YOUR FIRST RESPONSIBILITY AS AN OFFICER: SET THE STANDARD
Lesson Introduction
The standard your crew follows starts with the standard you establish.
Becoming an officer means more than accepting responsibility for apparatus, assignments, and emergency operations. It means setting clear expectations for how your crew trains, works, communicates, treats one another, and represents the firehouse.
In this lesson, we’ll look at how clear expectations, consistency, accountability, and personal example establish the standard your crew will ultimately follow, and why leaders have to model the same behaviors they expect from everyone else.
WATCH THE LESSON
Your First Responsibility as an Officer: Set the Standard
RELATED RESOURCES
LEADERSHIP EXPECTATIONS CHECKLIST
A practical tool for identifying, communicating, and reinforcing the expectations and standards you want your crew to operate by.
ACTING OFFICER CHECKLIST & GUIDE
A practical guide for firefighters and officers stepping into greater leadership responsibility and preparing to establish credibility, expectations, and consistency.
LEADERSHIP IN ACTION
THE FIREFIGHTER WHO KEEPS SHOWING UP LATE
A firefighter on your crew has developed a pattern of showing up late. It hasn't created a major operational problem yet, and the rest of the crew seems to tolerate it, but you've made your expectations regarding responsibility and accountability clear.
At what point does allowing a small violation of the standard begin changing the standard itself? How do you address the behavior early, fairly, and consistently before it becomes accepted firehouse culture?
KEY TAKEAWAY
You can't hold people accountable to a standard they don't understand, and you can't expect your crew to follow a standard you aren't willing to model yourself.
Set the expectation. Live it. Reinforce it. Be consistent enough that your crew never has to guess where the standard is.