Leadership

I, for one, am growing very tired of words like, "wrestling, grappling, struggling, etc.", being used to describe the misogynist attitudes that still exist in too many fire departments four decades after some of the first female firefighters came on the job.

When a firefighter or officer reports for duty at the beginning of their shift they are no longer on “their time.” They are now on the time of whoever is paying their salary. Time during their shift spent on work or activity that’s not directly linked to the job they’ve been hired for is…fraud.

Chief Eanes laid the foundation for the department's "homegrown" leadership when he assembled a group of fire officers from across the ranks of the department in 1985 to begin developing an Officer Development Program (ODP). The ODP—whose target audience was firefighter who aspired to promotion to the rank of Company Officer and incumbent Company Officers—was launched only a few short years later and would continue to be nurtured through the leadership of Eanes’ successors as Fire Chief.

I have a few issues with my turnout gear and it has taken me approximately 3 years to get someone to listen and realize that I am not just trying to draw attention to the fact that I am a female and I want to stand out. It appears that this is the perception, but I just want to blend in with all of them and I feel that I am not part of the system that we have because I am different.

Now that I'm a grandmother looking back on my fire service career, I feel as if I have something to share that I believe will help other public safety leaders to never lose faith in people and their organization. This is the best job in the world and my enthusiasm 36 years later is stronger than ever! I'm going to speak from the heart because I've always been a compassionate person who loves people.

On August 29, 2015 we will mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina coming ashore with catastrophic results20150825_severe storm damage for the populations of Louisiana and Mississippi. How ready are your department and community to manage the consequences of severe weather when it comes to town?

Why do I characterize our current day as the Age of Enlightenment for the fire service? Because after decades of firefighting strategy and tactics that are based upon the “I think, feel or believe” method of decision-making we’ve entered into an era where technologies and applied research are yielding the information we need to truly move toward becoming a data driven decision-making profession.

Delivering outstanding customer service is not a “nicety” for your department; it’s the key to its survival. The successes I just described did not occur overnight or in a “vacuum”; they were earned one customer interaction at a time.

But moral courage is different. Instead of respect, it often brings isolation, which is why it’s so hard. Moral courage is doing what you believe is right even at the risk of inconvenience, ridicule, punishment, loss of job, security, social status or exile from one’s community or country. It means going against your peers which can be a very painful and even dangerous thing to do.

As frequently happens when I’m teaching or facilitating training, my mind suddenly conjures up a story that makes a difficult concept much more easily understood by both my audience and me. While working with this particular group, the differences between responsibility, authority and accountability suddenly became crystal clear, for me as well as my group.