Let’s say you’re a new officer. You want your crew to follow you, right? Now how do you get them to do that?
One thing that absolutely will NOT work is to order people around arbitrarily. This does nothing but make them annoyed with you. Put yourself in their place: What would get you to follow someone? Chances are, it’s an attitude called “command presence.” That’s what instills confidence that you know what you’re talking about.
In this episode of the Code 3 podcast, Tom Merrill discusses command presence – what it is and why it’s important. Merrill is a 35-year fire department veteran and a former chief of the Snyder Fire Department in Amherst, New York. He is now a fire commissioner for the Snyder Fire District. Merrill served 26 years as a department officer, including 15 years in the chief officer ranks. He also is a fire dispatcher for the Amherst Fire Alarm Office.
