Building a Team

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Permalink Reply by Ben Fleagle on August 21, 2009 at 2:33pm

Scott:

Excellent example. You hit it, Brother.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Richardson on September 14, 2009 at 1:05pm

On September 11th of this year I had the honor of climbing the Quest Tower building twice with 342 firefighters, most in much better shape than I. Those in the fire service understand why we still have heavy hearts on that day. I must admit, I was glad when we got to floor 110. Whenever I thought I was to exhausted to continue, I looked at the picture I had of Billy. Billy is FF William R. Johnston. He was a station member of a longtime family friend of mine, Uncle Patrick. I was overwhelmed to hear that I could carry him up the stairs with me. I was honored just to be there, much less carry someone I was familiar with.

That night I had the honor of delivering a bell ceremony at the Celtic House Pub, the site of many an Honor Guard meetings, birthdays, promotion parties, memorials, and so on. There is no greater honor that the honor of paying tribute to those who gave so much.

To the 343: You are always in our thoughts, you will forever be in our prayers; we shall never forget the sacrifice you have made. God bless you, your family and your Brothers!

Scott

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Permalink Reply by John Power on September 14, 2009 at 6:49pm

Here, Here, my Brother. Well said, and well done. I'll drink to that!!!!

Scott Richardson said:

On September 11th of this year I had the honor of climbing the Quest Tower building twice with 342 firefighters, most in much better shape than I. Those in the fire service understand why we still have heavy hearts on that day. I must admit, I was glad when we got to floor 110. Whenever I thought I was to exhausted to continue, I looked at the picture I had of Billy. Billy is FF William R. Johnston. He was a station member of a longtime family friend of mine, Uncle Patrick. I was overwhelmed to hear that I could carry him up the stairs with me. I was honored just to be there, much less carry someone I was familiar with.

That night I had the honor of delivering a bell ceremony at the Celtic House Pub, the site of many an Honor Guard meetings, birthdays, promotion parties, memorials, and so on. There is no greater honor that the honor of paying tribute to those who gave so much.

To the 343: You are always in our thoughts, you will forever be in our prayers; we shall never forget the sacrifice you have made. God bless you, your family and your Brothers!

Scott

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Permalink Reply by Scott Richardson on October 23, 2009 at 5:57pm

Over the last two weeks I had the priviledge of being a part of the FEMA SCT Course here in Colorado. Two weeks of breaking concrete, breaching walls, floors, ceilings, and heavy lifting and cutting operations. It never ceases to amaze me what an awesone job we have, paid OR volunteer.

an experience I would highly recommend if you get the chance. The instructors and staff of West Metro Fire Rescue and FEMA did an awesome job as well. The professionalism and respect between participants and the staff was truely noteworthy.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Yancey on October 28, 2009 at 3:05am

Scott, I believe the most significant roadblock to team building is communication. Communication is a requirement to ensure all members involved want to be there. Any good team must have a good leader. Too many times a teams are formed utilizing personnel already present with little or no communication of the change beforehand. This can create animosity on the part of members resistant to change usually due to feelings that they are being roped into something. Communication is key for presenting expectations in the form of goals to a team. It also aids the group in developing sound strategic objectives. Reading some of the other posts, it is true that everyone involved must buy into the idea of a team concept for it to be successful. This falls on the team's leader to ensure the lines of communication remain open in order to recruit and retain the most talented personnel. There are two other primary causes that contribute to the demise of a team. These are trust and respect. Members must be able to trust each other as well as respect the many differences brought to the group. Leaders must keep this in mind when initially forming the team. Any way you slice it, there are no bad teams, only bad leaders. The team's leader will be the most visible person in the department if the group fails to perform, but the team will be the most visible in the case of a job well done. I hope this is of some use to you, good question.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Richardson on November 26, 2009 at 7:18pm

Hey Jeff, Thank you for your post. I believe you captured what I call the Leadership Triad. Communication, trust, and respect. That is, you cannot have one without the other two. Honest, open communication goes a long way toward earning respect and trust. When a team is "renovated" some of those building blocks must be reset in the foundation. For example, suppose a station looses a veteran firefighter and gains a rookie. Roles in the team may shift a little; the foundation reinforced with expectations and mentoring.

Happy holidays to everyone!
Scott

Jeff Yancey said:

Scott, I believe the most significant roadblock to team building is communication. Communication is a requirement to ensure all members involved want to be there. Any good team must have a good leader. Too many times a teams are formed utilizing personnel already present with little or no communication of the change beforehand. This can create animosity on the part of members resistant to change usually due to feelings that they are being roped into something. Communication is key for presenting expectations in the form of goals to a team. It also aids the group in developing sound strategic objectives. Reading some of the other posts, it is true that everyone involved must buy into the idea of a team concept for it to be successful. This falls on the team's leader to ensure the lines of communication remain open in order to recruit and retain the most talented personnel. There are two other primary causes that contribute to the demise of a team. These are trust and respect. Members must be able to trust each other as well as respect the many differences brought to the group. Leaders must keep this in mind when initially forming the team. Any way you slice it, there are no bad teams, only bad leaders. The team's leader will be the most visible person in the department if the group fails to perform, but the team will be the most visible in the case of a job well done. I hope this is of some use to you, good question.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Richardson on February 21, 2010 at 12:04pm

So there I was, browsing through leadership discussions and I came across one that caught my eye. The subject of this discussion was the lack of leadership of a volunteer department. first, I would like to say, my helmet is off to the firefighter that started the discussion. It seems this is a problem he was frustrated with for a long time. He encountered several roadblocks; many individuals weighed in with great advice, hats off to them as well.

The overwhelming feeling I took away from the discussion reaffirms to me, that communication, in many forms is needed to ensure a team moves forward. Talking thing over, openly and honestly is a good start. In this case, the firefighter tried, several discussions with the chief, and the B of D, to no avail. One discussion participant suggested the adage that: many times we hear the complaints and bad things. What we need to hear is issues AND potential solutions. Sound advice!

In this situation, the firefighter was encouraged to get with the key personnel. I call them the 10% of the 10/80/10. the first 10% of this fraction is the 10% that create 80% of the issues needing attention. The other 10% are the "go-getter" type in the department. the core group of doers that get things done.

If you find your team is a situation where roadblocks get in your way, find that core team within your organization and work together to develop programs to overcome! Whether it is policies and procedures, SOGs, FOGs, etc. or it is leadership and training. Every emergency services organization has this core group, that is why many of us found this calling. Additionally, there are many resources right here on the Community FE page. Many of the programs already exist and we are all willing to PASS IT ON!

God bless you all...BE SAFE!
Scott

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Permalink Reply by Ben Fleagle on February 22, 2010 at 2:41pm

Scott:

Brother, you are right about that 10/80/10 fraction. What seems to boggle my mind is how much ego and fear of change come into it as well. In some departments, the doers are sometimes now part of the 10 percent that cause the 80 percent of the problem. I would encourage everyone to constantly ask themselves if they are being open and honest in their approach, willing to listen to criticism and disagreement without taking personal offense, EVEN when it is intended as such. You can disarm the aggressor and pull people to your cause if they sense a non-threatening approach that is not easily fractious. And of course, the reverse is then true as well. My own personality struggles with this a great deal. I get pretty fired up at what I view as incompetent, head in the sand or denial of the case as I think it plainly exists. That hasn't been a friendly road for me. I am trying to learn a little temperance and grace.

Scott Richardson said:

So there I was, browsing through leadership discussions and I came across one that caught my eye. The subject of this discussion was the lack of leadership of a volunteer department. first, I would like to say, my helmet is off to the firefighter that started the discussion. It seems this is a problem he was frustrated with for a long time. He encountered several roadblocks; many individuals weighed in with great advice, hats off to them as well.

The overwhelming feeling I took away from the discussion reaffirms to me, that communication, in many forms is needed to ensure a team moves forward. Talking thing over, openly and honestly is a good start. In this case, the firefighter tried, several discussions with the chief, and the B of D, to no avail. One discussion participant suggested the adage that: many times we hear the complaints and bad things. What we need to hear is issues AND potential solutions. Sound advice!

In this situation, the firefighter was encouraged to get with the key personnel. I call them the 10% of the 10/80/10. the first 10% of this fraction is the 10% that create 80% of the issues needing attention. The other 10% are the "go-getter" type in the department. the core group of doers that get things done.

If you find your team is a situation where roadblocks get in your way, find that core team within your organization and work together to develop programs to overcome! Whether it is policies and procedures, SOGs, FOGs, etc. or it is leadership and training. Every emergency services organization has this core group, that is why many of us found this calling. Additionally, there are many resources right here on the Community FE page. Many of the programs already exist and we are all willing to PASS IT ON!

God bless you all...BE SAFE!
Scott

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