14 October 2010

Fire Service Leadership Seminar

Hamline University

C. A. Weinstein

Ethical Leadership in Fire Service

ELA’s “Guidelines for Grownups”

• Confidentiality Expectations

• Engagement

• Respectful Candor

• Thoughtful Expediency

• Comfort and Fun

Agenda

• Introduction: Why does this matter?

• Leadership Challenges in Fire

Service

• Ancient Ideas for Modern

Departments

• Putting Ideas into Action

ELA’s Fire Service Paradox 1

Where can we protect more lives and property?

ELA’s Fire Service Paradox #2

Volunteer Public Employee

Night Gig Self-Identity

Team Member Individual

Peer Subordinate

Seeks Direction Seeks Autonomy

Seeks

Flexibility

Work is

Mission-Critical

What drives employee engagement?

Source: Gallup G12 Summary

• Clear expectations for my performance

• Materials and equipment

• Ability to do good work in assigned roles

• A supervisor who cares about me

• Co-workers committed to quality work

• Opportunities to learn and grow

Source: Gallup G12 Summary

Gallup’s six key factors

Empower others to make a positive difference

Ethical Leaders in ActionLeadership Development Model

Leading

Self

Leading

Others

Leading

in Context

Ethical Leaders in ActionVirtues of Ethical Leadership

Clarity Creativity

Competence Courage

Service

Being serious

about

empowering

others

Exercising

will in support

of collective

aims

Service

Imagination

and Vision

Reality and

analysis

Moral Clarity:

Values

Clarity

Divergent

thinking:

“out of the box”

Convergent

thinking:

“in the box”

Problem-

solving

Creativity

Practical

wisdom and

judgment

Technical

knowledge

Communi-

cation

Competence

Doing right,

In the face of

difficulty

Courage

Describe a time when you saw this virtue in action in the fire service. Reflect and make notes as helpful.

Select one story for the group to tell, and one lead storyteller.

Draw a picture on your flip chart that helps to tell that story.

Groups: North: ClaritySouth: CreativityEast: CompetenceWest: Courage

Your turn! Working in groups…

Pre

ssure

LOW

HIGH

HIGH

Adapted from Social Discipline Window - Paul McCold and Ted Wachtel - 2000

TO WITH

NOT FOR

punitive relational

neglectful permissive

authoritarian

stigmatising

authoritative

respectful

indifferent

passive

protective

easy/undemanding

Relational Leadership Model

TO WITH

NOT FOR

Relational

Leaders

offer high

pressure,

high

support

Pre

ssure

How do you lead?

• Past: What happened

– Observable events and facts

– First person and objective

• Present: Why it matters

– Consequences of actions.

– Implications

• Future: Required Changes, Directions

– Changes in actions or behaviors

– Reinforcement to repeat positive actions

Fair

Process is

working

WITH

others

Giving Feedback

What does “Relational Leadership” teach us

about giving feedback?

Fireground Firehouse

Where do Communications Problems Arise?

Command

Troops

Within Teams

Between Teams

Key Questions:

What must be

Communicated?

How can the Department

Improve?

What is the intended

impact of improvements?

What kinds of communication can we improve?

Execute and

Adapt

Build Curriculum

Engage Participants

Set Goals and Establish Basic Parameters

Measure

Basic Programming Approach

• Comfort and Safety

• Current, tactical

information.

• Ancient stories that

reinforce shared values.

• New stories that also

reinforce those values.

If we

aren’t

telling

stories,

others

surely

are!

The Oldest Leadership Program

Thank you for your attention!

Chad Weinstein

Ethical Leaders in Action, LLC

cweinstein@ethinact.com

651-646-1512

“We enable ethical leaders to achieve

extraordinary results”