A mix of formal and informal supervisory actions is needed when preparing firefighters to become fire officers. A powerful process is a serial accountability process.

Going beyond the annual evaluation

The fire officer that wants to help subordinates prepare for a company officer position can provide 4 items:

• Goals
• Opportunities
• Optimism
• Serial Accountability

Goals come from the annual personnel review process, where the fire officer and firefighter identify three work-related goals to be accomplished during the next evaluation period. A more effective process is called participative decision making (PDM).

A goal example: “Complete ‘Building Construction’ class at the community college fire science program.”

Opportunities are assignments or jobs that improve the firefighter’s familiarity with the fire officer’s knowledge, skills or abilities. Filling-in as the company officer, being delegated to prepare the routine fire company paperwork or conducting an in-station drill are three examples of opportunities. The Star Trek video provides an example with Cadet Ulhura on the communications console.

Optimism describes a mind-set. A recent study published in Social Cognition. The study determined that optimists had a “promotion mindset” – they focused on how they could advance and grow. Pessimists, meanwhile, were more concerned with security, safety, and whatever could possibly go wrong.

Serial Accountability is the process of frequent and accurate feedback on progress to the final goal. If completing a “Building Construction” course was an objective during this pay period, do not wait until the 10th month in a 12 month year to see the progress stalled due to flooding. Instead, periodically check-in with the firefighter to document the progress made and provide encouragement, nudges or remove any barriers to meeting this goal.

These checkings could be informal one-on-ones every month to discuss goals and opportunities. Perhaps a more formal quarterly check-up on the goals identified at the start of this year’s evaluation period. Some organizations have a formal six-month assessment between annual reports. Either way, the fire officer is tracking the progress to the goal, identifying or resolving barriers to goal completion and providing feedback to the firefighter.

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Latham, G.P,; Borgogni. B. & Petitta, L. (2008) Goal Setting and Performance Management in the Public Sector, International Public Management Journal, (11)4, 385-403, DOI: 10.1080/10967490802491087

Medlin, B. & Green, K. (2009), “Enhancing performance through goal setting, engagement, and optimism”, Industrial Management & Data Systems, (109)7, pp. 943-956. https://doi.org/10.1108/02635570910982292

Latham, G.P. & Steele, T. P. (1982) “The Motivational Efforts of Participation Versus Goal Setting on Performance.” Technical Report. Arlington, VA; Organizational Effectiveness Research Programs, Office of Naval Research.   https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a129368.pdf 

Wynn, G. (2018 March 3) Want To Be Successful? You Must Understand This 1 Thing About Yourself.  https://www.motivational-speaker-success.com/understanding-yourself/

Featured Image: (2015) Peter Matthews/Firehouse.  From Kauser, F. (2015 March 17) 14 Competencies for Your Climb on the Fire Service Career Ladder.  Firehouse.com   https://www.firehouse.com/careers-education/article/12053897/competence-for-fire-service-fire-officer-career-goals