RALEIGH, N.C. (December 5, 2019)--A new online leadership training program has launched to teach leadership skills to fire service company officers, chief officers and those aspiring to those leadership levels. The Brave Fire Leader Academy (www.bravefireleader.com) is taught by two acclaimed industry experts: Kelly Walsh, M.Ed., a professional certified coach, with more than twenty five years of human resources experience including ten years in fire service human resources and Chief Dan Jones a retired fire chief (Chapel Hill, N.C) with more than 41 years of service including more than 35 years teaching fire leadership. Jones also the former editor-in-chief of Fire & Rescue Magazine and past President of ISFSI.
Walsh and Jones have developed the online academy after hearing from the industry wishing for a more convenient way to train their teams without the added expense of travel and time devoted to in-person training. Walsh and Jones have trained people from more than 150 fire departments and hundreds of students nationwide successfully complete their live training program.
The classes will benefit anyone who wishes to take their career to the next level, become more competitive and gain confidence with some of the most challenging concerns of a leader outside of the fireground. It’s also designed to help in the transition of leadership when company officers and chief officers promote or retire so there are successors who are prepared to step up and lead.
There are two levels of online courses available for fire department leaders and aspiring leaders. Level one is a “Leadership Intensive” series for company officers and chief officers. Level two, the “Leadership Mastery” series, comprises courses designed to provide advanced training in leadership for the chief officer and aspiring chief officer. Courses serve a multitude of purposes for different students: they are sometimes used to bridge the gap between different phases of career or to provide additional professional training and qualifications necessary for promotional advancement. There are courses in a wide variety of subjects, for developing the inner-leader such as communication skills, ethics, and also navigating some of the more complex problems such as choosing leadership styles, team development, multi-generational workforce, and how to avoid legal landmines.
Well regarded and respected Chief Dennis Compton “I have known and worked closely with Kelly Walsh and Chief Dan Jones many times during my career. Their unique combination of fire service HR management, instruction, and leadership experience makes this educational opportunity both practical and essential for current and future fire officers. These two professionals have so much to offer their students – no doubt the fire service will benefit significantly from their instruction.” Compton is the former Fire Chief of Mesa, Arizona and Chairman of the Board, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation
The training program is receiving positive feedback from fire chiefs across the country. Brad Cox, Fire Chief of Lexington County, S.C. said, “I highly recommend this Academy to anyone looking to provide “real world” leadership instruction to their department.”
This engaging training helps current and aspiring fire leaders to:
- Use skills and strategies already usedon the fire ground, transformed to solve and prevent people problems.
- Learn key areas of focus to improve the impact of their job performance.
- Have access to approximately 20 leadership tools they can take and use immediately.
- Develop and engage the people working on their teams.
- Know how to lead everyone, no matter their age or style.
- Think on a higher and more comprehensive level about advancing their department’s success.
Since launching this month, the academy has already gained prominence and the first round of students began their leadership training within days of the program’s launch.
"As someone who has extensive leadership training, including a Master’s Degree in Leadership, I can say hands down that there is no training out there for the Fire Service that reaches this level. I don’t know of anyone else in the nation that is doing what Jones and Walsh are doing and was pleased to be a part of this Academy," said Charles Vannatter, Building Official/Fire Marshal, Wytheville Fire Department
Walsh and Jones are also authoring a book entitled, “Ignite the fire within, what corporate executives can learn from fire service agency leaders,” due out by late 2020.
For more information, visit www.bravefireleader.com or call Steve Matzat at (408) 386-5093.
About the Brave Fire Leader
Since not all future fire department leaders have the time or the financial support to travel to national leadership training programs, we have created this on-line program to bring our acclaimed training to you. Taught by two fire leadership experts, Kelly Walsh, M.Ed. a Professional Certified Coach with more than 25 years of HR experience including 10 years in Mesa, Arizona Fire Department and Chief Dan Jones, Retired Fire Chief of Chapel Hill, NC Fire Department, with 41 years of experience, an award winning instructor, and , the former Editor-in-Chief of National Fire & Rescue Magazine. Combined they have more than 40 years of experience teaching and in the last four years, have taught their Fire Leadership program to hundreds of students in more than 150 fire departments nationwide.
