Last month, we started a conversation about how our ability to effectively recover after a difficult event is a critical organizational and personal challenge. We are in a business that initially responds to problems that are disrupting our customers’ lives. We have a critical “initial” role; that is why we are called “first responders.” We inherit those situations in a very dynamic stage before they get cleaned up (to say the least) and sorted out. Many times, confusion and excitement are increasing, accurate information is nonexistent, and the problem is deep seated and growing. A huge operational and command challenge is that incident time is highly compressed and known and unknown critical factors are occurring in a sequential, simultaneous, decentralized way. The “information blur” creates the need for the incident commander (IC) to go after critical factor information targets (what’s next? next? …) that connect to the safety of troops operating in the hazard zone. Developing a well-evaluated strategy and related plan requires a lucid, engaged IC and troops that are courageous, smart, safe, and skillful in executing that plan. For us, this is just another day at the office.
We must develop and always apply a realistic level of tactical awareness when we ponder the risk-ridden conditions we take on while we do our job. When we deal with chaotic situations so routinely, those conditions can become just normal (another day at the office). We can sometimes lose the focus on what causes that chaos to be chaos.
Example: Tiger vs. Attendant
As usual, I have a somewhat unusual example. If you are a tiger attendant down at the local zoo, your job involves dealing with tigers all day. After a while, a tiger can just become a routine part of the process. If the tiger is well cared for and all its basic needs are met, the gigantic (wild) cat generally takes it easy-it takes a lot of energy for a big unit (like a tiger) to actively misbehave. Most of the time, it is a lot easier to look tiger-like for the customers, enjoy the leg of lamb the attendant regularly serves, and then just take a long nap in a sunny spot. I guess we could say it’s just another ho-hum day at the office for the lazy old tiger (and the attendant). Even though after a while both the tiger and the attendant each sort of mutually sleep walk through their separate (but highly related) routines, it doesn’t change the realities of the primitive biologic role they both play.
The tiger and the attendant were originally designed, assembled, and programmed at the factory to do what each is meant to do naturally: human nature and tiger nature. A problem occurs when the regular zoo routine causes the attendant (human) to forget that to a tiger (animal) a human closely resembles a leg of lamb (yum yum). How the tiger deals with that similarity between an attendant and a tasty tidbit is highly conditioned at that moment by the tiger’s biorhythms. No one (besides a tiger whisperer) knows what causes a tiger to be in a mood when the attendant becomes an hors d’oeuvre.
During “Tiger Attendant Boot Camp,” the drill instructor repeatedly harangues the recruits to instill in them the fact that they are dealing with a wild beast and not their Aunt Suzy’s house cat. Understanding this reality depends on developing a very practical respect for the amazing physical capability of a tiger that weighs 850 pounds; can run 35 miles an hour; alone can summarily assassinate a 2,000-pound water buffalo; and has very powerful, permanent instincts based on the tough, unforgiving law of the jungle (eat or get eaten). Understanding basic tiger design must cause Mr. Attendant to never turn his back on Mr. Tiger, who is generally in a lazy state and a good mood. Understanding the details of the danger part of this reality must create an awareness that the foundation of another day at the office down at the zoo is based on the separation of the cat and the cat keeper.
Our day at the office involves dealing with our own tiger: the fire. If we become complacent, arrogant, or careless, the fire will attack, eat, and consume us just as the beast can do to the attendant. The fire behaves a lot like the tiger, depending on the combustion dynamics (biorhythms) that occur at that moment. The “mood” the fire is in at that specific time is driven by nature (unlimited power), and we respond with a man-made system with very limited capability compared to nature. The major role of a functional fire service boss is to continually create an environment that supports a realistic (nonromantic) understanding and awareness that creates operational respect that displaces fear for the hazards and effects of the conditions routinely surrounding us-fear is irrational; respect is intentional.
Prehab and Rehab
In last month’s column, we focused on conducting a recovery after a tough event. It is a big deal for leaders on every level to pull off an effective recovery when something bad occurs, but leaders must develop ongoing day-to-day standard operational procedures that involve “Prehab.” (This is an unusual word that shows up once in a while in our monthly “meetings.”) We all routinely use in a variety of ways the very good word “rehab” (on the opposite end of the scale) to describe approaches, system stages, and even a formal part of our incident organization: Rehab Sector.
“Prehab” means a proactive approach to avoiding pain and injury and is directed at resolving the bad things that happened, which is a lot smarter than just holding our breath, closing our eyes, and praying for nothing awful to happen. The opposite “pre” and “re” activities go together and create a linear performance scale-the front and back ends of the operational process. They complement each other, and each requires its own special art and science. They must be continually connected and used together in a skillful way and must be effectively integrated to create a positive everyday organizational environment. The investment the system makes in the front end (prehab) continually creates the capability to adjust and recover after a difficult experience. This investment does not involve rocket science, but how it is done answers the critical question, “What kind of place is this to work?” These organizational hygiene concepts become part of the plan a functional boss uses to create and maintain a positive internal environment, which becomes the basic foundation of the “just another day at the office” process. There are probably a gazillion ways to describe an organizational environment. I have tried to pare a huge list down to a manageable number.
Organizational Hygiene Concepts
We will look at some of these concepts-the organizational characteristics of a positive environment-in the remainder of this column and in the next one.
Positive
A major organizational element occurs along a positive-to-negative scale of the internal environment of the part of the system the boss manages. The basic personal view a boss has of the world is a huge factor in where that place will land on the +/- scale. A boss who personally struggles with, internalizes, and then has a negative personal reaction to the day-to-day challenges and difficulties that naturally occur in the workplace (and life) directly transmits this attitude or mood or emotion to the workers.
A boss who is at war with the world is a continual pain for the workers. A major function of a boss is to effectively address negative issues using available resources (including the workers) and to develop and use a personal style and approach that do not let what is out of balance influence (“pollute”) the internal environment. In fact, a boss who maintains a positive balance while the unit solves very negative problems creates a huge head start in attempting to deliver standard service that will effectively correct what is out of balance, which is generally the reason the customers call for help and a major role of our service.
The organization expects every boss to deal with the details of his work unit and to solve the problems that come with that assignment in a positive and constructive way. A big deal within the organization is the critical leadership connection between being positive and being happy. If you have ever worked for someone you could not make happy, you could quickly relate to the sentiment that you would have cheerfully murdered that negative person. We all spend a major part of our lives at work; and if that place is not a happy place, it takes a toll on the ongoing welfare of the human workers who must live there.
When we refer to a happy place, we don’t mean smiley face, giggle, and bumper sticker happy-particularly in the fire service. The work we do is difficult, dangerous, and sometimes discouraging (when the baby dies). We mean that the workers are well supported every day in a positive way by a functional boss who uses skill, experience, and training to lead an effective and safe team. A functional boss creates and maintains a positive day-to-day internal environment, and this is the environment the workers come back to (bulletproofing) after they have done the awful part of their job. A huge component of this positive process is the aspect of “every day.” I have listened to firefighters throughout my travels relate that they worked for the officer sent directly from Heaven and that when they were off duty, they could not wait to get back to being with that boss, who brought out the best in them. That boss genuinely loved Mrs. Smith’s Siamese cat, kept everyone on the team safe, and popped popcorn every night (very important).
The folks who study organizational recovery after a difficult, sad, tragic event tell us that what the system looks like two weeks after such a tough event is a reflection of what the system looked like two weeks before the event. We effectively survive when we must do what it takes to help Mrs. Smith on her saddest day because we are able to get back to the fire station where our boss helps us constructively process that experience because the boss is a pro and not a punk. Our service is routinely called on to do work and solve problems that rip out our hearts. Returning to a positive and happy environment-a positive organizational center of gravity created by the boss-is a huge recovery element in the overall support and health for all the humans who work in that place. When you return to a negative environment, you now must deal with a double whammy: The baby did not survive, and you must somehow survive in spite of your boss, who is a jerk. Neither is your fault, but you are pretty much on your own to live with both.
We are attempting to provide some direction to replace “in spite of” with “because of” how the boss performs the boss functions. I also hear the exact opposite of the description of the boss from Heaven, described above. Sadly, some firefighters describe their career conflict in this way: “I love what I do; I hate where I do it.” When asked what they actually hate, they describe their boss.
Progressive
Workers on every level want to be part of an effective organization (pretty simple). An interesting wrinkle of being effective is having the feeling (very legitimate) at closing time that you and your group had successfully connected to everything that occurred that day; you check off okay on the “effective box” on the form. Then, you happily smile, say “good job and good day” to everyone, and go home. After the evening routine, you gather up the LWD (little white dog), and you both go beddy-bye.
While visions of sugar plums are dancing in your head, the night shift of the damned little change mice who routinely screw up everything you do during the day come on duty and spend the night working while you are sleeping. When you get up in the morning, a few or many of the issues you managed effectively yesterday have changed. The satisfaction you felt from your “good job and good day” evaluation of the previous day is quickly eroding as you begin to assess the actions of those crafty little nocturnal change rodents. Sometimes the change is a big headline change; sometimes it can be a small-print classified ad type of change. Being able to identify the change, create and implement a plan, and pull it off is what it means to be progressive. In graduate school, the process is called “continuous improvement.” In a very special way, the small-print changes can be more difficult to identify because they can sneak up on you in fine print that can quietly accumulate and suddenly bite you.
A progressive system creates an ongoing response to this change process that becomes a regular organizational process (habit). Functional bosses who routinely observe how the department’s capability is connected to the current and forecasted inside and outside environments must lead the cultural response on the task, tactical, and strategic levels. Effectively aligning the three levels is a major organizational leadership challenge.
Fire company officers (task level) have continuous contact with and access to the customers and workers. This is a critical part of progressively delivering relevant, safe, and caring inside/outside service. Battalion or division command officers (tactical level) have more mobility and a wider natural community/department view than fire companies and can connect local response needs and opportunities with organizational capabilities and resources. Fire chief and executive level bosses (strategic level) interact on a regular basis with administrative, policy, and community leaders and have access to relationships and systems that enhance department capability.
Everyone on every level should want to be part of a system that is always working to improve its performance. Recognizing, reinforcing, rewarding, and celebrating effectiveness “at the end of the day” are critical because they absolutely must occur to continually feed the progressive process. Tweaking, adjusting, and tuning up individual and organizational performance produce the energy that keeps the system connected and, hopefully, ahead of the change mice.
Creating a progressive place to work does not mean that everyone holds hands and trudges off in a straight line to progressive paradise (wherever that is). Every system goes through good times and tough times. Sometimes, dynamic changes can be accurately predicted and managed routinely. Other times, the ball takes a funny bounce, and it surprises us. For every ying, there is a yang. What being progressive means in the real world is that when there is a setback, bosses and workers identify the cause, mobilize every level (hopefully already aligned), and develop and execute a plan to fix what needs to be fixed. Then, the system must identify the lessons that came with the test and enter them into the doctrine of the system and try not to repeat what happened. Being progressive is not being perfect. It is an approach and a related mentality of a team of problem-solving students committed to always adding the last lesson to the next event and collectively learning their way into the future.
Functional bosses make a major investment in performance improvement to match the changes that never stop. They do this mostly by investing in the capability level of their troops. This is a critical leadership role. The most important place where improved performance connects with being progressive is where it involves the capability of the humans within the organization. There is no more powerful, influential, or durable investment a system can make than doing whatever it takes to increase both Firefighter Smith’s (worker) AND Chief Smith’s (boss) personal and positional capability. Only increasing internal organizational performance capability can and will increase community service effectiveness. Many times, the input/output is exponentially disproportional: When the organization increases by 1 percent the capability of each worker and the boss, the customer gets a 10 percent increase in the quality (and sometimes the quantity) of service received. The logic of this relationship is simply a compelling no-brainer.
Retired Chief ALAN BRUNACINI is a fire service author and speaker. He and his sons own the fire service Web site bshifter.com.
Recovery 101
Who Moved My Chair?
Going to School Forever
Fire Engineering Archives
