Tag Archives: EMS

Your ability to develop professional networks has increased exponentially with advent of social media, and particularly LinkedIn, the most used professional networking platform on the planet. Check this article out to see how you can start making it work for you.

I once heard this at a leadership and management seminar I attended and it’s stuck with me all these years: Middle management is like the white frosting in an Oreo cookie. It’s the “glue” that holds everything together and it’s the “buffer” that keeps the two hard cookie layers apart.

By conducting an ICOF analysis, a department’s leader would provide an objective process that can help break down those informational “silos” so that all managers...

But in 2013, how many of our organizations are training their people from Day #1 to be their “face of customer service”? I’m not saying that the firefighting curriculum that constitutes the majority of entry level training is not pertinent, it is. I am saying that now, more than ever before, 24/7/365 organizations only have one chance to make a good impression…and in most cases we don’t get to choose who makes that customer contact.

Your department’s website still needs to be the bedrock for your Internet presence, but with Web 2.0 there is so much more. Let’s take a look at some of the tools in the toolbox, shall we?

Put simply, long work hours -- defined as shifts lasting more than 10 hours -- have been clearly linked to errors in tasks that require vigilance and focused alertness, such as driving an ambulance and providing patient care.

The reality that's "hitting" home with many Fire & EMS organizations today, however, is that their citizens do have a choice. In the current economic climate, where most local governments are having to make tough fiscal decisions, elected officials and their constituents are making "buy" or "no buy" decisions regarding the public safety services for their community. Don't believe it? Look at how many cities, towns, and counties are laying off personnel, closing fire stations, cutting back on non-emergency services, etc.

I’ve always believed that people are more likely to comply with policy through their own individual effort—or through group persuasion—when everyone clearly knows what’s at stake.

None of us becomes the Fire & EMS leader that we want to be in our career without the guidance and direction and inspiration of those who have gone before us and who we've had the opportunity to meet and learn from. Role models: can't make it without them and they make you want to be a better man or woman in our business.

While there are certainly many aspects of this shift that Fire & EMS leaders need to address, I believe one of the most critical is the communication of organizational knowledge from one generation of members to another.