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Chief Dennis Reilly and Jason Hoevelmann discuss leadership for firefighters and fire officers specifically regarding being a consistent leader and officer using the Leadership Triad.
It comes downs to a strong moral compass and the firm foundation based on ethics and doing what’s right.
THE MORAL & ETHICAL OBLIGATIONS OF BEING AN OFFICER:
- Your decisions and actions need to be driven by your own moral compass
- Your compass needs to be in line with that of the organization
- There should be no question where you stand among your subordinates, yourpeers, and your superiors.
- Moral & ethically driven people bring consistency and stability to their workplace.
EXPECTATIONS:
- If you do not lay out your expectations there is no guarantee on what you will get
- Expectations need to be in writing, invest the time now to avoid the “Well I didn’tknow what you wanted” in the future.
- At the task level positions, expectations need to center around tasks, at leadershippositons expectations need to include attitudes & behaviors.
MODELING:
- You will get what you display as your normal operating mode
- What you model is the future for your organization. As an officer, you have a Moral& Ethical Obligation to leave your organization better than what you found it.
- Chief Lasky once aid “Follow ugly kids home and you will find ugly parents”.
- What you model is what they will do when you are not around.ACCOUNTABILITY:
- This can be quite uncomfortable but as an officer you must be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
- You have a Moral & Ethical obligation to correct unsatisfactory or counterproductive behaviors. We didn’t promote you because you look good, we expect you to do your job.
- If you fail to hold your members accountable there is a good chance that your boss will hold you accountable. In some organizations, this is known as “failure to supervise” and can lead to demotion and/or termination.