By CRAIG A. HAIGH
I am a firm believer in succession planning and that fire departments need to recruit and hire the absolute best firefighters they can find, then work to develop them through training, formalized education, and experiential learning. These efforts, with a focused eye on the future, can lead to promotion of these specially prepared individuals into leadership roles within the organization. If done correctly, this process has the strong potential to include the development of the next fire chief.
Succession Planning: Identifying, Developing, and Retaining Quality Chief Fire Officers
Sometimes, however, the promotion of an internal fire chief is not possible. Occasionally elected officials, governing boards, or city/county/township managers have no choice but to hire from the outside. They simply have no one interested or qualified, or they need to fix a problem.
With these things in mind, the focus of this article is designed to assist those hired as the “outside chief” in navigating the sometimes mine-laden landscape of your new position.
Understanding Why the Organization Went Outside
As the incoming chief, you must understand the motivation behind the decision to hire from the outside. Not having a grasp on the reasons behind this decision places you at a distinct disadvantage. From what I routinely see, departments/districts tend to hire outside chiefs for one of the following three reasons:
- The department/district is new (or relatively new) and is just beginning the process of transitioning away from a volunteer chief. In these situations, it is often common to hire an outside chief since the organization may not have anyone inside who is interested or qualified to fill the role of a paid career chief.
- The governing body believes a problem exists within the organization and that someone from the outside is needed to assess and fix the challenges to get the department/district back on track. This is what I call “The New Broom Sweeps Clean” theory.
- The organization failed to succession plan and simply has no one inside who is interested or qualified to be the next fire chief.
There may be a few variations on these three motives but, generally, the decision to go outside falls into one of these broad categories. Some departments will also hire an outside chief based on the strong mayoral political process, where an incoming mayor needs to build his overall leadership cabinet to accomplish his campaign goals.
Knowing and understanding the motivation behind the hiring of an outside chief provide insight into the exact expectations of the governing authority. Not all expectations are detailed in a job description or spoken openly in a public meeting, but these at times ambiguous expectations are likely far more important for the incoming chief to understand than those that are written and distributed as part of the hiring/on-boarding process.
So, how do you figure out the “why”? I suggest turning the interview table. Up to this point, you have likely participated in several interviews throughout the testing/hiring process. You have now been selected as the preferred candidate and been offered a position. Before you accept the new job, initiate your own interview process. Leading up to the job offer, the hiring team has been trying to determine and select the best candidate to be their next chief. You now need to determine if you believe that this organization is the best fit for you and your overall skill set.
When I coach outside-chief candidates who have been offered the position, I advise them to request several meetings to ask questions and, more importantly, to actively listen and observe. The meetings that I typically recommend follow:
- A one-on-one meeting with your direct report (i.e., city manager/administrator).
- A one-on-one meeting with the chief elected official governing your organization (mayor, township supervisor, board president).
- A group meeting with the department’s command staff (i.e., those who will be “your cabinet of officers” once you become the new chief executive officer of the department/district).
- A group meeting with the union/union leadership. If the firefighters are not represented by a collective bargaining group, meet with the association that represents or is made up of the firefighters.
- Ride time with the department so you can get a feel for how the members handle calls and interact with the customers they serve.
- A tour of the various fire stations. When not on calls, spend some time talking with the personnel around the kitchen table over a cup of coffee or a meal. I am a firm believer in the sanctity of the firehouse kitchen table and the philosophy that most issues can be resolved over a cup of coffee. If you want to determine whether you will be a good fit for this organization, spend some time around the firehouse kitchen table.
So, you ask, “What if the community/district leaders will not agree to these meetings?” In that case, don’t take the job! The leaders should applaud this type of research by the selected candidate. If it makes them nervous to the point that they refuse to allow these meetings/interactions, view this as a clear “red flag” and a sign that something is not right within the organization. Transparency is paramount, and any blocking of transparency by your proposed new employer is a sign that you probably do not want to be part of that organization and, more specifically, do not want to be its chief.
Don’t Break Anything
Once you decide to take the position and are appointed, be cautious to “not break anything” until you have a good idea of what is really going on. It is important to realize that the chief/CEO job is not that of the U.S. Presidency, and the media is not normally tracking and reporting on your “first 100 days.” Therefore, move slowly!
Unless some unique circumstance or situation exists, it’s best to watch, listen, and figure out the “lay of the land” and the players involved before making any major changes. Moving too fast can cause a disaster; once something is broken, it is nearly impossible to put it back together.
Second, become a member of the new organization and refrain from remaking the department into the one you just left. The members of your new department will have some interest in learning some facts about your old place, but a little bit of sharing goes a long way.
Third, departments/districts are like families that have their own unique values and culture. Sometimes, this culture is good and well-suited for the community it serves. Sometimes, the culture needs to be tweaked, but rarely does it need a wholesale change. Embrace your new organization and allow the firefighters to help you become part of the team. Once you have their trust and they recognize that you care about them, change will come much easier. Remember, relationships matter!
The Theory of the “New Broom”
This theory states that a new outside leader is needed to sweep away the stuck-down debris, dust, and dirt to truly clean things up and get the organization headed in the right direction. You, as the outside chief, are the “new broom.” The challenge with this theory as it relates to the outside chief is that there is no such thing as a truly “new broom.”
Any candidate hired to fill a fire chief role will have had a level of experience as an officer within another organization. We don’t or shouldn’t hire rookies to serve as our chief. Serving as an officer, regardless of your organization or how good or bad you are as a boss, will leave you with a bit of dirt that ends up getting stuck inside the bristles of your broom.
If you are doing the job as an officer correctly, you will unquestionably get your hands dirty, and not everything is going to go perfectly. Not every decision you make is right, not every conversation is inspiring and fit for rebroadcast on Twitter, and not every policy decision will set a course for smooth sailing. Sometimes, you will need to make decisions that are unpopular and, sometimes, your decisions are just flat wrong. Because of the intense nature of the job, some of your experiences as an officer will leave deep, emotional “battle scars” that will leave a lasting impression and impact on how you will lead in the future. Frankly, if you are doing your work correctly, this is all part of the job.
As the incoming outside fire chief, it is imperative that you remain vigilant, recognizing that your past experiences, both good and bad, will influence your role as the new fire chief. Just because you changed departments or maybe are even looking for a fresh start, deep down you are the same person. The baggage you accumulated in your last position (i.e., residual “dirt” inside your “broom”) will follow you to your new position. Your challenge is to keep the undesirable debris in your broom from falling out and negatively impacting your new position.
Case Study: Example of Being the “New Broom”
So, you have been selected as the new outside chief and have arrived at the department, excited to begin your new role. You have spent years developing your skill set and meeting the educational requirements needed to fill the top spot. You see this as the pinnacle of your career and, although nervous, you are confident that you can be an outstanding chief/chief executive officer.
Coming into your new role, recognize that not everyone is going to be ecstatic that you are here. You may encounter employees who are super fearful about what you will change and how it might negatively impact them personally. There may be others who wanted a different candidate to be selected and they are not pleased by your appointment. You may also encounter an employee who was an internal applicant for the chief position and didn’t get selected—because you did. Without question, you will quickly figure out who is the “unofficial leader” of the department, and you will begin to see how his role is going to impact your new administration. Bottom line, you were chosen because the leadership team believes a problem exists and a “new broom” is needed. You may be the designated leader, but a bunch of jewelry on your collar and a shiny gold badge do not necessarily make you the leader everyone wants to follow. The work of cleaning things up is never easy and is sometimes messy!
In this case study, you quickly find that you have a problem employee who is seemingly not interested in working with you to bring about change and, in some cases, you find that he is actively working against you. You also get the sense that other workers are afraid of this employee. You learn that this employee has “friends” on the city’s leadership team as well as the city council. These friends believe that this employee is a trusted member of the organization who works hard on behalf of the city and is the one who truly knows how to address the organization’s problems. In fact, if these friends could have just convinced the city manager and enough of the council members to swing a majority vote toward this employee, this employee would be the new chief instead of you.
As the new incoming chief, you must find the truth about this employee and decide what to do. Is this employee a strong, out-front leader who could be an asset to your administration if his energies are directed in the right way, or is he simply a schoolyard bully?
Challenges and Short-Term Options
Following are some options you need to consider when faced with a possible troublesome employee:
- Because of your short tenure, recognize your limited “political capital” and that you likely cannot, at this point, move this employee into a different role or out of the organization.
- Since you can’t get rid of him (and you may not want to), do your best to try and win him over and convince him to join you in your efforts. Sometimes, these employees simply need to be shown that the two of you really want the best for the department and, by working together, you can accomplish great things.
- If you absolutely can’t get him to join your team, figure out how to minimize his impact until you have gained enough political capital to move him along. You can only effect change if you have everyone “pulling the rope” in the same direction. Having the unofficial leader and schoolyard bully fighting against you is simply an untenable position.
Political Capital
“Political capital” is a term for the accumulation of power built through relationships and trust. The future success of the new chief is often predicated on political capital that is built on past successes. Think of political capital as a type of savings account, where goodwill is banked based on successes. Each time a chief delivers on a promise, fixes a problem, remains true to his word, or performs well in any number of other similar scenarios, goodwill (i.e., capital) is banked for future use. Political capital can be spent, lost, or saved based on how the holder decides to use it.
It is also important to note that political capital does not only apply within the constraints of the chief’s direct report and board relationships. Political capital savings accounts exist for the chief in a variety of “accounts” in a variety of “banks” (e.g., the city manager bank, the city council bank, the union bank, the department membership bank, the neighboring department/mutual-aid bank, and so on). Spending/investing from one savings account may generate increased political capital in one or more of these banks while simultaneously decreasing the capital available in another.
As an example, the chief may go to bat against the city council over an initiative that is important to the fire department union members. This initiative will likely increase the chief’s political capital with the union and department membership while spending some of the capital accumulated with the council and manager. In these cases, it is imperative that the chief constantly monitor savings account balances to determine whether sufficient levels of goodwill exist before deciding to make a withdrawal to accomplish a potentially controversial goal or objective. If there is not enough capital in the appropriate savings account, wait until you have amassed enough resources to pay for the initiative. Timing is everything. The reality is that, for a chief to survive in his position, he must not overdraw any one of the various bank accounts that hold the political capital. When this occurs, often you end up looking for a new job.
Regarding your problem employee, if you cannot bring him over to your side and you end up needing to take definitive action against him, you absolutely must have accumulated more political capital than him. This takes time as you work to begin achieving some wins with the political bodies of the organization (leadership and workforce), all while trying to work with your problem employee to bring about a change in behavior.
Working with this employee to change him is a method of building political capital. It sends the message that you are truly passionate about doing the right thing for both the organization and the team and are not simply a “hatchet man” who will remove any obstacle that stands in the way of doing things “your way.” In essence, develop your case for aggressive employment action against this problem employee while simultaneously building political capital through your performance and the growth of relationships. The hope is that the employee will ultimately come around, but sometimes that is simply not the case. The message here is you don’t have to look far to find a pile of former, now unemployed chiefs who made the mistake of moving too fast and taking on the wrong person before acquiring enough political capital to avoid “bankruptcy” during the fight. Proceed carefully.
Being the outside chief can be very exciting and incredibly rewarding. Organizations are always going to need outside leadership. I encourage those who are up for the challenge to pursue the opportunity. However, enter these new opportunities with your eyes wide open, and understand the rules of engagement. Your success will depend on it.
CRAIG A. HAIGH began his fire service career in 1983 as a volunteer for Hampton (IL) Fire & Rescue and served more than 30 years as a chief for departments in Illinois and North Carolina before retiring in July 2021. He is the author of the book The Dynamic Fire Chief: Principles for Organizational Management (Fire Engineering). He also served as an interim village manager. He was named 2012 Illinois Career Fire Chief of the Year and is the recipient of the 2019 International Association of Fire Chiefs Chief Alan Brunacini Executive Safety Award. Haigh has published more than 40 trade journal articles on a variety of leadership topics. He serves as an independent consultant focused on management and organizational leadership as well as firefighter health and safety. He is the spokesperson for the congressionally mandated National Firefighter Registry (NFR), a joint NIOSH/CDC program focused on tracking cancer in the fire service. He is a regular speaker and presenter on his experiences and insights with emergency services and private-sector leaders.
