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How Do You Bring Back 'Old School' Respect in the Workplace?
i have worked with many old school ff .lt .bc. that have not forgotten how to act. the old ways how do you teach people to respect the job !
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by zack on
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i am on a dept with a lot of old time ff. and one i know of doesn't respect anything. all he cares about is the paycheck so i don't think its only about the age.
i am 18 and i am on because of family and i love helping people. i could care less about the money.
i respect everyone on a department as long as you respect what you are doing and respect the people.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Old school respect.... The new school firefighter has a different outlook on life, personal respect, tradition, and ethics. Not too mention the firehouse atmosphere has changed with how we run, operate, and inter-mingle.
The major issue is the fact that many fire department's have a three or four generational workforce and have no clue on how to translate what is expected with pride, ownership and tradition of a new firefighter when the department is truly struggling on how to relate to the vast interpersonal dynamics.
I suggest giving the new guy the book, Pride and Ownership -
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Permalink Reply by Foley&son on
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this "old timer " "he" does not respect the job. he is more or less burned out ? what do you think?
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you said it pride & tradition . and to be accountable ,{ above all,} and with out the past you dont have a future........................ i could not hold a candle to some of the old timers i have had the pleasure to work . be safe god bless.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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First off, there is a very distinct and ominous problem with a lot of old school firefighter's regarding the use of PPE and an awareness that many of the younger firefighters already know about. The world is changing and this includes firefighting tactics and operations. Assimilating the daily data dumps of information regarding firefighting, hazmat, ems, wildland, ARFF and on and on is easy for the younger generation, they do it daily without even thinking about it. Things like text-messaging, Twitter, and other data sources are routinely accessed without thought. Take one of the old school firefighter's and put them in front of a computer... The younger firefighters can run circles around the older firefighter's when it comes to the information age, unless you are dealing with a company officer like myself or others who you see here on the FFN. Computers don't intimidate some of us 'Old School' FF's, in fact, quite the opposite. We get it. It's a tool. Master the tool and you can master many other things. Pretty simple actually, but not readily apparent to all, hence necessitating more communication between folks to help one another adapt to the world of information and the www.
With the above comments, I question whether the company officers are getting the most out of their folks by taking advantage of the information highway... You are doing an inspection for example and come across a 500-gallon tank of muriatic acid on the top of a non-reinforced masonary 10-story building that produces sugar. Is the muriatic a hazard? What are it's properties? Should we be concerned? Ask a firefighter to do some research using google, etc. and guess what. You will learn something and use the younger firefighter to teach you. What a concept.
Having worked for eight-years at a fire station that was known for the rookie revolving door, I had a lot of firefighters that were rookies, including both men and women. The first two-years of a firefighters career are critical. They set the tone for the remainder of their career. I mention this because again, I place responsibility on the company officer to set the tone. Things like verbally trashing the department, the chief officers, the policies, the other agencies... none of this productive. An old school thought here would be, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it...".
The job of a firefighter is not an office white collar worker kind-of-a-job. This is a trade. And by that, I mean the way this gig is truly learned is by watching first, then doing under supervision, and then doing on your own. The key here is repetition and working together as a team. If the company officer does not "do things" with their crews, then things like esprit-de-corps (company/department pride) goes out the window. What you get in place is someone bringing in their own values and rules verses the departments.
Today's generation seems to be under the impression that they are "entitled" for some reason. I don't really understand why, I just recognize the obvious. My reality is having three daughters that have given me the "whatever" with their head cocked to the side and eyes looking up... as if... And I talk to others who have to deal with this whole what about me first attitude. I know that I am not alone here...
I had a real good reputation working with the newer generation because I got it. You no longer can bark a command without seeing that the individual is looking directly at you, in a stance that shouts, WTF? Questioning authority is not limited to the 70's generation anymore. Here's the good news... All you need to do to smooth things over at first with the "new generation" firefighter is to provide a reason or explain your logic flow. Yea, I know that it's not always the most efficient way to manage things but when you are dealing with someone just learning, it's really helpful to provide some additional description or explanation so they truly understand what ever objective I set out for them.
The bottom line here is that in my opinion, you cannot bring back 'Old School' respect without first leading by example and treating your firefighters with respect. You need to take the time to actually learn about what they like and dislike in general and get to know their strengths and weaknesses. To not do so means that you are not preparing for whatever hits you, and it will hit you as a team, or in my case an engine company. Continue this attitude and working calls together gets to be something your crew will look forward to doing, as a team. And as it has been said many times, "there is no 'I' in Team...".
TCSS,
CBz (ret)
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Permalink Reply by ff/emt 2155 on
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good luck, old school respect has fallen by the wayside with these kids that are comming up today, theirs no respect for the chain of command,none for seniority,it is sad they way things have gotten to be i'am 48 and have ol school ways and thats how i get my respect frm the older guys its the way i was brought up
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first cap good idea! its true that times have changed, but you cant put the fire out your self. even with a high tech phones lol.[ its knowing your still, like the back of your hand! knowing your ERG and drilling every day . that guy the old timer in the pic my dad work with him. he was a hell of a guy. he past way in the past few months god bless him.and you be safe.
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