On-Site @ FDIC
The Dreaded Counseling Session: How to make it a mere speed bump, not a train wreck

If you ask company officers what they like least about their jobs, I’d venture to guess that a fair number of them would say the personnel issues that come with being an officer. No manger likes dealing with personnel issues—or if they do, they’re certainly not a manger people like working for!

But like it or not, dealing with personnel issues comes with the job, and in his session today at FDIC, Anthony Kastros, a battalion chief with the Sacramento (Calif.) Metropolitan Fire District, presented ways to take some of headache out of managing personnel—specifically, the counseling session.

Like many officers these days, Kastros has run into his share of “me” generation issues—firefighters who lack respect and experience and have poor work ethics—but he stresses that this isn’t an age problem, it’s a mentality. However, he does acknowledge that the days of a good, swift kick-in-the-ass being an accepted form of discipline in the department are over. As a result, he says, “we need a new way of counseling.” And, he adds, company officers are leaders, not managers—and therefore, counseling is a leadership issue. “You have to understand your people and how they think,” Kastros says. “Every one of your firefighters is on a different tactical channel. Your job is to tap into each one of those channels. One size doesn’t fit all.”

Using stories that kept the crowd laughing, as well as role-playing sessions that challenged officers to put their newfound knowledge to the test, Kastro outlined the following “algorithm” for a successful counseling session:

1. Welcome and establish rapport. Talk about something lighthearted. Don’t just jump right in, no matter how mad you might be.
2. Make it safe. Show the firefighter that you care by acknowledging his/her worth to the department, stressing their good qualities and contributions.
3. Give the reason for the meeting. But Kastros warns, don’t connect the good opening with “but...” because it negates all the good stuff you just said. “This stuff matters. It may sound simple, but it matters,” he says.
4. Separate the problem from the person. Limit the discussion to a specific event or a behavior.
5. Reinforce/acknowledge good behavior. Remember, you’ve screwed up in the past too. An empathetic statement such as “You’re a great asset to the department; this is just a tough spell, we’ll get through it” can go a long way.
6. Look through symptoms to find the real problem. “Attacking the symptoms is like giving aspirin to someone with a brain tumor,” Kastros says. “Find and solve the problem.”
7. Help them open up. Motivate them to take ownership by using their motives and perspectives. Even better: Get them to put forth their own solution.
8. Remain firm, fair and friendly. But don’t be a pushover. Kastros joked about how his own troops know they’ve pushed him too far when he gets his “snake face.” “Snake face needs to mean something for it to be effective,” he says.

Other elements effective counseling should involve:
· Give expected behavior/needed change.
· Establish a plan/agreement together.
· Define your role and where you will help.
· AGREE. Shake hands.
· Establish a timeframe for change.
· Establishing monitoring criteria.
· State the consequences of unchanged behavior.
· End on a positive note.
· Document—if not in official personnel files, then in your own notes.

Watching the brave volunteers in the seminar role-model a counseling session, I realized that even with this outline, such interactions are not easy. But with a plan in place and some practice, the counseling session can be, as Kastros says, “like a speed bump—no big deal” among a team of people who work well together.

Shannon Pieper is deputy editor for FireRescue magazine.