Somewhere around late 2012, I was asked by our Training Division if I would come down to Training to talk to the new hire firefighters. The request came with no particulars, no expectations or guidelines. I was a reasonably young Battalion Chief and jumped at the idea to come visit the new kids. Understand, new people has always been a favorite part of my job.
While at home the day before my presentation, I started thinking about what I should tell the eager, young recruits. Hmmm. I thought I should share a little bit about me, my past, a few expectations and ask them to share something with me. Yeah, that’ll do. Easy.
I walked around the house picking up mementos from over my career. A concert ticket from Sammy Hagar that I went to on my first day as a career firefighter, the helmet I wore when I rescued someone from a fire, my Officer of the Year pin, National Fire Academy badge, a small pewter coin with an angel on it given to me by a citizen, a picture of my fire academy graduation with my first Chief, first badge and a picture of my family. I chose those items a little bit randomly but also for what they represent. More on that another day.
Armed with my “Bag of Trinkets Speech” I headed in. I gathered the group into a tight circled and went through each of the items explaining what it is and what it represents. I passed each item around so they could touch it, feel it, experience it. I also asked them for a commitment to whatever the item represents. As an example, the NFA badge represents continued commitment to education and lifelong learning. I ask that they commit to continued education and learning. It was a VERY emotional presentation, catching me off guard. All these small keepsakes represented my path through the fire service. It was a reflection of where I had been and what I had done and I was VERY proud of it. They were good sports not making fun the BC because I shed a few tears in front of a group of grown adults. I have done the same presentation every year since and every time it is an emotional rollercoaster.
I felt like I was hitting on all cylinders. I shared a little of me and my past, now just a couple expectations.
I asked the group to define “reputation.” They punched around a bit but really landed on the definition as being “the way others see you.” I then went on to ask them to define “character.” Again, we used a few words, some hit and some missed but we finished with “the way you actually are.” We also talked about how an organization can have a reputation and a character.
We then talked about how long it takes to build a reputation and all agreed it takes a long time with consistent behavior to build it. Additionally, we talked about how quick you can damage your reputation (a thousand bridges, Nick?). We then talked about organizational reputation and how quickly it can be damaged.
I finished with this expectation, using these exact words: “I will do everything I can to help you succeed in your career, investing whatever it takes. However, if you do something that embarrasses the organization or it’s Fire Chief, or something that damages the organizational reputation, I will do EVERYTHING in my power to get rid of you, to get you fired.” Pretty simple. I have shared these words with every group of new hire firefighters since that first opportunity. Maybe only about 50 or 60 people. And since that day, since I developed clarity or understanding on my value in this area, I have only had to bounce people back in bounds a few times and only went to termination once.
People don’t get out of bounds too often. But when they do, someone needs to call them out, get them back in line. Have the courage to protect the organizational reputation because that reputation bleeds over to yours. Someone who sees an unprofessional organization may say “Yeah, Jane works for that organization; what a bunch of dipsticks!!” You owe it to the organization you chose to work for, who provides you with your everything to stand up for their reputation. Plus, you don’t want that black mark hooked to your wagon because someday, you might need to move on and your reputation, or that of the organization, is all your prospective employer might have to go on.
What’s your reputation? Is it close to matching your character?
P.S. The bit about termination due to embarrassing organizational reputation. Remember when I talked in a previous post about expectations starting the conversation? When I had to talk to this person about their behavior, I said “Remember when I said ‘If you embarrass the organization or Chief or do anything to damage the organizational reputation, I will do everything to get rid of you? Today, you embarrassed the organization.” I think it was clear to this person where I was headed because the expectation was clear.
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