OK, fire chief, it’s time for you to go! You are clearly the problem and no longer fit your organization. You are the first to gripe and the last to accept responsibility. In fact, I would ask whether you should be a fire chief at all, no matter which department! After all, you aren’t leading by example; you’re actually setting a bad example. Oh, and I know all your excuses: You were just passing by; you didn’t have your gear in your personal vehicle; it was just a small fire – nothing to worry about. Nonsense! Why haven’t you retreated to the comfort of reliving the “good ole days” from afar? Believe me, it’s time for you to GO!
Is this article starting to piss you off? Good! If it’s hitting too close to home, then you’re probably the right audience here – part of the organizational inbreeding that is so rampant in the fire service today. This madness must stop – now!
Making the same mistakes
Some say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. I would carry it further and say that insanity is expecting the next generation of firefighters to do the right thing when, in fact, they are only seeing examples of poor leadership – possibly by you! Are you setting an example of strong leadership and smart decision-making for your members? If not, you must understand that your inaction is setting the stage for the future of your fire department, and the outlook is grim.
If your fire department is dysfunctional, then it’s time to take a hard look in the mirror. Dysfunction starts at the top. When you allow for normalization of deviance, it becomes your fire department standard. For some members, this creates a cognitive dissonance where they perform an action that contradicts their personal beliefs, ideals and values.
The best examples of this are the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger incident where team members were pushed to launch even though there were signs not to do so, and the Fairchild Air Force Base B-52 barrel roll crash where the aircraft was pushed beyond its operational limits and crashed. Both events ended in preventable loss of lives.
Of course, the fire service does not have to look too far for examples of our own normalization of deviance. Crew sizes too small to handle an incident, outdated or no protective equipment use, aggressive driving, bullying and harassment (going by the name “rite of passage” or “initiation”) are all major contributors to fire departments’ standards becoming accepted practices. And yet fire department leaders continue to do the same thing over and over again, expecting different results, not taking responsibility for bad behavior among members (or themselves!), and the organization continues to grow weaker and become plagued by dysfunction.
Where some traditions create problems
Several years ago, there was an email circulating throughout the fire service that referenced a fire department that did not want to have safety officers because the chief did not want to be told what to do. Now if that is not an example of organizational inbreeding then what is? But what is organizational inbreeding anyway?
Organizational inbreeding is certainly rooted in the aforementioned pain points, but it also stems from problematic traditions. Let me be very clear here. I’m not referring to our good fire service traditions, like red fire trucks (a personal bias) and aggressive firefighting rooted in safe practices, but rather those traditions attached to phrases like “because we’ve always done it that way” or “that’s just the way it is” – really any variation where the subtext is, “We know everything and nobody else knows anything, so we are not going to listen to anybody else.” So, it is safe to say that organizational inbreeding results from normalization of deviance, cognitive dissonance, egos and stupidity.
We’ve all seen the differences in organizational culture that permeate America’s firehouses. Change to any organization can be extremely difficult. Many fire departments stick with a policy or procedure that has been successful. And for the most part, this rich fire service history, steeped with traditions whose meanings and origins are lost in time, resonates throughout the fire service culture all across this land. Much of the terminology, practices and procedures are rooted in the bygone days of the glorious firefighters hanging on the back of the horse-drawn steam engine being chased down the road by Dalmatians and children. Yet today’s fire service is faced with many more hazards and challenges. Hazardous materials, medical emergencies, terrorism and high-rise building fires are all part of a common threat faced by all firefighters and officers. No longer can the attitudes of the past be acceptable as the norms of today.
Internal vs. external fire chief hiring
Another perspective on organizational inbreeding involves the question of whether it is better to promote a fire chief from within the organization or bring in a fire chief from outside the fire department. And of course, the answer is “it depends.” Both groups have their own challenges when it comes to organizational culture.
For the internal candidate, the primary challenge is organizational inbreeding itself. These individuals are “raised” within the walls of one fire department, one governing body and, for some, one fire department administration. So when it comes time to move into the fire chief role, the individual only has one frame of reference from which to make any kind of decisions. Their “shared history” is exactly the same as the other members of the fire department. Some of them never took the opportunity to see how other fire departments address a particular problem. The way they handle a situation has always worked within their fire department, and they assume it will continue to work in the future under their administration.
Another challenge faced by the internal fire chief is that firefighters are a lot like elephants – they have long memories. When the new fire chief tries to implement change that may disrupt the culture of the organization, dissention begins. Long-time fire department members that have known the internal fire chief quickly point out that this change may not have always been the fire chief’s belief. Or these members may state that at one time in history, the fire chief was “one of us,” destined to maintain the traditions of their fire department at any and all costs.
But the task is not any easier for the fire chief from the outside. Here you have a new individual bringing their own set of values and beliefs into an organization that may have opposite values and beliefs. If the new external fire chief tries to instill their beliefs and values on an organization that does not want to change, change is destined to fail.
For either of these new fire chiefs, it is important for them to understand and manage the organization’s culture before they are managed by the organizational culture.
Understanding fire department subcultures
To complicate matters even more for either fire chief, organizations have their own subcultures. Take a moment to consider some of the various subcultures within your department – the fire prevention division, suppression division, training division and the communications division, to name a few potential groups.
Each of these groups has their own set of beliefs and experiences that they bring to the table. And nowhere is this more pronounced than during budget time. At that time, each division jockeys to justify why they deserve more money than the others. Fire prevention may state they save more lives through engineering and education, while fire suppression believes they save lives and property because they respond to the people during times of emergency. The training division might argue that they are the most important because they give the other groups the skills they need to do their jobs, while the communications bureau says they enable everyone to respond to emergencies and talk with each other. Who is right? Again, it depends. Regardless of who is right, the new fire chief must understand that subcultures are at work within the fire department itself.
All fire chiefs, no matter internal or external, must consider the safety culture – perhaps the most important subculture within a fire department. How many times have you seen a fire officer inside a burning structure without any type of protective equipment, and then hear them say, “Do as I say, not as I do”? What kind of message does that send to members? What that officer is really stating is, “I can talk the safety game with the best of them, but I do not actually believe in all that safety stuff.” The safety culture runs through all other subcultures within the department. Are you prioritizing safety? What will your legacy say about how to consider the safety of your members?
Final thoughts
Ask yourself whether organizational inbreeding is happening at your fire department. Ask yourself whether you condone the normalization of deviance. Ask yourself whether your actions are hurting your fire department and fire department members. If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you have a big decision to make: If you stay with the department, can you change your ways to affect positive change, or should you step away and let someone who is more in tune with needs of today’s fire departments take over. Regardless, make a decision now before it is too late for your legacy and the future operational effectiveness of your fire department. Stay safe!
