By Janelle Foskett
No matter what job you have—firefighter, captain, deputy chief or even THE chief—it can often feel like a jungle out there. As such, it seems everyone, including you, could benefit from a list of “survival skills” to take with you on your journey, as you slash through the densely tangled undergrowth (piles of paperwork) and dart out of the paths of poisonous animals (crewmembers with bad attitudes).
In his Friday afternoon session “Survival Skills for the Newly Promoted Company Officer,” Steve Prziborowski offered FRI attendees one such list for company officers navigating their new roles and responsibilities. Prziborowski—an 18-year veteran of the fire service, currently serving as a battalion chief for the Santa Clara County (Calif.) Fire Department—knows a little something about helping company officers make this transition. He’s spoken at previous FRIs about tips for company officers transitioning to chief officers, and he penned the article “Movin’ on Up: Make yourself a more desirable candidate in the promotional exam process” in the August issue of FireRescue magazine.
Creating the Class
A few weeks ago, I had the chance to catch up with Prziborowski about why he wanted to speak about this topic. “The challenging thing I see traveling around the country, talking with firefighters is a sever lack of officer development,” he said. “I know a former fire chief from a department who used to joke when he’d promote someone to company officer, ‘OK, here’s your badge, now don’t screw it up.’” Unfortunately, he explains, besides the basic training they give to new candidates, many departments don’t go above and beyond that, especially for officers.
With this in mind, Prziborowski became passionate about helping others succeed in getting hired or being promoted, and put together a list of about 50 one-liners company officers can use to help navigate the treacherous waters of their new job.
Following are a few of these “survival skills” Prziborowski presented in his session.
Survival Skills
Learn from the good and the not-so-good of others: According to Prziborowski, people too often think that they can’t learn anything from people who aren’t positive role models—but nothing could be further from the truth. “We can all learn something—good, bad or indifferent—from everyone to make ourselves better at what we do,” he said. “Besides the obvious positive lessons learned from others, I’ve taken some of the not-so-good I’ve experienced and heard about, and have told myself that I will never do that to others if I’m in the same position.”
Give your personnel the benefit of the doubt: You may need to trust your gut on the fireground, but when faced with a difficult personnel issue, you have more time and therefore don’t need to jump to conclusions. According to Prziborowski, you should always give your personnel the benefit of the doubt. “If your personnel are truly your greatest asset (which they should be), then show it when you’re faced with a potential issue that needs to be resolved,” he says. “And remember the phrase ‘innocent until proven guilty’; it’ll help build your relationship with your personnel, especially since first impressions aren’t always correct.”
Get to know the strengths and weaknesses of all of your personnel ASAP: Before you can honestly supervise, lead and manage your assigned personnel, it’s critical to get to know them, including their strengths and weaknesses and what motivates each individual. “Take the time to find out how you can capitalize on their strengths and, on the flip side, where you need to either compensate or work on improving their weaknesses to get the best out of each and every one of your assigned personnel,” Prziborowski said.
Prepare yourself for the position above the one you’re currently in: It’s not uncommon for departments to ask members to perform acting duties one rank (or more) above their current position—with or without any additional training. “If you do this, you’ll have a good idea what your future supervisor will expect of you and, if necessary, you can be prepared to fill in for them if and when the time comes,” Prziborowski noted.
Remember that the majority (if not all) of your success will be based on your positive working relationships with others: Successful, positive working relationships are usually the key to promotional opportunities and career development opportunities. As Prziborowski explained, “You can be the ‘most qualified’ individual (which is a very subjective term), but if you can’t learn how to play nicely with others and, more importantly, have a great working relationship with them, your chances of success are going to be limited.”
Practice and embrace “management by rationality,” not “management by emotion”: It’s not uncommon to see people in leadership positions making decisions based on emotions. “Unfortunately, too many individuals make choices—or just say things in the heat of the moment—without having thought things out, especially how their voice will actually be heard by others,” he said. “Don’t jump to action every time you hear or see something you don’t agree with or feel you must defend; this may just help you save some face in the long run and increase your career life expectancy.”
Be loyal to those above, below and around you, including the customers you serve: “Loyalty will help build positive, working relationships and also demonstrate your commitment to them, not to mention the department itself,” Prziborowski said.
Make everyone feel like a valued team member: This can be a tough one, especially if you don’t like or agree with someone on a regular basis, Prziborowski says. But he adds, “Making everyone feel like a valued team member can pay off in the long run, and it may even bring out the best in everyone and raise the performance level of those who you feel are performing at a lower level than you expect.”
CHAOS shouldn’t stand for “Captain (or Chief) Has Arrived On Scene!” The first-arriving fire officer (captain or chief) has the ability to set up an incident for success or for failure. According to Prziborowski, the majority of firefighter line-of-duty-death reports show that command and control (or a lack thereof) were contributing factors, starting with the first-arriving officer failing to account for key elements such as size-up, command, risk management and situational awareness. “Having the first-arriving fire officer properly set up the incident from the beginning will pay off dividends in the long run and ensure that the incident is not only properly managed, but that the personnel are being taken care of,” he explained.
The Most Important Survival Skill
I asked Prziborowski which of his many “survival skills” was most important for attendees. His response: “Don’t just prepare for the test; prepare for the position.” He says people focus too much on trying to guess which scenario will end up on the exam, rather than on the position itself. “But if you prepare for the position, it doesn’t matter what they throw at you in the process. You should be able to handle it, but more importantly, you succeed once you get promoted,” he said.
He also added this tip: “The first thing you should do when you get promoted is sit down with your boss and find out what he or she expects of you day to day on the emergency scene, in the fire station, and so on,” he said. “Some are very hands off; some are very micro-managing, but you have to know their style so you can be successful with your own boss.” And from there you can go to your own crew and establish your expectations with them.
If you have any questions about additional “survival skills” for company officers, contact Prziborowski at sprziborowski@aol.com.
Janelle Foskett is the managing editor of FireRescue magazine.
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