marketing as well as leadership work best when working from the inside of the circle, outward.
For example, a hypothetical answer to the question, “Why are you interviewing for this position?” could be, “I would like to be a captain because I believe I have the experience and knowledge to make great decisions under pressure and lead others by gaining the respect of my subordinates.” This answer addresses what the candidate would like to do (become a captain) and how the candidate plans to succeed (gain the respect of subordinates), but the why is lacking.
A better answer to the question, starting with why, would be, “I have a passion for mentoring and teaching new firefighters. I feel that if you believe in them and encourage them through coaching, they will do great things for you. Promoting to captain will give me more opportunities to shape future firefighters.” In this answer, the candidate starts with why (passion for mentoring and teaching), proceeds to how (encouraging and coaching) and ends with what (promoting to captain).
Starting with why gives the interview panel insight into your driving purpose as a fire officer. The why serves as a compass for your decision-making.
Know yourself and what you stand for
Recruitment and retention of outstanding employees is a goal of any successful organization. It is said often that, “People don’t leave organizations. They leave managers.” For this reason, principled and consistent leadership is a driving factor in recruiting and hiring fire officers. Many Fortune 500 companies and military branches have senior leaders publish what’s called a personal leadership philosophy. It forces leaders to define and articulate their own leadership philosophy and helps to keep them on course.
Several formats and examples of personal leadership philosophies are available online. However, the basic components and building blocks are the same. These components include the leader’s purpose for leading, stated leadership style, leadership goals, guiding principles and deal breakers, and a commitment to actions that will be taken.
The first step in developing a personal leadership philosophy is to determine your own leadership style and definition of leadership. How do you view leadership? Should the process be democratic, giving subordinates a say, to build buy-in? Will you be a hands-off-type leader, allowing firefighters to make mistakes and grow? Will you be more of a transformational leader, working to facilitate the success of your subordinates?
Next, in defining your leadership principles, think back to leaders who inspired and motivated you. Think back to those who didn’t. Recall how leaders of the past made you feel and why. Remember how they made your peers feel and respond. What leadership moments were inspiring and made you want to emulate them? Consider your own personal leadership successes and failures. Reflect on your past and use the lessons learned from others to craft your own leadership style and methods.
Finally, make your philosophy actionable. Crafting guiding statements about things that you will and won’t do, things you will and won’t tolerate, how you will deal with subordinates and the working environment that you will strive to build. These action items will help to guide your daily actions and decision-making. The language should be clear and concise.
Knowing your own personal leadership philosophy inside and out will be a great asset when fielding the scenario-based interview questions that are aimed at assessing your decision-making skills. Candidates who are in tune with their own beliefs easily can formulate what they will do or how they will handle a situation. Not only will you be able to answer the question, but you can reference your leadership philosophy to demonstrate that there is a value system that drives consistent and sound decisions.
Evaluated experience
Candidates often prepare to talk about and highlight strengths but fail to prepare to talk about weaknesses, learning and growth. Assessors want to know how you will manage your way through adversity. The motivational cliché, “Experience is the best teacher,” has been contested by leadership coaches and motivational speakers. In some places, it’s been replaced with “Evaluated experience is the best teacher.”
What is evaluated experience, and how does it differ from the former?
There is a false equivalence that is made often between longevity and experience. It is assumed that a person who is in the same job for 20 years has more experience than a person who is in the job for 10 years. Although this often is true, it isn’t an accurate measure of growth. Reflective thinking on both successful and unsuccessful experiences often lead to growth. The reflective thinking is used to extract lessons from the experiences. This process of reflective thinking is frequently referred to as evaluating the experience.
Experience evaluation can occur from both personal successes and failures as well as the successes and failures of others. When interviewing, be prepared to give examples of your evaluated experiences. You might be asked to recount your greatest successes and failures, and what you learned from them. What happened? What did you do differently when faced with a similar situation after you evaluated the experience?
Take the opportunity to provide context and background to the incident. Explain why you or the person who made the decision called for the action that was taken. If the decision wasn’t the best decision that could have been made, when did it become apparent? What were your actions immediately after?
Having a mental note of evaluated experiences will demonstrate to evaluators that you not only grew as a result of your time in previous positions but that you are a reflective thinker. Reflective thinkers are prone to evaluate future experiences and, therefore, likely to continue to develop and grow.
The interview and beyond
Interviewing for a junior or senior fire officer position can be a source of both pride and anxiety. The key element of preparation is knowing yourself, inside and out. This includes knowing: why you want to promote into the position; your philosophical approach to leadership; and how moments of failure and success shaped your leadership outlook. Of course, other aspects should be prepared for, such as technical knowledge and departmental procedures. However, knowing yourself will enable you to seamlessly answer most hypothetical and scenario-based questions.
This self-awareness also demonstrates your ability to quickly analyze facts, evaluate alternatives, and systematically apply your philosophy and experiences to choose the best course of action.
Staying true to your “why,” adhering to your leadership philosophy and constantly evaluating your experiences will help you to build a solid foundation for success as a fire officer.
Cedric Patterson
Assistant Chief Cedric Patterson is assigned to Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Fire & Emergency Services, District 3, where he manages day-to-day firefighting operations for five military installations, including Naval Air Station Oceana, Dam Neck Annex, Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress, Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek and Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story. Previously, he was assigned to Joint Base San Antonio. He graduated in 2005 from Park University with a Bachelor of Science in organizational management. Patterson graduated from the University of Houston-Victoria with a Master of Business Administration in strategic management of organizations. In 2016, he completed the Fire Service Chief Executive Officer course at Texas A&M’s Mays Business School.
