Well, it looks like that last blog was a possible hit. I think we all know the people I was referring to, we’ve all seen them, worked around them and we’ve all wondered the same questions. Why are you here?
So, I may have stepped on some toes with that, if so….I’m not really sorry, if you were offended, then you need to take a long hard look in the mirror. Which will lead into rule #6. We all need to take a hard look in the mirror. As I say this, I am stepping on my own toes. We must understand that our departments are doing one of two things, we are either going up….or….down. Now I know what some of you may be thinking…”well we may not be going up, but we certainly are not going down”.
You must understand, there is no “holding steady” in this business. Your agency is either going up or down, if you think you’re holding steady, then you are going down and either:
1. You don’t know it…or
2. You don’t want to admit it
So, with that being said, rule #6 is more of a question than a rule, but this really needs to hit home.
Rule #6: What are YOU doing to make your department better……and what are you doing to make it worse? You see, everyday I come in to this station, I pray that I’m doing more to make it better than worse. I am not going to sit here and preach about how I’m making it better and not worse. I will be the first to admit that each and everyday I do things to make it better and things that make it worse. Now I hope/pray that I am doing more to make it better than worse.
I have to remember that my attitude play so much into this also. Now don’t get me wrong, if I come in and let the operations end slide down, that is going to be a problem. But I want to spend a minute on the attitude issue, before I get to operations. I my not so humble opinion (if it was humble I would not be on here blogging, ha ha), my attitude will speak volumes more than any action/policy I try to put into place. If I walk in with a “I don’t care” attitude or the every popular “what does it matter, they will are going to do whatever they want to do” attitude, I am going to tear this place apart from within.
What I’ve learned is, if I approach everything here with a “I can overcome this” or “how can we fix this” attitude, then the entire mood around me will either shift or move away. If I don’t let it get under my skin, I know that’s a big if, I can either stop the souring from starting or make it move away from where I am.
Now I not saying that I always get it right, but it starts with me, if I can “man up” and deal with it. Keep my attitude in a good place, those around tend to do the same. When I let it all go in the crapper, well again it all follows.
So, now let’s move onto the operations end of this rule. If I let the guys slide on the “small” things I am making it worse. If I don’t train with the guys that don’t like it, they don’t change, they aren’t going to be happier, they still sour up, they ARE NOT going to change. If I don’t make them wear full PPE during training because it’s:
1. Too hot
2. Too cold
3. Cloudy
4. Not cloudy enough
5. They have gas
6. They don’t have enough gas
They will not wear their gear during the real thing. If we let them slide on wearing their seatbelts during training operations, they what do you think they are doing during real operations.
You see, if I am going to help my department, I can only do things one way.....the right way. When I give an inch, they are going to take a mile and in the end, I'm not helping.....I am really hurting the ENTIRE fire service. Because other agencies are looking to us, just as they look to you and they will say...."if they do it that way, so should we". So the effect will be felt fire service wide.
Just look, how many guys die each year from lack of seatbelt use? WE are killing 25-30 guys a year because along the way they saw others not wearing seatbelts, so they said....if he/she doesn't neither am I.
WE HAVE TO DO BETTER. The guys deserve better, we should be learning from these past mistakes.
So I ask you......what are you doing to make it better and what are you doing to make it worse???