THE DUAL OBLIGATION: THE ORGANIZATION VS. OUR PEOPLE
BY CHARLES R. ANGIONE
Practically every fire officer recognizes his obligation to the organization. The fire department not only pays his salary, but all firefighters have sworn an oath of allegiance to their city or town as well. Our superiors, of course, represent the organization, and so our allegiance to them is fully apparent to most of us. What may not be so apparent is the very real responsibility we owe to those men and women who faithfully follow our leadership. Newly promoted officers, especially, may not always recognize this other obligation.
OFFICERS` OBLIGATIONS TO SUBORDINATES
What, some leaders may ask, do we owe those who work for us? After all, their job is to do what we tell them. They owe allegiance to us. Well, of course, that is true, since we represent the fire department to those under our command. But if we are to be true leaders, we also owe something to those who agree to be led by us. We have a professional and an ethical obligation to do the following for them:
Provide them (in this most hazardous occupation) with as safe a work environment as possible.
Be generous in teaching them what you have learned, starting with the immediate responsibilities and primary duties of their jobs.
When they are ready, begin to develop them for future advancement and leadership by teaching them your job as well.
Ensure fair and impartial treatment. This does not mean every individual personality must be handled exactly the same, but the rules and benefits must be applied equally to all.
Recognize a job well done. Credit them to your superiors when they do good work. Share credit with them when you are commended for the performance of your unit.
Defend them to your superiors when you believe they are right–even if you must argue with, and perhaps even displease, your boss. If you have a good boss, he will admire your loyalty to your staff–if that loyalty is well placed and justified by the facts.
Don`t teach subordinates bad habits by allowing them to get by with sloppy work, unsafe practices, or inappropriate behavior.
Avoid overfamiliarity. Once you are in a position of leadership, you can no longer afford to be a brother (or sister) firefighter, as much as you might miss that special and comfortable place in the organization. You may now be more like an uncle (or aunt). Be friendly, of course; you may even grow to have a certain affection for your people. Before you can be a truly effective leader or can do them much good, however, they must first look up to you.
Be patient with the slow learners and those who lack confidence; use kid gloves when necessary.
Be strong enough to deal with those who resist supervision or challenge your authority–for their own good. Tough love works in families, and tough but caring leadership works on the job.
Make sure your subordinates understand that they have but one immediate supervisor–you. Unity of command demands that, except for certain prescribed emergency circumstances or common-sense exceptions, no one else gives them orders. You may have to discuss this point with your fellow officers, or even your superiors, to be certain they respect this vital supervisory principle.
When delegating duties that entail increased responsibility, be sure to give sufficient authority commensurate with that responsibility.
CONFLICTS CAN ARISE
Usually the separate obligations to your superiors and your subordinates complement each other and rarely provide a conflict. But sometimes conflicts will occur.
On one occasion, I had reason to defend a subordinate to the chief of divisions and then to our director of public safety. This man had made a fine rescue that was worthy of special commendation. A month or so after I submitted his name for a department medal, he was found guilty at a hearing for a separate act of conduct that was unbecoming to a firefighter. This incident received some attention in the press. The chief and the director were loath to bestow a prestigious medal on someone who had just been found guilty of a public infraction of rules. Although fire personnel could be expected to understand his receiving a medal following a separate incidence of poor behavior, my superiors believed it might not look good to those outside the department.
I happened to have been the officer who charged him with this undesirable behavior offense. Nevertheless, I argued his case vigorously before my superiors, stressing the following. The superlative rescue he had made had nothing to do with the subsequent violation of rules. This firefighter had, in fact, performed both the exemplary and the inappropriate actions. He should be rewarded for the first and penalized for the second. Although our public image was certainly important, I maintained that we should not be more concerned with public relations than with doing what we knew to be right. We were not, after all, a public relations department. We must first and foremost do the right thing. We can then explain the reason for granting the award. The director and the chief eventually came around to my point but only after some heated discussion.
I suppose you could list the above story under “winning some,” even though I suspect that the confrontation may have left lingering hard feelings. Also, I used up some of my valuable chits. But, then, it felt good seeing justice done and knowing that I had done my duty. Sometimes it is true that virtue is its own reward.
Be warned, however, that you can feel awfully stupid and do serious harm to your credibility if you lay it on the line for a subordinate who is wrong and undeserving of your extraordinary support.
Another time I recommended a lieutenant for promotion to captain. This fine fire officer not only placed first on the promotional exam with a very high grade but also had an outstanding job performance record. The chief of department readily agreed with my assessment and forwarded it to our superiors at City Hall.
When our recommendations were ignored in favor of a clearly political appointment, I protested (with all due respect and propriety), attempting to make an honest and forthright argument for the number one ranked candidate.
The public safety director at the time was a strongly political individual. He, himself, was a political appointee who had had no fire service experience at all. What he did have was sufficient nerve to cavalierly set aside the evaluation of our state civil service commission as well as the considered recommendations of the two highest ranking fire protection experts in the city. He had never even spoken to the recommended candidate or attempted to justify the move or give the impression of fairness before rejecting him out of hand. It was, of course, a blatantly obvious and cynical abuse of his authority.
What is more, my official protest through proper channels was taken as a personal insult by this political hack, and I received a written reprimand (I swear this is true!) for daring to question his uninformed assessment. When my chief objected to my receiving a reprimand for merely giving my respectful opinion (thereby fulfilling his obligation to his subordinate–me), he received a reprimand as well. This outrageous affair might be properly filed under “losing some,” except that the fine company officer was promoted to the next vacant captaincy some months later. And, by the way, this particular public safety director was replaced soon after.
As you can see, fulfilling your obligation to your subordinates can sometimes be perceived as a conflict with loyalty to your superiors. Thus, perfectly honorable and forthright behavior in an imperfect world can sometimes lead to problems. Of course, neither obligation extends to the subversion of the truth as you see it or your responsibilities to the fire service. In the final analysis, of course, you must do what you believe to be right. Although honesty is the most successful policy in the long run, it is not always universally praised and the honest person is not always rewarded. The honest individual, however, is usually respected. Besides, a true professional and a real leader has no other choice. Sometimes virtue is its only reward. n
n CHARLES R. ANGIONE, a 25-year line veteran of the fire service, served as operations deputy chief of the City of Plainfield (NJ) Fire Division. An instructor, he is a state-certified Fire Instructor II and Fire Official, has a diploma in fire science, and has attended the National Fire Academy. He is a freelance writer, a columnist, and a frequent contributor to fire service publications.
