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What's Burning You?
What's burning you?
Who/what is making you mad? How is it being handled?
I teach Conflict Resolution and Employee Counseling each year for our Officer Development program and was hoping to hear what issues you are dealing with.
I always have the issues that make it in the newspaper, but want more of the day to day issues that are affecting the crews. Also, let us know if you want the group to offer suggestions.
Thanks in advance,
Randy Keirn, MPA, BSN, RN, EMT-P
District Chief
Lealman Fire District (FL)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike "Lapo" Lapotasky on
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Lord knows the things I could say...and...I bitch a fair amount...but come on...seriously? Over 15hrs. of bitching a week...something needs to get cleaned at least whilst the bitching is being conducted? LOL...but in all seriousness...that does seem like alot to me.
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Permalink Reply by Randy Keirn on
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On the flip side, there are several sources that say managers/supervisors spend between 20-30% of their time dealing with personnel issues (i.e. conflict).
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You don’t need to apologize to me. This is what I asked for. If you don’t mind me asking, what are the big issues that you have to deal with? Are you comfortable with disciplining your firefighters? Do you have a system or steps that you go through during discipline?
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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on
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I think this is a grand gesture on your part, Randy, but I'm thinking that many people will not get too deep in airing out their dirty laundry on a public forum. You would likely have to agree to accept personal messages or something, and that choice might end up having you put in a few overtime hours.
On the other hand, maybe you're just looking for non-specific, general airings?
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I wasn't sure what the outcome would be, but felt that it wouldn't hurt to ask.
If I were to guess, I could probably think of a few issues that are occuring in your firehouse as they are in mine, but I was just hoping to gather some information that could be used to teach newly promoted Officers. I also like to interact with others so I was hoping to share some of my experiences with those that may be faced with similiar problems.
Just to test my theory, do you have any of these issues (can you put a name next to them?)...
A firefighter that is knowledgeable, but complains all of the time.
The person that no one trusts (so they don't want to work with them either).
Someone that is well liked as a person, but is a slob around the station.
An Officer and/or an Acting Officer (which is a very difficult position to be in), who acts more like a buddy and doesn't step up when they should.
Finally...Do you have crews that you hope aren't on when the big one comes in because they never seem to get it right?
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There are issues that could be similar in many departments for sure. But i would like to think that when push comes to shove, the issues disappear for a bit.
A firefighter that is knowledgeable, but complains all of the time.-----There are a few
The person that no one trusts (so they don't want to work with them either).-----only due to lack of experience and training.Someone that is well liked as a person, but is a slob around the station.----nope
An Officer and/or an Acting Officer (which is a very difficult position to be in), who acts more like a buddy and doesn't step up when they should.-----not in the least
...Do you have crews that you hope aren't on when the big one comes in because they never seem to get it right?----We don't have "crews" per se, just whoever is able to respond. But when it gets dirty, the more experienced go to work first.
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Permalink Reply by Ron Ayotte on
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I just read the statistic from Marshall Goldsmith, PhD in Organizational Behavior, that the average employee spends 15 hours each week complaining about his or her boss.
This CAN'T be right. I think it is more.
If whining, griping, complaining, bitching and kvetching were an Olympic sport.... firefighters would require a whole new medal class.... PLATINUM
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Great. I send you a message with my email.
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Permalink Reply by Reg Mathis on
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In a nutshell? Department Politics. Being from a rural, 90% vollie department, I am continually frustrated by favoritism, nepotism and the little fiefdoms that have a stranglehold on our department.
It would seem that power and influence have more of a place than equality and what is best for the department.
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Classic answer that made me laugh out loud.
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It sounds like I missed the mark. Maybe I was generalizing too much, but with 16 personality types most of us work with similiar type people. The ones I mentioned above were a variety of people that I thought of over the past 25 years (from 3 different departments).
Anyway, the issues due ebb and flow, but I'm not sure they ever go away. In reality, we don't want them to go away because conflict is actually a good. The best thing we can do is deal with it in a constructive manner. Without conflict, we would have status quo, whcih most would agree is not a good thing for any lenght of time.
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