My blog posts this month revolve around a conversation with two out-of-state fire department captains who told me they have no interest in pursuing a promotion to battalion chief (BC). Their reasons involved three issues related to current BC’s. Not surprisingly, I have heard these reasons more than one time as I have traveled across the country. They are:
- Battalion chiefs who fail to listen to subordinates.
- Battalion chiefs who take an authoritarian approach to leadership using open or veiled threats against subordinates.
- Battalion chiefs who are technically and tactically incompetent.
Last week I covered the first problem, a failure to listen. This week I am addressing the authoritarian approach using open or veiled threats against subordinates.
If you are in the fire service, when was the last time you heard, “Because I am the battalion chief! That is why!” (We can also insert other ranks and titles as well). If you are a fire department officer, have you ever made that proclamation? If so, when was the last time you boldly and arrogantly ensured that everyone in the immediate area was aware of your rank? If you are that type of person, do you really believe that approach is effective?
Prior to having battalion chiefs, my department had captains as shift commanders. During the late 1990’s, I worked for a captain who repeatedly said, “Because I am the captain…you know I am the captain…I said so because I am the captain.” These statements are the hallmark of an insecure manager who is in over their head.
Did I respect this captain’s management practices (notice I did not use the word leadership)? Absolutely not! He exhibited one of the most prevalent clues to a lack of confidence and a lack of command presence: constantly telling everyone what his rank was.
Yes, I obeyed this individual, but it was not out of respect or admiration. I obeyed and followed only as a matter of compliance because of the authority bestowed in his rank. Fortunately for me, this man moved on to another position in the department, but that is an entirely different story.
The million-dollar question is, are you like the person in this example? If so, what drives you to be like that? What is it about your character that makes you throw around your rank?
Rank-heavy fire officers have little to no respect from the troops. The crews grudgingly follow those type of battalion chiefs out of sheer compliance, and they cannot wait to move to another battalion, transfer to another shift, or they hope the tyrannical BC accepts a job in another fire department to become someone else’s pain in the rear end.
The secure BC has strong character, is comfortable in their skin, and has a command presence. All three of these qualities are absent in the BC who lack confidence. The troops respect the secure BC, and they want to follow that battalion chief.
Next week, we will look at the third issue with poor battalion chiefs, technical and tactical incompetence.
