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Blog by Doug Cline
International Society of Fire Service Instructors, Vice President

As fire service instructors, we have a duty to provide the highest quality of service and instruction. We need to be our students’ inspiration, pushing them to strive for excellence.

But there’s a question we need to answer: Are we, ourselves, dedicated and committed enough?

Instructors need to stop and look in the mirror. The future of the fire service rests on our shoulders. That’s why it’s imperative that organizations, leaders and instructors take a hard look at how training is being delivered.

There are numerous ways to do this. Reaction questionnaires can be given to students. Subject-matter experts or senior trainers can audit training sessions. Test scores can be analyzed. Other instructors can perform peer assessments. These are just some of the methods.

The optimum time to evaluate the work of an instructor is while they are actually in the process of delivering a training session. Observation is recommended. However, observation is only effective if it is driven by standards that are objective, comprehensive, reliable and accurate.

Follow these steps to evaluate the delivery of training:

Step 1: Identify and define the objectives of the evaluation and determine how this process will work. Determine why the evaluation is being conducted. One reason may be to provide feedback on an instructor or a specific delivery issue. It also may be to evaluate the overall competence of an instructor.

Step 2: Consider how the information will be summarized and to whom it will be reported. Evaluation data can serve many purposes and can be interpreted different ways. It’s important that clear decisions define why, when and from whom data is being collected. It’s also important to evaluate what information is collected and its relation to the original objectives, which caused the need for the evaluation.

Step 3: Identify and define the specific competencies and performances to be measured. First, you must determine which competencies will serve as the basis of the evaluation. Typically, a detailed evaluation involves no more than three competencies where a more general evaluation may evaluate multiple competencies. Secondly, the objectives of the evaluation must be clearly specified. This is so the evaluator and the instructor understand what is being measured.

Step 4: Determine the sources of data. You can obtain evaluation data from a number of different sources. More common methods of data collection are evaluations by evaluators, co-instructors, and peer and self-evaluations. It’s important to remember that evaluators will have varying levels of skill that may influence data.

Step 5: Write the questions. For quality control, questions must be linked to a specific desired outcome for the evaluation. When the questions are written, we can control the specificity or generality of the individual item. These controls are essential to keep the evaluation instrument practical, manageable, reliable and valid.

Step 6: Design the format and layout of the instrument. Evaluation instruments must be written clearly and concisely for what is being measured. The evaluation must contain unambiguous directions for use and feature ordered questions or items to be evaluated. Instruments must be user friendly. This means easy to read and use and enough space for documentation.

Step 7: Pilot-test the instrument and obtain feedback. Prior to using a document for program evaluation, allow it to be pilot-tested. This will allow others to provide feedback on the instruments adequacy and usefulness. This pilot-test helps evaluators determine how well the instrument design and layout meets the objectives you are looking for. It also allows for the evaluation of the instrument to ensure its designed to provide what its intended to do. Since instrument development is time consuming and costly, it’s imperative to evaluate the tool to ensure it will provide the best information possible.

Step 8: Create the final instrument and implement the evaluation. The final instrument must provide the data needed to ensure training achieves its objectives or job performance requirements. Instruments may be used to assess a variety of aspects focused around training. The instrument may be used to assess the instructor’s performance and usefulness of instructional methods, course materials and content.

Effective fire service organizations must recognize their responsibilities to assist in the professional development of their instructors. Fire service instructors must also realize they have areas that need development.

As the leaders of the fire service, instructors need to have the guts to do more. We should be setting a precedent for the future. We start by looking at the man in the mirror.

About the Author
Douglas Cline is a student of the fire service serving as training commander with the City of High Point (N.C.) Fire Department and assistant chief of administration with the Ruffin Volunteer Fire Department. Cline is a North Carolina Level II Fire Instructor, National Fire Academy Instructor and an EMT-Paramedic instructor/coordinator for the North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services. Cline is a member of the North Carolina Society of Fire Service Instructors and the International Society of Fire Service Instructors where he serves on the Board of Directors as The First Vice President.

Blog by Alan Brunacini
Retired Phoenix Fire Chief and Author of “Functional Boss Behaviors”

I’ve studied bosses, and I’ve noticed that the best predictor of behavior in an organization is to look at the way the boss behaves. Often times, however, we lose sight of the fact that the relationships between bosses and workers have a direct impact on the level of service an organization provides.

If you ask anyone who has been a boss in the fire service, they’ll probably tell you a lot of stories about the road rash they experienced trying to get it right.

But I’d be willing to bet a lot of them would say, “I wish someone had told me this.”

After 50 years in the industry, making observations and learning by experience, I’ve put together some notes on what it takes to be a boss in the fire service. These notes, which I turned into my Functional Boss Behaviors book, which is available as a course through TargetSolutions, outline a set of 10 behaviors that effectively support and assist a worker in delivering standard service and added value:

1. Workers Must Take Good Care of Customers: A great deal of our focus is on customers. These are the people who receive services from us. When we are connected to the customer, we should deliver the best possible service to the customer.

2. Bosses Must Take Good Care of Workers: The relationships inside the organization are the launching pad for how we deliver services. The behavior of the boss is the most powerful thing in our everyday environment. If bosses don’t take care of workers, how can we expect the workers to take care of Mrs. Smith?

3. Build Trust or Go Home: Trust is a basic part of any relationship and is what connects the boss to the worker and to Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith trusts us because we respond quickly, solve her problem, and we’re nice. The workers trust Boss Smith because he responds quickly, solves the problem, and has a supportive relationship with them. Bosses must foster, develop, and then refine the trust relationship inside the system in order to provide the best service outside the organization.

4. Sweat the Big Stuff: The first priority for every boss is that “everyone goes home.” The routine stuff we do is important and ensures we are ready for the tough stuff; however, the boss’s focus should be on the critical stuff that allows us to deliver service and survive that service.

5. Set the Workers Free: When we become bosses, we gain authority and power that we use to create order, deliver adequate service, and take care of the workers. One of the best things a boss can do with that authority is to empower workers to be independent and self-directed.

6. Play Your Position: Organizations essentially consist of three levels strategic, tactical and task. For the organization to be effective, each level must be independently functional and capable, AND they must be interconnected. The challenge is to knit these three levels together in a way that connects the levels to each other, but points the organization toward the customer.

7. Keep Fixin’ the System: We are always operating within a model of continuous improvement. We follow procedures to deliver service and then constantly critique what worked and what went wrong. That model is necessarily boss driven. Bosses must continually look at SOPs, training, and, most importantly, themselves to improve organizational performance.

8. Create “Loyal Disobedience/Insubordination”: The firefighters the workers have the best set of perceptions, experiences, and connections to Mrs. Smith, and often they have ideas about how to improve service. A willingness to come forward with suggestions and bad news is a mature form of organizational commitment and respect. A good boss is accessible and will help solve the problem.

9. All You Got Is All You Get (Anatomy & Physiology): Every boss has different strengths and weaknesses. A boss’s personal effectiveness is dependent on how the boss uses his very personal skills and capabilities. Small improvements can produce big time results in the boss-worker relationship.

10. Don’t Do Dumb Stuff: This is pretty straight forward, but I bet we could talk all day about the dumb stuff we’ve done or seen others do. Workers can easily identify anything the boss does that is self-serving or stupid, which can be really destructive.

I’ve never figured out how to change somebody’s attitude, but I’ve noticed if you can change someone’s behavior, their attitude will change over time. And I don’t think you do that with leadership. You do that with an online, present, conscious, engaged boss.

About the Author
Retired Phoenix Fire Chief Alan Brunacini is one of the preeminent authors and pioneers of the fire service industry. Chief Brunacini is a 1960 graduate of the Fire Protection Technology program at Oklahoma State University and he earned a degree in political science from Arizona State University in 1970. He graduated from the Urban Executives Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973 and received a Master of Public Administration degree from Arizona State in 1975.

Blog by Todd J. LeDuc
Deputy Chief, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue (Fla.)

A published study by the Institute of Medicine calls attention to a national epidemic that is particularly threatening to firefighters across the globe untreated hypertension.

With cardiovascular events one of the leading causes of firefighter morbidity and mortality, unrecognized and untreated hypertension and pre-hypertension must be more aggressively diagnosed and confronted.

More than 70 million Americans suffer from hypertension while an additional 50 million more are close behind with pre-hypertension.

Hypertension contributes to nearly one-third of all cardiac events and is the leading cause of stroke and renal failure. According to the International Association of Firefighters website, 75 percent of firefighters with hypertension do not have it controlled.

The United States Fire Administration has reported in a meta-analysis of firefighter line-of-duty reports that the leading cause of fire service deaths is heart attacks, which accounts for 44 percent of all firefighter deaths.

Furthermore, a Harvard study concluded that while only 5 percent of firefighter’s time is actually spent combating fire, they are 100 times more likely to have a heart attack.

This may be attributed to the extremely psychically demanding rigors of the service and environment that firefighters operate within. This, coupled with risk factors such as high blood pressure, obesity, heightened cholesterol levels and a sedentary lifestyle, creates an axis of risk.

Several factors were noted that fire service members should realize. First, only 2 percent of adults receive adequate amounts of potassium. This places a higher propensity to elevated blood pressure levels. A concerted effort must be made to eat foods high in potassium.

The recommended daily intake of potassium is 3,500 milligrams. Excellent sources are fish, fruit (especially bananas, apricots, cantaloupe, and grapefruit), peas, beans, and potatoes, among other foods.

Additionally, compounding the propensity toward high-blood pressure is the over consumption of sodium. In fact, the average adult unknowingly takes in 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day when the daily recommended allowance is 2,300 mg.

This is often a byproduct of processed, canned and prepared food son top of additional table salt added to meals to enhance flavor in preparation or at the dinner table. The study also reviewed contributory factors of excess weight and its effect of hypertension. The researchers concluded that modest reductions of 10 pounds in overweight adults through diet and modest exercise would result in an 8 percent decrease in cases of hypertension.

Of course, the first step in combating hypertension or pre-hypertension is identifying it. This can only be done by routinely monitoring your own blood pressure and sharing the results with your healthcare provider.

The Institute of Medicines findings show we can’t rely on our health care professionals to solve this problem. As the commander of your own ship, it’s imperative you take an aggressive role in managing your blood pressure.

As fire service professionals, your cardiovascular risks are greater than those of the general population and as such your diligence should be greater. Hypertension is not named the silent killer without good reason ignorance is not a panacea for wellness and heath.

Make a pledge to learn your pressure, modify your risk and contributory factors, and embark on a path of prevention. Your proactive imitative can prevent you from reaching a boiling point.

About the Author
Todd J. LeDuc is the deputy chief of department for Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue in Florida. With more than 25 years in the service, he lecturers and publishes frequently on fire service leadership, safety and wellness topics. He has worked extensively with fire departments in more than a dozen states with master and strategic plans, accreditation, department evaluations and consolidation studies.

Blog by Doug Cline
International Society of Fire Service Instructors, Vice President

It’s always good to remember what we were taught by our mentors. Listed below are The Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership, which I was raised on during my early years in the fire service. These commandments of fire leadership are right on, not only for those of us in the fire service, but every profession and in all areas of life.

Here are The Paradoxical Commandments of Fire Leadership:

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway!

2. If you do well, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do well anyway!

3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway!

4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do it anyway!

5. Honesty and frankness makes you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway!

6. The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds. Think big anyway!

7. People favor underdogs, but follow top dogs. Fight for the underdogs anyway!

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway!

9. People really need help, but may attack you if you help them. Help people anyway!

10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give your best anyway!

Ironically, I was searching for something else in the office when I ran across an old text book that I utilized while going through the International Society of Fire Service Instructors Company of Development Series many years ago. One of the authors of the book, Fire Chief Dan Jones, wound up being my mentor. The book Managing People happened to fall to the floor during my search and randomly opened up to page 32 where these commandments were listed.

This just happened to be at an opportune time in my life when I was looking to clarify focus, create drive and provide sound direction for my future. These commandments were like a sign from above.

Over the past year, I’ve had many discussions with colleagues across the country about the issues and frustrations we encounter on a daily basis in the fire service. It can be depressing. And I’m sure it’s not just the fire service. The future holds so many uncertainties. I’ve watched friends with more than 25 years be laid off. We see fire stations closing, training centers shut down and good leaders cut at the knees by ram-rod political events.

I believe the book falling open to the exact page of The Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership is one of those events the kind that make you say, OK, I get it!

My frustration with the fire service is like riding a roller coaster. Many issues influence my feelings. I often find myself disheartened with current events that happen routinely in our business. Thankfully, The Paradoxical Commandments, which were written in 1968 by a 19-year-old Harvard student named Kent Keith, have given me, and will continue to give me guidance.

Keith’s commandments were part of The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council, his first book for high school student leaders, which can be carried over to everyone in every profession.

I laid down the Paradoxical Commandments as a challenge, Keith is quoted saying. The challenge is to always do what is right and good and true, even if others don’t appreciate it. You have to keep striving, no matter what, because if you don’t, many of the things that need to be done in our world will never get done.

Thank you, Mr. Keith, for your wisdom. It’s as true today as it ever was.

About the Author
Douglas Cline is a student of the fire service serving as training commander with the City of High Point (N.C.) Fire Department and assistant chief of administration with the Ruffin Volunteer Fire Department. Cline is a North Carolina Level II Fire Instructor, National Fire Academy Instructor and an EMT-Paramedic instructor/coordinator for the North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services. Cline is a member of the North Carolina Society of Fire Service Instructors and the International Society of Fire Service Instructors where he serves on the Board of Directors as The First Vice President.