Diversity is about counting people. Inclusion is about making people count. Diversity is about the ingredients, the mix of people and perspectives. Inclusion is about the container – the place that allows employees to feel they belong, to feel both accepted and different. To achieve success today and tomorrow in meeting the challenges it faces, a fire department needs a group of people who think differently – in a place that's safe to share those differences.
Read More »Leadership
Pregnant Firefighters: What Men and Women Need to Know
By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer All fire chiefs and their officers SHOULD BE REQUIRED to read up on this case. Chicago Fire’s Nursing Mother Case Moves Forward Women have a right to become firefighters and paramedics. They have a right to become pregnant and start a family. And they have legal rights to protect them and their jobs and ...
Read More »Chief Ellis Vindicated in SLC Public Service Commission Ruling
There are many lessons to be learned from Chief Ellis’ case, lessons to be learned that we’ve seen far too many times in the fire service. So, here’s the question: Will we learn them this time?
Read More »Clan Behavior and its Influence on Fire Service Culture
I submit for your consideration that fire department leaders will not find the “fix” until they recognize that those new members (outsiders) are being exposed to the behaviors and expectations of the firehouse clan from Day #1 with a department. Who’s teaching them in those entry-level training programs? Who’s working with them at the firehouse when they come on board?
Read More »IAFC Bullying and Harassment Video: More to the story
This video and the first phase of our efforts was only the beginning of our efforts. Prior to this effort, there has been little if any substantive conversation at all about this topic. The overall goal was to raise awareness with those who were most easily persuadable.
Read More »Bullying and Harassment in the Fire Service: A Video Misses the Mark
Bullying and harassment in the fire service, as those behaviors are in the general population, are about power and control. Those individuals who engage in bullying or harassment do so because they want to maintain the status quo or they're seeking to elevate their status among their peers or they're insecure in their position of official power (officers). In my opinion, these elements are inter-related just as fuel, heat, and oxygen are critical elements necessary for combustion. If we can successfully remove these elements in our organizations, we can make the fire (bullying and harassment) go out for good.
Read More »3 Leadership Actions to Take After a Fire Service Conference You Attend
These three steps are more than just individual or group tasks. Collectively, they constitute leadership and mentoring on your part. By doing so, you’re creating expectations for attendance at future conferences by you and members of your department.
Read More »Accountability in the Fire Service
Creating a culture where employees are accountable means that first; the leaders must be accountable to the employees. Information sharing, discussions about challenges, and allowing everyone to engage in the dialogue is the first step in starting the change. Everyone makes mistakes, the difference is what the individuals do after the mistake.
Read More »Harassment is about power, it’s always about power
Maybe, just maybe, we'll all start taking a much different view of claims of sexual harassment--and all other forms of harassment in the workplace for that matter—and especially those brought forth by women in the fire service.
Read More »It ain’t my job. Or is it?
I hear what Dwight’s saying, which is even more reason for firefighters to get a good education on the fire code for their municipality during their entry-level training. We don't expect police officers to go out on the street without knowing the "rules of the game", right? I’m not proposing that every firefighter be trained and certified to NFPA 1031 standards, but I am saying that we as fire service leaders need start training firefighters to be more than firefighters—we need more fire preventers!
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