In last week’s blog, I discussed a conversation that I had with two captains from the same fire department, but the conversations were two years apart. I asked both if they were interested in becoming a battalion chief and both emphatically said no. What is the underlying reason for this?
For starters, a January 2022 online article from Fast Company, Inc. titled Why no one on your team wants to be a manager anymore – and how to change that1, cited a survey from CareerBuilder “of over 3,600 workers” claiming that “most people don’t want to be managers.” The reason given in the article is that managers have “a very poor reputation.”
Why is that? I contend that it starts with interchanging the word manager with leader. There is a distinct difference between the two. A manager is someone who manages resources, systems, and processes. Whereas a leader is someone who exerts positive influence on people and does not engage in manipulation. Just because someone is good at managing resources does not automatically make them a good leader.
A manager’s poor reputation relates to the three reasons I listed in Part 1 regarding current battalion chiefs:
- They fail to listen to subordinates.
- They take an authoritarian approach to leadership using open or veiled threats against subordinates.
- They are technically and tactically incompetent.
What are some of the other underlying reasons I believe for captains not being interested in promoting to the battalion chief level?
- Poor leadership at the top and a lack of accountability amongst the chief officers at all levels.
- Fire officer training that devotes more time to the tactical aspects of the position and very little time to leadership and character development thereby contributing to the first three reasons listed above related to managers. This is assuming that there is an actual fire officer training program in place.
- Added responsibilities as a battalion chief placing extra stress on the individual and their families while not being monetarily compensated for those other duties.
Returning to my conversation with the first captain in December 2022, I asked him, “What happens when the good captains do not want to become battalion chiefs because of what they see in the bad ones?” My newfound friend said, “We continue to promote bad battalion chiefs.” Bingo!
Come back next week as week delve into the three main complaints I have heard about fire department battalion chiefs.
1Why no one on your team wants to be a manager anymore—and how to change that (fastcompany.com)
