HOW TO BE A GOOD COMPANY OFFICER

摘要

Fire Departments Have Not Always Done The best job of preparing the leaders of tomorrow for leadership roles in their departments. Sure, some of the bigger departments have Officer Candidate Schools that prepare firefighters to succeed when they make the leap to company officer, but far too many departments do not require officer training before the promotion. Do you want to be a better officer? Do you want to be better prepared when you get that position? Make sure you have a good grasp of the core competencies, and develop a leadership sense. Leadership sense is not rocket science. It is simply looking at things from different views―what your actions will look like from your boss's view and from the view of the people you lead. The old method of officer development is simply ineffective. I know many fire officers who learned how to be an officer solely by observing the behaviors of officers in their departments: They model the good behaviors and are sure not to repeat the bad behaviors. There is some good in this method―it is highly desirable not to repeat the mistakes of those who have gone before―but the failure in the system comes when we repeat actions that have not been identified as being undesirable. Think of it: Many good training officers modeled the behavior of training officers they admired. Unfortunately, part of that was the continued abuse of trainees in live-fire conditions. A training fire was not deemed "good" unless helmets were burned, shields were melted, and the trainees truly learned what "too hot" was. Fortunately, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1403, Live Fire Training Evolutions, changed that, albeit too late for some who decided that there was probably a better way to spend time or make a living or, worse yet, were otherwise injured under the guise of training.