By Richard B. Gasaway
“I’m a volunteer; you can’t tell me what to do.” Have you ever heard this come from the mouth of someone in your volunteer fire department? Chances are, somewhere along the way, someone’s played that card. Is it true? Absolutely not—especially in an organization that requires members to follow rules and procedures or someone may die.
The fire service has been described as a paramilitary organization. Some departments are less paramilitary than others, but the bottom line is that everyone must follow the rules and everyone must be obedient to legitimate orders from superior officers. Otherwise, your organization is going to breed insubordination and malcontents.
What’s the solution? Here are some steps you can take to ensure that the members of your department don’t play the “you can’t tell me what to do” card.
HAVE JOB DESCRIPTIONS
First, make sure you have a job description for every position in the department. The document should include the duties and expectations for each person on the team. Like a football team, each position in the department has a role. The job description for the lineman in a football game does not include calling the plays. There’s a reason for that. Everyone on the team has a job—and an important one.
The job description frames the job and lets the members know what role they’re expected to play. It should also state that the members shall follow all the rules, regulations, bylaws, policies, procedures, standard operating procedures, directives, and orders from superior officers (which are collectively referred to as “rules” throughout this article).
Give the job description to each member, and ask them to sign that they received it. They’re not signing that they like it or that they agree with it, merely that they received it. This may become very important down the road if they become malcontents and have to be disciplined for performance-related reasons.
HAVE RULES
Your department must have a good set of rules. This doesn’t mean you have to reinvent what your department does, but it does mean you should document how your department operates, especially the important rules that must be followed. Some of those rules may seem elementary and obvious, such as “Members must wear full personal protective equipment including SCBA when operating in a hazardous environment.” Other rules may be less obvious—for example, “Members shall secure the station (close and lock the doors) when they leave.”
Whatever you put in writing as rules, make sure you either distribute them to the members or post them where everyone can access them easily. Some departments distribute copies to every member and make them sign a receipt that they received them. Such a practice certainly won’t hurt when someone violates the rule and uses the excuse “I didn’t know about it.”
HAVE DISCIPLINARY MEASURES IN PLACE
Develop, document, and post the consequences of violating the rules. A progressive disciplinary schedule is best. As fire service leaders, always remember that the intended purpose of discipline isn’t to punish; rather, it’s to change behavior. Thus a schedule that affords the opportunity to change the behavior without being punitive is best. The schedule can define the progressive nature of the discipline that is fair and can include verbal counseling, verbal warning, written warning, probation, suspension, demotion, and termination.
The progression of discipline you use should be cumulative for all violations. For example, once a significant rule infraction occurs, a member should get verbal counseling. If another significant infraction occurs, even if it is totally unrelated to the first infraction, the member should receive a verbal warning. It is acceptable to give a member two verbal counselings if the infractions are small or if the member is new and still learning.
Likewise, it is acceptable to skip steps in the progression of discipline. It would be a good practice to make this fact clear in the posted document listing the steps of progressive discipline. An example might be if you have a rule that says, “Members are not permitted to respond to calls if they have been drinking.” Say one of your members responds to a call; drives and crashes the apparatus, injuring the crew and civilians; and is arrested for DUI—and your department becomes front-page news. Chances are, you’re not going to start with verbal counseling for this major rule infraction.
When deciding on the best form of disciplinary action, consider the actual and the potential consequences of the violation. Some rule infractions are of little actual consequence because luck was on your side, but the potential consequence could have been really significant. Your department or city attorney can be helpful with this step if you’re unsure.
HAVE THE SAME EXPECTATIONS FOR EVERYONE
Hold everyone in the organization to the same standards and expectations. The rules and the duties in the job descriptions are for everyone to follow. Rules cannot be enforced based on the popularity of the violator or the desire of the officer to remain popular. The officer who selectively enforces rules in an effort to remain popular will find that he is not well liked. Officers who do not enforce all the rules will find that they cannot enforce any of the rules. Try it. Someone will be sure to take you to task for not being consistent.
Remember, standards and expectations established through rules that are fair are a good thing, not a bad thing. In fact, they’re essential to maintaining order. Is there anywhere in our lives that we can avoid rules? While driving? While at work? While on an airplane? While playing sports? While serving as a member of a fire department? The answer is NO on all accounts. The rules are there for a reason.
Make sure your organization has job descriptions that establish standards and expectations for behavior, a good set of rules, and a clear understanding of the consequences of violations; and lead by example in a way that lets everyone know that the rules will be enforced fairly and for everyone.
Richard B. Gasaway is chief of the Roseville (MN) Fire Department and has been a chief officer for 15 years. He has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in business administration and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program. He has earned the chief fire officer designation of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Gasaway is a frequent contributor to national fire service publications and lectures on management and leadership topics throughout the United States and Canada.
