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Dealing with animosity
For some reason we are having a lot of people complaining and most of it revolves around three or four members. One of them has already made the comment that he will continue to come around just to be a pain in the a##. They are all older 60 + but they still contribute a lot. I am having a hard time with dealing with them. Their ways are beginning to affect the moral of all members.
The problem I believe is they were at one time leading members and they don't agree with the way things are now.
The problem I believe is they were at one time leading members and they don't agree with the way things are now.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Chnage often brings out the worst in people.
Don't know the answer to your problems though.
Perhaps some pretty hard "campaigning" to ensure everyone understands why things are changing and the benefits???
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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You're an Asst. Chief, time to pull rank and make it clear to them that their behavior will not be tolerated. Hopefully, your F.D. has SOP's in place for dealing with this type of thing. Maybe it's time for them to retire. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Ahh the preverbial pain in the Division (C) guys. Everyone has them, usually caused by recent change or new upper leadership within the department. We had one guy post a big label calling the kitchen a CONFLICT RESOLUTION AREA. He would also roll up his sleeves and annouce at the start of the day, "Now lets see how much hate and discontent I can cause today."
The problem many times is the current leadership allows this to happen. When the leadership does not stop the infestation from happening the problem manifests into more and more supporters. If these people were the previous leadership, then they can feel upset that the department has gone a different route or direction as compared to when the steered the ship.
Problem is the ship's new captain- the chief - he needs to sit down with the individuals and respectfully ask them to back off or please stop, out of respect for his command. He can't possibly lead into the future if the process has been run into the ground by the previous leaders. But it takes a big man to sit down and ask the guy or guys to please give him the due respect he deserves to lead the organization into the future without being sandbagged from the start. Most often the current leadership will look away and hope the problem self remedies.... ain't gonna happen though.
It is extrememly difficult to intervene if you are in the middle of the chain of command. Then the Division (C) guys will cite everything you ever said or did to them, because they owe you no respect as you are not the current top dog.
Either way though, it is a long road to heal. Sometimes it happens alot quicker with a Fire Chief who is educated in interpersonal dynamics and has great people skills... or I can say it will eventually go away by retirement or death... then you have to pay respect to the Division-C guy in a different way.
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Permalink Reply by Doug on
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I agree that every department has those type of people who don't like change and won't except change, we had the same problem, but no longer, our chief and the disp. board informed the folks that the department was grateful for what they did in the past but it was time for a change to better the community we serve. If they did not like what changes were happening they could turn there gear in, and yes we are an all volunteer department and once you take the oath you give up the volunteer rights to better your department and protect the community and your fellow firefighters.,
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Permalink Reply by turk182 on
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We sort of have the same problem but with younger members "not juniors" that think they know every thing and what they say should be the way it is. I have started to get then settled down alittle bit but it takes time.
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Permalink Reply by rfdjumper on
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Introduce them to a 2 X 4 to the head. Takes the message exactly where it's needed. Last one standing is right.
Yes that is sarcasm, but boy it would be fun to do sometimes.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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First of all, Illinois claims Rick Lasky. He is an Illinois boy.
I got the book AND the CD. He likes cake. Funny story. He and Tom Freeman (Rick's chief at the time and fellow instructor) were doing a class. That was the first time I ever heard the line ("you don't want it on your tombstone 'bastards wouldn't buy me a flashlight'!"). I think Freeman had an unhealthy relationship with flashlights. He said you could never have too many. Anyway, during break, we went out to Freeman's car, because he kept romanticizing about the "Pelican" brand. He opens his trunk and I swear he must have had 30 different flashlights. I asked Tom if he sold flashlights on the side. He says, "nope; I just buy them. Actually, most of them have been given to me to "try out".
So, I know where Rick gets his sense for flashlights.
Anyway, back to the problem. Rick's book isn't going to help now, because your problem has been growing. Rick's book will help you going forward, but only AFTER you fix what is wrong now.
And what is wrong now is that you have TWO fire departments; one that wants to go in the RIGHT direction and another that wants to go back down the wrong road. So, here is what you do. Go to the intersection and grab the guys going down the wrong road and tell them: LEAD, FOLLOW or GET OUT OF THE WAY. Make it their choice. If they don't do one of those three things, then there is no room on the department for them.
You can only have ONE fire department and that is the one dedicated to saving lives and property. There is no other acceptable way.
Hope this helps.
And for the record, I trained with Lasky, Ed Enright, Tom Freeman and many other brilliant IFSI instructors over the years.
Lasky is a rock star in the fire service and a man that you can certainly learn from. He knows.
TCSS.
Art
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Permalink Reply by Denise Co 29 on
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I like this idea LoL
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