Fire Service Leadership: Creating Owners Within

A short time back, my department was at a point where it achieved a lot of great things, and people of all ranks and positions were heavily engaged. Most of the engagement had to do with the fact that we needed “all hands on deck” to accomplish our goals. Thankfully, we were filled with enormous talent, drive and a shared vision.

A good friend and mentor came to visit my department. I asked him to lead a class on officer development and succession planning.

At lunch, my friend sat down in my office with a big smile on his face. I sensed that I was going to get a report on how the crews pulled a joke on him or, worse, did something that would require action. He simply stated, “I bet you don’t realize this department is filled with owners and not one single renter.”

To be honest, I never gave it much thought nor heard the term “owner” in reference to firefighters. In fact, I was embarrassed about that latter thing.

Later, I sat back and really gave it some thought. How did we create such an amazing environment? How do we keep momentum? How do we grow the next level of personnel into owners as well?

Why ‘renters’?

First, I had to recognize that some firefighters are happy being “renters.” Yet, how do we motivate and encourage ownership in our goals, our shared belief and our values with these members? As fire chief, I knew that renters have short-term view of their work relationship. They show limited care and concern regarding the quality of their work, and they don’t have long-term potential. Simply stated, they are OK with just being OK.

Most of these members are bruised and carry baggage from past supervisors or chief officers who didn’t value them, didn’t champion and advocate for the department and its members, and didn’t support the members’ efforts. In essence, these members became renters based on poor leadership.

However they got there, it still was their choice to be renters, and most use it as an excuse to be pessimistic, lazy and disengaged. Worse yet, some become cancers in the organization.

Looking further into the matter, I began to see the value of owners who view and accomplish their work relationship as a long-term proposition. They exhibit a sense of shared values and belief and a common purpose. They strive to be excellent, not just standard, and when faced with a crucible of sorts, they use it as a growth opportunity, knowing that failure is inevitable, not definable. Their goal is for the greater “we,” not the immediate “me.” They also don’t let failures, fumbles and miscues define their existence in the organization or as a person.

Ownership begins with leaders

Studies have shown employee owners—those who have commitment and dedication—often are created as a direct result of their relationship with an immediate supervisor who was a mentor and advocate and who provided immediate and constructive correction, discipline and redirection when necessary. A front-line supervisor usually had the greatest effect.

I have seen firsthand how an organization can ruin employees in their first three months, which will take years to correct, if that even happens. Placing new employees with ill-equipped, pessimistic supervisors who lack discipline, drive and leadership is the fastest way of creating future renters in the organization.

Former Los Angeles Fire Department Deputy Chief Don Anthony once told me, “Watch any fire engine arrive at scene and see how the personnel immediately operate. If they step off the apparatus and execute with excellence, it’s because they have a strong, disciplined fire captain. If they step off the apparatus, look undisciplined and poorly execute, it’s entirely the fault of the fire captain.”

Anthony went on to say, “Good firefighters will accomplish great things with a great fire captain, while great firefighters can only accomplish good things when they are under the direction and leadership of a good fire captain.”

Over the course of my 37-year career, I witnessed Anthony’s wisdom on multiple occasions, both on and off of the fireground. Ownership begins with leaders (fire captains). Although the heart and soul of the fire service is and always will be the rank-and-file firefighters, the strength of the structure that supports the mission and vision of the fire service is the fire captain.

So how do leaders/owners and supervisors help to contribute to the nurturing of their employees? How do they create owners? Below are five tips.

Recognize the responsibility to develop owners

Employee owners don’t exist unless someone (supervisor) nurtures, builds and charts the pathway for the relationship. Immediate supervisors must accept fully the responsibility, understand the importance and embrace the journey. Making employee morale and well-being a top priority is a first step.

Keep in mind, this isn’t a green light to give employees all that they want, nor is it acceptable to lower standards to coddle the employees. The employees own 50 percent of this journey.

Overcommunicate & provide constant feedback

Employee owners enjoy communication and thrive on constant communication and feedback. They want to know how they’re doing and what they must do to improve, so they can make appropriate adjustments continually. If supervisors don’t provide feedback on a daily basis, they should.

Utilizing a successful method from the healthcare industry, known as rounding, can help to develop employee owners to their maximum potential. Rounding provides leaders with the opportunity to touch base with employee owners, make a personal connection, find out what’s going well and determine what improvements can be made.

In addition, rounding ensures that employee owners know that their leaders:

• Care, value and need them to succeed.
• Want to recognize those who do a great job while providing them with direction to stay on course.
• Are committed to helping to resolve issues and are willing to follow up (even when the outcome isn’t what they hoped that it would be).

Rounding is a tool to help leaders to proactively address issues and reinforce positive behaviors.

Build collaboration teams with owners

Employee owners have ideas that can be useful to the direction of the organization. If supervisors and leadership don’t ask for their input, suggestions and ideas on a regular basis—and use them—employee owners begin to feel as though they aren’t as valuable as they could be. When this happens, disengagement and distancing occur, which results in a lack of ownership.

A good friend and former fire chief of a large metropolitan department once told me a story about the development of a uniform policy. He was told by his leadership team that the uniform policy needed to be revamped and implemented to bring consistency in uniforms departmentwide. After 10 weeks, the leadership team delivered a uniform policy that was 15 pages in length. The policy actually was longer and more intensive than the department’s command policy.

Unsatisfied with the policy, my friend summoned four employee owners from firehouses around the city. He told them that he needed a uniform policy crafted and ready for implementation. They were given four weeks to accomplish the task. Unsurprisingly, they had a two-page document on his desk the next week. The policy met the needs of the organization and was implemented the following week without a hiccup.

By asking for feedback, you create ownership.

Diamonds in the rough, waiting to be polished

Employee owners have a strong desire and willingness to contribute in as many ways as they can to help the organization to succeed. Supervisors and leaders must recognize that their ways might differ from the ways of owners and that supervisors might need to shift their paradigm to accept the new ways and support the effort.

My department’s fleet mechanic brought to my attention some failures in capturing the timely information and all of the details in regard to the needs and repairs of apparatus. He was frustrated and upset with the engineers, to the point that this was beginning to cause a disturbance in the organization and that silos were developing.

To gather more information, I went to a station and had a cup of coffee with engine and truck engineers. As I discussed the issue, the engineer of an engine suggested that we invest in an app that tracks the apparatus details, daily checks, needs, repairs and so forth, that uploads and saves to the cloud, and that send reports and alerts to all of the parties who are assigned to a specific function within the app. All of this has redundancy built into a records management system that can be folded into the department’s master system.

As a result, we purchased the app and implemented its use, and within a month, we had records and details beyond our expectations. This highlights how the saying “Water boils from the bottom up” is so true. The employee owner and the organization won.

Two ways to do something: the right way and again

This tenet often is heard in Basic Underwater Demolition Phase One at Navy SEAL Training in Coronado, CA. Although simple, it often isn’t standard in the fire service.

Supervisors must make it a habit, again and again, to engage, mentor and nurture the employee owner. Supervisors must ask themselves, “What did I do to help an employee become better today?”

Employee owners are the greatest asset of any organization. Failure to grow their potential, provide the right path, give correction when needed, and establish and nourish a strong relationship is a failure at the granular level.

Reflect

Supervisors get caught up in the daily tasks of trying to “get the work done.” In doing so, they often lose sight of their job of mentoring and supporting employees. To create employee owners, spend a little time each day reflecting on the effect that you had on others. In other words, leave them in a better place. This keeps them there for the long haul and leaves the organization in a better place for years to come.