HANDLING UNJUST CRITICISM
BY JOHN M. BUCKMAN
“If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me won`t matter. If the end brings me out wrong, then ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.” –Abraham Lincoln
Everybody knows how to do my job, and many think they know how to do it better. At least, that`s what they want me to believe. So many people (who have never had the job) give advice to the fire chief. They don`t understand the nature of the fire service or that of the volunteer fire service, either. When they get you to question your beliefs, you become slower to act. When the chief is slower to act, the department and the chief lose ground. Imagine what the great fire service, political, and business leaders who come to mind would have accomplished if they had listened to the criticism that was hurled at them. How could they have made a difference in the quality of their lives or of those around them?
“No one ever kicks a dead dog,” and the more important a dog is, the more satisfaction people get in kicking it. Now, is the fire chief a “big dog”? The chief is very important to the overall success of the department and, consequently, is the “big dog.” If the chief is not filling the role of organizational leader, it will become very obvious that the organization is floundering and languishing in a sea of tranquility. Fire departments need a strong leader who is in charge of himself and the department.
Being a volunteer chief is difficult. The labor/management issues are burdensome, for example. The chief may not think of it as labor negotiations, but every time someone comes up with a great idea and the chief wants to implement it, negotiation occurs. It is during this process that the chief is often criticized, because to get something from the volunteer labor pool, the chief must often give something in return. Great ideas are abundant in a progressive volunteer fire department, but the workers to accomplish those great ideas are not always as plentiful.
THE NATURE OF CRITICISM AND THE HUMAN RESPONSE
Much of the criticism thrown at the fire chief is based on insufficient information. People who criticize almost everything a fire chief does usually do so because they have never been in the fire chief`s shoes. No critic really knows what decision he would make if he were sitting in the chief`s chair and being confronted with the same situation. The experienced fire chief knows that many factors go into a decision and that making decisions is seldom as simple as choosing between black and white.
Why are so many fire trucks sent to the fire scene? This often-heard comment indicates the public doesn`t understand the difference a minute makes between saving a life or saving a building. They generally don`t understand what`s required in a “proactive response” or that the fire service “goes to war” when it receives an emergency call. Although the chief may know sending all that equipment is the right thing to do, the public is critical nevertheless.
Does the department really need …? The chief may be criticized for the size of his desk or the chrome wheels on the truck. We may accept the criticism, no matter how despicable. The public may be frustrated with the government and take out that frustration on the volunteer fire department and chief. They may not want to pay more taxes, but they sure want service in four minutes or less. They don`t want potholes in the street in front of their house, but they won`t pay for the asphalt to maintain the street.
The criticism hurts. Why are the volunteers there? Most volunteer firefighters are not in it to get rich. In most cases, they spend money from their own pockets to help the community. The public, it seems, wants the department not to make waves, take what it`s given, and not ask for more.
The volunteer fire service is a tough enough avocation without the negative folks in the community tearing down what they have and berating the volunteers.
Why do fire trucks use sirens at 3 a.m.? Often heard from the neighbors closest to the fire station, it overlooks the fact that volunteers willingly get out of bed at 3 a.m. to help a stranger who might be having a heart attack or has a fire in his house. Moreover, most state laws require using lights and sirens and make no exception for 3 a.m. emergencies.
It is almost impossible for some not to believe criticism levied against another if the allegation is what they want to believe. Personal shortcomings may sometimes allow people to believe the unjust criticism: Accepting negative statements about a person as truth brings that person down in the estimation of the receptive listener.
Most people, however, don`t really care about what they hear said of someone else, and some will discard or discount the negative statements based on the source. In the worst-case scenario, the people who were happy to hear the criticism will forget all about it in a few weeks.
Remember that unjust criticism is often a disguised compliment. However, even when the facts are on your side, false and inaccurate comments made by unknowing, selfish, and uninformed people can still be a major distraction if you allow them to be. You may even come to believe the criticism made against you unless you deflect it by ignoring the criticism, which is easier to say than to do. One thing is certain: Most of us take the jabs and knives thrown our way far too seriously.
CRITICISM IS INEVITABLE
Most leaders are very sensitive to criticism–they try to please all within their organizations or keep trying harder. If they don`t make everyone happy, they sometimes worry. In reality, however, often when trying to please one person, you upset another one. The harder you try to smooth over upset feelings to escape personal criticism, the more certain you are to increase the number of your enemies. Setting your head above the crowd ensures that you will be criticized. Get used to the fact that criticism is part of a leader`s life.
Let`s be clear: I don`t advocate ignoring all criticism, only unjust criticism.
COUNTERING CRITICISM
Instead of waiting for our enemies to criticize our work or us, let`s beat them to it and be our own severest critic. Let`s find and remedy all our weaknesses before our enemies do. Let`s welcome criticism when we know it is sincere, founded on knowledge, and given in a spirit of helpfulness.
We ought to welcome that type of criticism, since we can`t even hope to be right more than three out of four times. Albert Einstein, a most profound thinker, confessed that his conclusions were wrong 99 percent of the time.
Following are some suggestions for handling unjust criticism:
Don`t defend yourself. Every fool does that. Be original, humble, and brilliant! Confound your critic and win applause for yourself by saying, “If my critic knew about all my other faults, he would criticize me much more severely than he did.”
Write down the comment that angers you the most. Put the writings away for about two weeks. Then review the criticism. If what you wrote down is still important to you, then react and handle it. If it does not matter to you anymore, discard the information you wrote down and the “baggage” it created in your mind. The mind can dispose of as well as absorb things; it is good to run the garbage disposal regularly.
Pause and consider before reacting. When your anger is rising because you feel you have been unjustly criticized, stop and say, “Just a minute, I am far from perfect.”
Time resolves many things. It may also resolve what you are worrying about today. Waiting to react to unjust criticism may permit time to wash away or at least diminish the angst you feel.
Exercise to cleanse the mind and body. When I find myself worrying about unjust or undue criticism and mentally going around in circles, a good physical workout helps to chase those “images” away. Physical exercise can provide a tremendous cleansing of the mind and body.
The only way to avoid all criticism is to do nothing. If you do what you feel to be right in your heart, you will be criticized. You`ll be damned if you do and damned if you don`t. So, don`t let others get under your skin. n
n JOHN M. BUCKMAN has served 21 years as fire chief of the German Township (IN) Volunteer Fire Department in Evansville, Indiana. He was instrumental in forming the Volunteer Chief Officers Section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, is International Representative to the IAFC Board of Directors, and will be a candidate for second vice president of the IAFC in 1999. Buckman is an adjunct faculty member in the National Fire Academy residence program, is an advisory board member of Fire Engineering, and lectures extensively on fire service-related topics.
