Mentoring Discussions - Fire Engineering Training Community2024-03-29T14:24:53Zhttps://community.fireengineering.com/group/mentoring/forum?feed=yes&xn_auth=noPRIDE & DESIREtag:community.fireengineering.com,2009-10-11:1219672:Topic:1609012009-10-11T18:36:30.108ZDan Ricehttps://community.fireengineering.com/profile/DanRice
I am wanting to know where the desire has gone to do this job? When I was young growing up around the fire service everyone seemed to have so much pride and drive that nothing could get in the way of them doing what they loved. Now I see new members come in and not put hardly any focus or effort into learning about the fire service. As a Captain I teach members everything I can and make myself available for any questions they need answered, but it seems like my phone is ringing less and less as…
I am wanting to know where the desire has gone to do this job? When I was young growing up around the fire service everyone seemed to have so much pride and drive that nothing could get in the way of them doing what they loved. Now I see new members come in and not put hardly any focus or effort into learning about the fire service. As a Captain I teach members everything I can and make myself available for any questions they need answered, but it seems like my phone is ringing less and less as time goes on. I know this is a nation wide issue and there really hasn’t been a quick fix found yet. What I am wanting to know is if YOU still love this job the way you did when you started and why? Is it just the way the fire service is now? And what on earth can be done to instill pride, and desire for the job in these new members?<br />
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I’ll answer my first question and see what you think.<br />
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<u><b>What I am wanting to know is if YOU still love this job the way you did when you started and why?</b></u><br />
I love this job with all my heart and never have strayed from that feeling. The brotherhood (true brotherhood) is something that only Firefighters are able to understand and experience. I still get excited when the tones and I get that feeling in my bones that its time to go do your job. When I walk into my station I am overwhelmed with a feeling of pride that this house is something I’ve helped build into a well oiled machine and watched grow sense I was a little boy. I want to pass this job on to my son so he can understand the true meaning of loving your job. I love this job and I will till the day I die. Hey Chiefs...Ever Wonder What The Troops Think About? Pride and Ownership!tag:community.fireengineering.com,2009-04-15:1219672:Topic:1358032009-04-15T19:49:41.139ZScott Thompsonhttps://community.fireengineering.com/profile/JScottThompson
This piece was sent to me by Jason Bonds who is a Driver Engineer on our job. What do you think?<br />
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Small Town, Small Pay/Big Heart, Big Job<br />
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Does the size of a town/organization dictate how an employee accepts pride and ownership of their job? This question has rattled my brain and many others that have worked in a small town/organization. After talking with many Firefighters, Drivers, Lieutenants, Captains and Chiefs I have come to my conclusion that the size of the town or organization does…
This piece was sent to me by Jason Bonds who is a Driver Engineer on our job. What do you think?<br />
<br />
Small Town, Small Pay/Big Heart, Big Job<br />
<br />
Does the size of a town/organization dictate how an employee accepts pride and ownership of their job? This question has rattled my brain and many others that have worked in a small town/organization. After talking with many Firefighters, Drivers, Lieutenants, Captains and Chiefs I have come to my conclusion that the size of the town or organization does not dictate the employees pride and ownership in their organization. Pride comes from how a person feels he/she is being received, or perceived in some cases, by his/her organization. So, in many cases pride comes from the top down, and in return the pride will work its way back as a circle. It’s a vicious circle but there has to be a starting point or a guide to start the line in drawing this so called circle. I call it the “circle of pride”. If a firefighter has pride in his/her self, it will mirror in their work habits, thus taking care of what we are all here for, to serve the citizens and the community as best as we can. If the community has pride in its firefighters, the chief takes pride in this, because he has done his job to relay his vision, morals, and characteristics of taking pride in yourself and your job. The “circle of pride” starts with the chief and ends with the chief and the chain must stay intact from top to bottom. If you have a leader who is not committed to what he believes and does not follow through with what he preaches or instills in his followers, he will get nowhere and the circle breaks.<br />
You don’t necessarily have to lead your crew by the hand to get them to where they’re going; because it never fails, you will almost always have a member who wants want to pull out of the circle and do something different. Remember, it is like you are raising a family, you point your children in the right direction and teach them the tools to succeed and more pride will have been instilled in your children’s self accomplishment then you will ever know, and even more, giving you the parent that same pride. What a reward!! The circle was made, a task was accomplished, and pride is at its highest point.<br />
I asked a question to all of the people I spoke of earlier, “What do you want to leave behind as your legacy?” I have found that there were two different types of people answering these questions. There were your leaders and your followers, and much to my amusement, the leaders answers were very much alike as were the follower’s answers. The leader’s answers led to wanting to leave a personal legacy to where the follower’s answers wanted to leave a departmental legacy. I think both of them missed the big picture! A legacy should not be on how one was perceived and not how the department was perceived, but by the mark you left on the people behind you and how they are as an employee or person because of what you instilled on them. Remember what I said earlier on raising a child, the circle will make its way back to the starting point, where the legacy started with you. How much more pride could you ask for than that?<br />
So, let’s move on to ownership. How do you convince a person that they have ownership in the company they work for? Do you buy them a big fancy truck or build them a big fancy station? What makes a firefighter feel like he has ownership of his department or even his city? When a person buys a home, what makes him proud of it? It’s not what he paid for it or what’s in it, it’s the name he signed on the paper that gave him the ownership of the house. It’s what he does to the house afterwards; mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, fixing it up, making it his own……..the little things. When you have an employee, you have to remember they are not just a number, they have a name. But you have to remember calling an employee by his name does not necessarily make him feel like he belongs to the organization. Knowing about his family, hobbies, strengths, and weaknesses give him the feeling of his “home” and being a part of something and having that ownership………the little things. The longer he owns his house he is even prouder to have ownership of it. There is history in his house and “the little things” in the house are what makes him remember why he bought it and the memories that were shared there. The same goes for an organization, not just a fire house, when trying to make history for its employees and create a sense of pride to have ownership within the organization. The employees have to be remembered, not only while they are there, but when they are retired as well. As I stated earlier about leaving a legacy to the people behind you, you have to give the employees the history to where they learned the legacy they followed. They need to have that want to be on that retirement wall and remembered by their followers for the legacy they left behind. A retirement wall…., you mean there is more to a retiree than just a watch, a gold plated axe, or a gift certificate. Deep down there is, they want to be remembered, they want to see that they left the organization with ownership in hand and they made their mark, their legacy………the little things. Whether its station logo shirts or pictures on a wall, the imagination can go a long way, each individual is different on how they want to be remembered. It is the duty of the manager, owner, or supervisor to recognize the employee’s niche and run with it. Remember your legacy needs to be on how the employee learned from you and grew from it.<br />
I cannot honestly point out one single thing that will help an organization gain pride and ownership, but what I can say is that a leader leads by example and creates an unknowing legacy to his personnel. It is up to the organization to recognize the niche that is encompassing the employees to make them tick, to give them steam, to keep the wheels turning. The more I study on this, the more I realize it is a never ending battle to keep the coal in the box to make the engine turn from the top down and back up. Whether it is a small city fire department with small pay or a big city department that pays with diamonds, we all do the same job. We all have big hearts to do what we do and in all the citizens eyes we have big jobs. I could go on forever on my opinion on how I could change the world, but one thing keeps coming back to rack my brain…..the little things are what’s most important. Whether it is in a company or a relationship, these are the things we tend not to think about but must remember to keep the engine running. I remember my wife one Christmas saying how happy she was, not for the car that I bought her, but for a small Christmas ornament that had a picture of her and I together in it. History????? Or a little thing????? How about a little of both! The Gift of Your Legacytag:community.fireengineering.com,2008-06-20:1219672:Topic:626002008-06-20T13:45:41.809ZScott Thompsonhttps://community.fireengineering.com/profile/JScottThompson
As leaders, instructors, mentors, etc, hopefully we are presenting ourselves as positive role models and passing on our knowledge to future generations. The legacy that we leave behind will tell the real truth as to our contribution to the fire service and those we have impacted.<br />
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<u><b>The Gift of Your Legacy</b></u><br />
Don’t let your past consume your future<br />
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Get out of your comfort zone<br />
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Learn every day<br />
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Set goals<br />
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Stay positive<br />
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Monday Morning Mentoring by David Cottrell
As leaders, instructors, mentors, etc, hopefully we are presenting ourselves as positive role models and passing on our knowledge to future generations. The legacy that we leave behind will tell the real truth as to our contribution to the fire service and those we have impacted.<br />
<br />
<u><b>The Gift of Your Legacy</b></u><br />
Don’t let your past consume your future<br />
<br />
Get out of your comfort zone<br />
<br />
Learn every day<br />
<br />
Set goals<br />
<br />
Stay positive<br />
<br />
Monday Morning Mentoring by David Cottrell Brotherhoodtag:community.fireengineering.com,2008-04-25:1219672:Topic:367322008-04-25T05:53:15.429ZTodd McKeehttps://community.fireengineering.com/profile/Todd
Just a few thoughts that I wrote down a few moths ago, I am sorry it is so long but please think about this.<br />
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”Where’s The Brotherhood”<br />
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Most of us have seen the television commercial with the elderly lady who says, “Where’s the beef?” Well, I am not that woman, but I am asking, “Where’s the Brotherhood?”<br />
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You hear a lot about the Brotherhood in the fire service, including about and how strong it is. Most of us believe in it, even though some only pay lip service to the idea.<br />
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Have you ever…
Just a few thoughts that I wrote down a few moths ago, I am sorry it is so long but please think about this.<br />
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”Where’s The Brotherhood”<br />
<br />
Most of us have seen the television commercial with the elderly lady who says, “Where’s the beef?” Well, I am not that woman, but I am asking, “Where’s the Brotherhood?”<br />
<br />
You hear a lot about the Brotherhood in the fire service, including about and how strong it is. Most of us believe in it, even though some only pay lip service to the idea.<br />
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Have you ever been in a position in which you needed the support of the Brotherhood but been left wondering where it is? Where does it go? In your own fire district, have you experienced the camaraderie that can stem from it?<br />
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It seems that firefighters in larger districts practice what they preach when it comes to the Brotherhood. They understand what it is and why it is so important to us. In my experience, however, this often is not the case in some smaller departments.<br />
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I have worked at several smaller departments in Ohio, and I have seen many of us speak of the Brotherhood but not act in ways that support it—and in turn each other.<br />
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Why is it so hard to act upon? Why can’t we all just believe in the Brotherhood and do what it takes to make our common bond stronger?<br />
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The Brotherhood is something you feel on the inside, not something can be taught in a classroom. It doesn’t go away when we leave the station at the end of a shift.<br />
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We depend on each other every duty day, but what about when we are off work? Is the brotherhood still there? Yes, it should be! Is it really always there? No.<br />
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The fire service programs are producing recruits every day who are younger and younger, it seems. These additions to our family often show up for their first day of work and treat firefighters with 30 years’ experience like they are obsolete pieces of equipment.<br />
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Why is this, and what can we do about it? Times have changed in smaller districts especially, and these new recruits know it.<br />
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Today, if a senior member tries to discipline a younger colleague, he is often called into his supervisor’s office and reprimanded. The superior officer tells the senior member to back off because he or she is afraid the new firefighter will file a lawsuit of some sort against the department.<br />
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We live in a lawsuit-happy society, and articles in firefighter magazines bear this out.<br />
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What can we do about this dynamic? In the fire service, we have gotten away from mentoring the younger generations. As soon as a new firefighter arrives for duty, he or she often gets teased, even harassed. They really are not welcomed; therefore they feel the need to respond inappropriately.<br />
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If those of us who have been around for a while would take charge and mentor the younger firefighter and show him or her how things are done in the fire service, it would change the younger person’s attitude.<br />
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I believe that it would help create a bond—let them in the family on Day 1—and show them what Brotherhood is really all about.<br />
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Instead of teasing a new firefighter about, teach him or her. Help show them the way. Who knows, the new person might end up saving your life on the job or help you in a time of great personal crisis. Lead them by example, and maybe the new member of your department will become the personification of what the Brotherhood means to you.<br />
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After all, we are all family, no matter whether we have one day or 20 years on the job. Let’s do our part to keep the great tradition of the Brotherhood alive.<br />
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Remember be safe and train, as training will save lives!<br />
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Written by: Todd C. McKee<br />
College Township Fire Gambier Ohio Who are your Mentorstag:community.fireengineering.com,2008-04-20:1219672:Topic:339442008-04-20T01:32:23.479ZAnthony Avillohttps://community.fireengineering.com/profile/AnthonyAvillo
Who helped make you the person you are today? What lessons did they teach you? What can you share with others that you would say as a mentor?
Who helped make you the person you are today? What lessons did they teach you? What can you share with others that you would say as a mentor? What Would You Expecttag:community.fireengineering.com,2008-04-02:1219672:Topic:236772008-04-02T01:27:41.227ZScott Thompsonhttps://community.fireengineering.com/profile/JScottThompson
What would you expect from a Mentor, formal or informal?<br />
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How could a Mentor help you progress to the next level of your professional development?
What would you expect from a Mentor, formal or informal?<br />
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How could a Mentor help you progress to the next level of your professional development? Making Training Happentag:community.fireengineering.com,2008-04-02:1219672:Topic:236572008-04-02T01:16:27.807ZScott Thompsonhttps://community.fireengineering.com/profile/JScottThompson
How do you create / take advantage of a training opportunity?
How do you create / take advantage of a training opportunity? What are we doing to mentor our fire officers?tag:community.fireengineering.com,2008-03-18:1219672:Topic:133432008-03-18T16:53:47.621ZScott Thompsonhttps://community.fireengineering.com/profile/JScottThompson
What are you doing to mentor your fire officers?<br />
Is your process formal or informal?<br />
How long does it last?<br />
How is the process evaluated?<br />
Describe the process.<br />
Do you have plans to make changes or adjustments?
What are you doing to mentor your fire officers?<br />
Is your process formal or informal?<br />
How long does it last?<br />
How is the process evaluated?<br />
Describe the process.<br />
Do you have plans to make changes or adjustments? What are we doing to mentor our new firefighters?tag:community.fireengineering.com,2008-03-18:1219672:Topic:133402008-03-18T16:49:37.151ZScott Thompsonhttps://community.fireengineering.com/profile/JScottThompson
What are you doing to mentor your new firefighters?<br />
Is your process formal or informal?<br />
How long does it last?<br />
How is the process evaluated?<br />
Describe the process.<br />
Do you have plans to make changes or adjustments?
What are you doing to mentor your new firefighters?<br />
Is your process formal or informal?<br />
How long does it last?<br />
How is the process evaluated?<br />
Describe the process.<br />
Do you have plans to make changes or adjustments? The Mentor Booktag:community.fireengineering.com,2008-03-06:1219672:Topic:29192008-03-06T18:05:19.984ZScott Thompsonhttps://community.fireengineering.com/profile/JScottThompson
Please feel free to use it if you think it would add to your process.
Please feel free to use it if you think it would add to your process.