Follow the Leader
I see so many times that there are "interesting" leaders around us.
Many times people obtain certain positions for the reason that they know the subject matter, that is all well and good but many times you need more than subject matter experts. You may have all the knowledge in the world but if you have a team that you are responsible for, how do you deal with the human factor?
We have all seen the people that know how to do the work and rush in to do it, when that is not their job anymore. They may be great at fighting fires but if they have crews that report to them, they need to know how to motivate the people and deal with the personality challenges and personal problems.
How do you deal with an officer that has threatened the life of someone under them? We need our leaders to also be trained in leadership.
I even saw a person that was a leader of an important organization, at a memorial service, make comments about how some people, taking part in the memorial service, looked. It's enough that he was making remarks but he was also making these remarks to a leader of another organization. I don't know about you but as far as I am concerned, the credibility of the man was stripped. I look at someone like that and I am glad that they are no longer in a leadership role. Some people may not remember the old saying that "if you don't have anything nice to say, you should not say anything."
First of all, officers have to realize that part of the job is that they are responsible for ALL the actions of those under them. You are responsible for all the bad as well as all the good.
I checked with a friend who works in a major fire department and he indicated to me that they do not have a reading list for leaders. Yes, I am sure that there are some books out there for emergency services on leadership but it probably talks about on scene operations.
I have had officers who I would die for because they knew how to work with people. For many, they may need assistance to learn how to deal with people. Have you ever read How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie? What about Personality Plus by Florence Littauer?
If you are in the position of being a leader, you do not need to act like a dictator. Remember, the first place you should be leading is in your house. Are you the person that your children, spouse, and dog love or do they cringe when you come home? When you are with people, are they happy when you walk into the room or are they happy when you walk out of the room?
Do you have people who look forward to work that you are going to assign them? I remember that after Hurricane Harvey, when I working with disaster services in Texas, I was able to get people to volunteer to work in another section with no accommodations. I would ask the people about growing up and if they ever went camping. I ask them if they enjoyed camping. If they said yes, "man, your going to love this assignment. Its going to be like camping all over." I explained the situation and that they can have fun. In one hour, I was told by my supervisor that I had to stop doing what I was doing because they were having too many people that wanted to go on the camping trip. They had no electrical power, no running water, had to use outhouses but they had a blast because they started off with the right attitude and had the mindset of "ok, what can we do to make sure that we complete the mission of helping displaced people?"
I could have told the people to pack up and get down the highway, but what good would that have been. Sometimes you can get better success, if you know how to work with people. How do you learn? There are books out there but one thing that I found to also be a great asset is a mentor.
Do you have someone who is new at where you are? Is someone showing them the ropes and what is expected? Are you showing them the ropes? If you are, then you are mentoring them.
There are people who are leaders because they have the office or rank and then there are others who are leaders because they know their job and how to work with people. Leadership is a gift and responsibility. We should be constantly be learning from the strong leaders. One of the best examples that I know is a deputy chief in a major fire department. I hear people saying that he looks the part of a chief and gives status reports like a chief but the thing that people may not see is how the people who serve under him, want to be around him and count it a blessing to have him as their leader.
Leaders are also transparent. People do not have to wonder why something is being done. They treat everything with respect and as they are a steward of what they are responsible for. The word accountability comes to mind.
Are you a leader or do you have the position? If you hold the position, you may be the one saying that people have to listen to you because you hold the office. If you are a leader, people will follow you because you do the right thing and know how to work with people, no matter the position.
Stay safe,
Didymus McHugh
didymus-mchugh.com
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