Is it Time to Move On? Four Tools to Help You Let Go
Public Safety Insight:	“Sometimes we have to let go of the good things in life to make room for the great things.”

Recently as I was talking with a fire chief about succession management in the fire and rescue service, the conversation turned to his own situation. Although he had retired several years earlier, he chose to return to the profession he loves because he felt (and still feels) he has important contributions to make. Now, however, he is faced with an unwelcome reality: physical ailments are constraining his ability to continue leading his department well.

Can you relate to this chief’s dilemma? Perhaps the physiological stress of the job is more than you or someone you know are willing to tolerate, or your family has become a higher priority, or the job just isn’t fun anymore. Even though your passion for your profession remains, your heart just isn’t in your job. It’s time to move on.

Except you can’t bring yourself to do it.

Instead, you convince yourself that you are indispensable, or that no one can run the department as well as you, or the same way that you do. So you double down, determined to "make it work."

How’s that tactic working for you? How’s it working for your family, your department, and your community?

Most human beings find change scary, so resisting it comes naturally to us. Especially when you’ve devoted your entire life to your career, you can’t imagine doing anything else. Even when you know you’re no longer the best person for your current job, and in fact your agency and/or your community may be suffering as a result, you resist moving on.

If this situation describes you, or someone you know, here are four tools that can help you move on to your next chapter.

Tool #1: Adjust your mindset
About ten years ago, I debated whether or not to take early retirement from my tenured university position. When I realized that the differences between my values and those of my department chair were irreconcilable, I knew that I couldn’t stay there. However, I loved teaching and didn’t want to move to take a job at another university. A colleague offered some advice that resonated deeply with me: "Sometimes we have to let go of the good things in life to make room for the great things." Embracing that mindset enabled me to cut the ties to a secure academic career and venture into the unknown and unpredictable world of solo consulting. Since that time I’ve used that advice to help me upgrade from other "good" situations to "great" ones – even when I didn’t know at the time what they might be. I haven’t looked back yet.

Tool #2: Ask and answer truthfully this question: "Am I the only person in the world who can do this job?"
A truthful answer will help you put your situation in context. If the honest answer is "Yes," then perhaps you should stay a while longer. However, if the answer is "No," then it’s time to make space for the greatness that awaits you.

Tool #3: Consider the impact of your choice on the safety, health, and economic viability of your community
Ask yourself whether you are hanging on despite your misgivings for the sake of others or for your own sake. Is staying where you are preventing your agency from providing your community the best services possible?

Tool #4: Identify alternative ways you can advance your profession and improve the level of public safety
There is a multitude of ways that experienced fire and rescue professionals can have an impact on their profession and/or their communities. Mentoring, consulting, recruiting, teaching, and starting or joining a fire and rescue-related business or non-profit are a few of the options that come to mind. Your experience, talent, and wisdom ARE needed. Do yourself – and everyone else – a favor: find one or more alternatives that would honor your passion for public safety and work well for you.

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If you’d like some ideas about how to make the transition to your next chapter –  whether it’s retirement, another agency, another role, or another career – take a look at our special report Life After Public Safety: A Personal Succession Process for Your "Next Chapter." (After you click on the link, scroll down to FRI 2014, handout #1.) To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

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Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

©2016 Pat Lynch | Public Safety Insights

How to Stop Having the Same Unproductive Conversations Over and Over
Public Safety Insight:	There are four simple techniques you can use to change your conversations from unproductive to productive.

Have you ever had the same conversation over and over again because an undesirable behavior or outcome failed to change? Perhaps it’s with your firefighters who, despite their training and your constant reminders, continue to take shortcuts when it comes to their safety. Maybe the conversation is with your kids when they don’t do their chores (again). The good news: you can stop this vicious cycle today by making a few simple changes.

One of my FRI 2016 presentations last week was called “Stop the Insanity of Public Safety Conversations: Change the Context.” In it I offered four simple techniques to help change unproductive conversations to productive ones – i.e., those that change an undesirable status quo. Although I can’t guarantee that you always will get the outcome you want, I can say they will get you out of the unproductive rut in which you find yourself. Bonus: the techniques work both inside and outside the workplace.

Technique #1: Ask positive questions
The questions we ask are fateful: they point people in the direction in which they seek answers. If you ask negative questions, people find negative, unproductive responses. Similarly, positive questions will yield positive, productive answers. If you want people to come up with creative solutions, formulate positive questions.

Sample scenario: One of your crews handled the response to a structure fire very badly. Which set of questions is more likely to enable you to devise a productive solution to ensure it doesn’t happen again?

1. You’ve done this task successfully hundreds of times. Why’d you mess up this time? Whose fault was this? How did you let this happen? What went wrong?

2. You’ve done this task successfully hundreds of times. What does it look like when you execute it perfectly? What do you do right? Who and what enables your success?

Technique #2: Change the question
Unproductive conversations often are the result of asking the wrong questions. Instead of answering such questions, respond by posing your own question that will guide the conversation to a more productive outcome.

Sample scenario: Public safety has deteriorated to an unnecessarily low level. Which question is more likely to result in a thoughtful conversation about how to ensure your community is safe, healthy, and economically viable?

3. How much should we cut the public safety budget this year?

4. What level of public safety do you (decision-makers) choose to provide our community this year?

Technique #3: Change the context or focus
Just as asking the wrong questions leads to unproductive conversations, so too does providing a context that the other person doesn’t care about, or views as a low priority. Re-frame the discussion by changing the focus or putting it into a context that matters to the other person.

Sample scenario: Despite all their training and discussions of why safety is important, some of your firefighters still take shortcuts that jeopardize their safety. Which area of focus is more likely to result in a conversation that changes that behavior?

5. Safety: “Be safe out there!”

6. Courage: “Have the courage to be safe!”
 (Thanks to Deputy Chief Mike Froelich, Sylvania Fire-EMS, for this quote)

Technique #4: Change the level of the conversation
A common definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting different results. The authors of a book called Crucial Confrontations provide a technique to avoid engaging in repetitive discussions when the undesirable behavior persists: change the level of the conversation. Their contention is that there are three increasingly higher levels of conversation: content, commitment, and relationship. When a conversation doesn’t have the desired result, or enable movement toward that outcome, instead of sticking to the first (content) level, escalate it. (Though this suggestion is a variation on technique #3 above, I include it separately because it is a tremendously powerful tool.)

Sample scenario: A chief officer consistently misses scheduled meetings with company officers, causing a delay in conveying important information to their crews. Which example below is more likely to correct this undesirable behavior?

7. The fire chief’s conversation with the chief officer focuses on the pattern of missed meetings. The chief officer commits to changing the behavior (content). When the behavior doesn’t change, the fire chief repeats the previous conversation till the cows come home. The behavior still doesn’t change.  

8. The fire chief’s initial conversation with the chief officer is about the latter’s pattern of behavior. When the behavior doesn’t change, the second conversation focuses on the chief officer’s failure to deliver on his commitment. If the behavior still doesn’t change, the third conversation focuses on the harm to the relationship: the fire chief no longer can trust the chief officer because he repeatedly failed to keep his commitment.
Note: sometimes having the “content” level of conversation is enough to get the desired behavior; other times it’s necessary to have the “commitment” level of conversation. My experience is that it seldom is necessary to escalate the conversation to the “relationship” level.

Each of the four techniques described above can save you from the insanity of unproductive conversations. Choose the one that’s most relevant to the situation at hand. While it may not get you everything you want, at minimum it will result in a more productive use of your time and better results than you have experienced.

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If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of using positive language, take a look at our article The Transformative Power of Positive Language.To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

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Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

©2016 Pat Lynch | Public Safety Insights

How Healthy is Your Retention Process?
Public Safety Insight:	A healthy retention process enables an organization to retain good performers long-term and to release poor performers in a timely manner.

I define "healthy retention" as an organization’s ability to retain good performers long-term and to release poor performers as soon as the lack of fit becomes evident and cannot be remedied effectively. A healthy retention process begins before the preparation of job- and organization- based recruitment materials, and it continues throughout each person’s career.

While leaders often do a very good job of addressing some – or perhaps many – elements of the retention process, their misalignment with the goal of healthy retention is an obstacle to a successful process. In the images below, the big arrows represent the direction of a healthy retention process; the small arrows represent very good programs, practices, processes, and systems that comprise a healthy retention process. As you can see, even really good elements of a process cannot succeed when they are at odds with each other. A healthy retention process requires the alignment of all its elements.

There are three major controllable reasons for unhealthy retention processes. Leaders:

1. fail to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy retention.
2. take a very narrow view of what elements comprise a healthy retention process.
3. view and treat retention as a task instead of as a systematic, on-going process.

Below are suggested remedies for increasing the health of your retention process.

Problem #1: failure to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy retention
Some organizations equate low turnover with good management. Too often, however, it represents unhealthy retention – i.e., poor or mediocre performers remain on the job because managers don’t hold them accountable.

Remedy: clearly define what "healthy retention" means for your organization. Assess your current status. Identify the gaps between where you are and where you’d like to be. Take action to address those gaps. 

Problem #2: take a very narrow view of what elements comprise a healthy retention process
An old story tells how six blind men decided to learn what an elephant looks like by touching one. However, because each man felt a different part of the animal, they all came away with very different experiences. The man who touched its side concluded an elephant is like a wall; the one who felt the trunk likened it to a snake; the one who felt his knee argued it was like a tree; the one who patted the ear compared the elephant to a fan; the one who touched the tail believed an elephant is like a rope; and the man who felt its tusk was convinced an elephant is like a spear. Though all of them reported their experiences accurately, their failure to view the elephant as a whole prevented them from obtaining the result they wanted: an accurate picture of the animal. Similarly, omitting important elements of a healthy retention process will doom your process to failure – or at least to waste and ineffectiveness.

Remedy: take an expansive view of retention. Recognize that healthy retention begins with purposeful preparation, includes recruitment, selection, orientation, and probationary period, and continues with employees’ workplace experiences throughout their careers. Develop your healthy retention process accordingly.

Problem #3: view and treat retention as a task instead of as a systematic, on-going process
Just as the blind men’s focus on separate "pieces" of the elephant prevented them from seeing the entire creature, so treating retention as a task (or series of tasks) is dysfunctional because people cannot put them in the proper context. Misalignment among the elements hinders the organization’s ability to achieve its strategic goals because it doesn’t have the right people in the right jobs.

Remedy: identify all the elements of a healthy retention process. Connect the dots among them so they complement each other and accelerate progress toward achieving organizational goals instead of obstructing or duplicating one another.

Turnover is extremely expensive for organizations, requiring extensive direct and indirect costs as well as disrupting operations and reducing productivity. Would you rather cut corners in your retention process and pay the resultant high price, or would you prefer to invest in developing and retaining a high performance workforce that gets better over time as its positive reputation attracts the best candidates?

Below are suggested remedies for increasing the health of your retention process.

Problem #1: failure to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy retention
Some organizations equate low turnover with good management. Too often, however, it represents unhealthy retention – i.e., poor or mediocre performers remain on the job because managers don’t hold them accountable.

Remedy: clearly define what "healthy retention" means for your organization. Assess your current status. Identify the gaps between where you are and where you’d like to be. Take action to address those gaps. 

Problem #2: take a very narrow view of what elements comprise a healthy retention process
An old story tells how six blind men decided to learn what an elephant looks like by touching one. However, because each man felt a different part of the animal, they all came away with very different experiences. The man who touched its side concluded an elephant is like a wall; the one who felt the trunk likened it to a snake; the one who felt his knee argued it was like a tree; the one who patted the ear compared the elephant to a fan; the one who touched the tail believed an elephant is like a rope; and the man who felt its tusk was convinced an elephant is like a spear. Though all of them reported their experiences accurately, their failure to view the elephant as a whole prevented them from obtaining the result they wanted: an accurate picture of the animal. Similarly, omitting important elements of a healthy retention process will doom your process to failure – or at least to waste and ineffectiveness.

Remedy: take an expansive view of retention. Recognize that healthy retention begins with purposeful preparation, includes recruitment, selection, orientation, and probationary period, and continues with employees’ workplace experiences throughout their careers. Develop your healthy retention process accordingly.

Problem #3: view and treat retention as a task instead of as a systematic, on-going process
Just as the blind men’s focus on separate "pieces" of the elephant prevented them from seeing the entire creature, so treating retention as a task (or series of tasks) is dysfunctional because people cannot put them in the proper context. Misalignment among the elements hinders the organization’s ability to achieve its strategic goals because it doesn’t have the right people in the right jobs.

Remedy: identify all the elements of a healthy retention process. Connect the dots among them so they complement each other and accelerate progress toward achieving organizational goals instead of obstructing or duplicating one another.

Turnover is extremely expensive for organizations, requiring extensive direct and indirect costs as well as disrupting operations and reducing productivity. Would you rather cut corners in your retention process and pay the resultant high price, or would you prefer to invest in developing and retaining a high performance workforce that gets better over time as its positive reputation attracts the best candidates?

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Are you curious about the extent to which your organization’s retention process is healthy? Take a look at our Healthy Retention Self-assessment. To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

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Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

©2016 Pat Lynch | Public Safety Insights

How to Increase the Likelihood of a Good Person-Job-Agency Fit
Public Safety Insight:	To increase the likelihood of a good person-job-agency fit, provide candidates with a realistic job preview.

One often unrecognized fact about hiring and promotional processes is that a job interview is a two-way evaluation. That is, the candidates as well as the employer have the opportunity to assess the goodness-of-fit between themselves, the job, and the agency. In order for both sides to make informed decisions, however, the employer must provide all relevant information, both positive and negative. To do otherwise would be a disservice to all stakeholders, including the community.

If asked why they decline to mention the down sides to a given job, most employers say they don’t want to scare off good candidates.

I’ve got news for them: they’re going to lose new hires who discover their expectations will not be met. On the other hand, new hires who are poor fits are likely to stay, causing negative repercussions throughout the agency. Acknowledging the lack of fit earlier in the selection process rather than later will save you money and time, as well as avoid the costs associated with reduced productivity and employee morale, and a tarnished image.

Here are twelve actions you can take to provide candidates for hire and/or promotion with a realistic job preview:

Before the interview:

1. In the job posting and recruitment materials, be very clear about the percent of medical calls vs. fire calls.
2. Offer candidates ride-along opportunities.
3. Encourage candidates to visit stations and speak with floor personnel.
4. When feasible, offer a job shadow opportunity.
5. Formulate interview questions that assess the alignment between candidates’ personal values and the agency’s values.

During the interview:

6. Provide candidates with information about available career paths and realistic time frames for promotion.
7. Ask candidates about their job expectations. When there are unrealistic perceptions, re-set them by explaining why they are improbable or unlikely.
8. Ask recruit candidates why they want to work for your agency. If there are misconceptions, correct them on the spot.
9. Provide interviewers with a list of job and agency positives and negatives to communicate clearly to each candidate.

After the interview:

10. Review the interviewers’ notes carefully, noting any potential red flags that could indicate a candidate might not be a good fit – e.g., unacceptable behaviors, personal values that are at odds with those of the agency.
11. Call candidates’ references. If any red flags were raised during the interview, ask questions to elicit information about whether they are well-founded.
12. Speak with candidates before an offer is made to assess the accuracy of their understanding of the job and the agency. Correct any misperceptions.

While no one likes to lose otherwise good job candidates, hiring or promoting someone who is a poor fit for the job and/or the agency does a disservice to everyone. Who would you rather have on your crew: people who went into the job with realistic expectations or those who are disillusioned because their expectations were not met?

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To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

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Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

©2016 Pat Lynch | Public Safety Insights

Why Timing is Everything
Public Safety Insight:	First responders who lack the necessary expertise for achieving a key outcome serve their communities well and set a good example when they call an expert right away instead of trying to do it themselves.

Years ago I was hired by a large fire and rescue agency to salvage a critical project that was well outside its members’ areas of expertise. With a mess on its hands despite weeks of frantic efforts to handle the issue internally, and with a deadline fast approaching, the agency finally called an expert. Asked why it took so long to seek the help they knew they needed, a fire captain replied, “When faced with any problem, we always do something. Even when we don’t know what we’re doing, we still do something because we’re the fire department and people expect us to handle whatever comes up.”

When educating people about public safety, first responders tell them to call 911 in an emergency. “Even if you’re not sure whether the situation truly requires a fire, EMS, or law enforcement response,” you advise, “call us anyway. We’re the experts; let us decide.” Given those clear and simple instructions, why do some people insist on trying to handle an emergency themselves before calling 911?

As you know, such delays result in greater danger to lives and/or damage to property than would have been the case if people had called the experts first. They also make first responders’ jobs harder, and put them in greater danger than necessary. Despite your best educational efforts, too many people still try to beat the odds by attempting to take care of a situation that’s outside their area of expertise instead of calling for help.

A similar scenario plays out regularly in public safety agencies around the country. Professionals who are well trained in fire and rescue operations are faced with achieving outcomes or providing deliverables for which they’ve had no training or preparation. Perhaps they must develop a department strategy, or rally the community’s support for a bond issue to replace outdated apparatus and/or critical rescue equipment. Even when these professionals don’t know where to begin, they often opt to give it their best shot rather than call for help. Although these situations seldom involve immediate danger to life or property, delaying a request for assistance in achieving a key goal is likely to result in significant costs and/or the inability to obtain the resources needed to keep the community safe, healthy, and economically viable, such as when voters reject a ballot measure for a public safety bond issue.    

Next time you find yourself in a situation in which you’re required to do something that’s beyond your areas of expertise, ask yourself this question: “Is there anyone else in the world who knows how to do [the task at hand]?” In the rare case in which the answer is “No,” then take it on yourself. However, when the answer is “Yes,” call an internal or external expert. And when calculating your return on investment, don’t forget to include the peace of mind that comes from knowing that a key outcome will be achieved successfully and on time. Because you are the fire department, and people expect you to know what to do.

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To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

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Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

©2016 Pat Lynch | Public Safety Insights

	There’s More than One Way to Build Your Legacy
	Public Safety Insight:	Some legacies arise from heroic efforts on or off the fire ground. Most, however, are built on everyday actions, decisions, and choices that affect the community’s safety, health, and economic viability.
Dr. Pat Lynch

There are very few professions whose members can say truthfully that their daily actions, choices, and decisions have a significant impact on their communities. Fire and rescue professionals belong to that elite group.

Recently I spoke with a battalion chief about his role in saving the life of a man who went into cardiac arrest. He mused that it had been a long time since he had felt that proud of being able to make a concrete difference in someone’s life. While I was pleased to see him recognize the value he provided in this situation, I felt dismayed that he remains blind to the broader, positive impact of his on-going leadership on the community’s safety, health, and economic viability.

Last week, Chief Dennis Mueller retired from the Lake Havasu City Fire Department after 35-1/2 years of service, including ten years as fire chief. One of the qualities I admire most about Chief Mueller is his acquisition of the skills needed to upgrade significantly the level of public safety in his community. Another is his relentless pursuit of public safety excellence. A third is his taking the time to set the new fire chief up for success by creating a treasure trove of information that documents as much of his considerable institutional knowledge as possible.

Here are a few of the ways that Chief Mueller built a legacy of elevated safety, health, and economic viability for his community on a daily basis. He:

• Enabled informed decision-making by focusing on outcomes rather than on activities, and by providing viable options with descriptions of how each one would affect public safety.
• Built bench strength by developing a succession process for both sworn and civilian Employees.
      
• Increased the level of health care by establishing an effective community paramedicine Program.
• Partnered with a local hospital to develop and implement the program, and to provide additional resources such as a nurse practitioner.
• Replaced half his department’s aging apparatus in one year by demonstrating the need in a context that decision-makers could appreciate and support.
• Won approval for an on-going vehicle replacement program.
• Upgraded fire stations throughout the city.
• Increased the trust of politicians and administrators by reducing the likelihood of budgetary surprises.
• Created and implemented processes and tools that enable the department to manage its resources effectively, efficiently, and transparently.
• Formed solid partnerships with internal and external stakeholders by educating them and by working collaboratively to gain their buy-in.
• Shared credit for accomplishments widely.
• Led by example.
• Contributed to the profession by sharing his experiences and knowledge through articles, workshops, and conference presentations.

The above examples represent just a few concrete examples of how one fire chief built his legacy one day at a time. Though I know that Chief Mueller literally saved lives during his 35+ years on the job, his larger gift was in elevating significantly the level of safety, health, and economic viability of his entire community.
           
What will be your legacy? What are you doing today to build and expand it?

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To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

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Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

Date of publication: May 11, 2016

Recipe for Successful Strategy Implementation
Public Safety Insight:	You dramatically increase the likelihood of achieving the goals in your strategic plan if you develop an implementation plan vs. an action plan.

As my senior year in college wound down, it occurred to me that I ought to get serious about learning how to cook. Although I like a lot of different kinds of food, once a meal required more than putting something between two slices of bread or following the instructions on a box or can that went beyond "Add water and stir," my lack of interest in the culinary arts had left me dependent on the kindness of others. While I understood WHAT I wanted (good, inexpensive home cooked meals), I was clueless about HOW to achieve that outcome. Fortunately during a trip to the campus bookstore, a promising title caught my eye: The Campus Survival Cookbook. Opening the book to a random recipe, the first step told me immediately that the authors had me in mind when they wrote it: "Turn on the oven to 350 degrees. Close the door."

How often have you been given responsibility for achieving an outcome and not had a clue about how to pull it off? Trial and error is one way of learning. However, the costs of taking this approach often outweigh its benefits. Yet the "hit or miss" option often is the default method when it comes to creating a strategic plan. Here’s a common scenario: leaders write a strategic plan and tell their subordinates to make it happen. Some even may write an action plan to accompany the strategy. Yet somehow the goals never are achieved.

The saying, "Strategies fail in their implementation" is true. The world’s best written strategic plan is a failure if it winds up in a drawer or on a shelf (or merely published on the web site). It does nothing to increase the safety, health, or economic viability of your community. To dramatically increase the likelihood of achieving the goals in their strategic plans, I advise my clients to write an implementation plan vs. an action plan. Here are three major differences between these two approaches:

Action Plan	Implementation Plan
1. Like a "to do" list, it tells people what to do, but not how to do it or what the expected outcome is	1. Like a recipe, it tells people what to do, how to do it, and what the desired outcome is
2. Because it’s vague, the amount of guess work required wastes resources	2. Because it’s precise, guess work is minimized and resources are optimized
3. It focuses on activities that may or may not lead to the desired outcome	3. It focuses on the desired results

Although taking the "recipe" approach is key to a successful strategy implementation, it does present some challenges. Due to the required level of detail, for example, creating it is very labor intensive. In addition, few people have the necessary expertise to do a good job. Yet there are tools available to help mitigate these challenges and successfully implement your strategy. What’s it worth to you and your community to enable your agency to provide the best possible service effectively and efficiently? What’s the cost of NOT doing so?

If you’d like to increase the likelihood of success in implementing a strategic plan or any other type of strategic initiative, here are three ways you can learn more:

1. Attend our panel discussion "Succession or Lack Thereof: The Achilles Heel of Public Safety" at FRI 2016 (Friday 8/19 at 3:30 p.m.). My fellow panelists are Chiefs Kurt Latipow, Steve Prziborowski, and Dena Foose.
2. Keep an eye on the IAFC’s new Company Officers Section. Its leaders just approved a strategic plan, and its members are working to complete the accompanying implementation plan. I’m sure they would be glad to share it.
3. Go to my web site and request an example of what a template for implementing part of a mentor program looks like. (Scroll down to FRI 2014 conference, handout #2.)

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To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

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Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

©2016 Pat Lynch | Public Safety Insights

3 “Secrets” to Successful Community Outreach
Public Safety Insight:	You already know the “secrets” to successful community outreach efforts. You just have to recognize and apply them in a different context.

If asked, how would the employees in your agency say they view community outreach? Would they describe it as a burden that takes time away from their real jobs? Or would they characterize it as essential to ensuring a safe, healthy, and economically viable community?

The success of your agency’s community outreach efforts depends in large part on the answer to the first question. The fact is, no fire and rescue agency can be fully successful without its community’s support. The sheer depth and breadth of your mission today, coupled with the ever-increasing demands of your stakeholders in a dynamic environment, means that you cannot do everything yourselves. Community outreach necessarily has become an integral element of every fire and rescue professional’s job. You already have the knowledge and skills to be successful in creating and maintaining a viable public safety partnership with your community; it’s just a matter of applying them in non-field contexts. Here are three “secrets” to achieving that outcome:

1. Identify and communicate clearly the “why” of successful community outreach
You don’t engage in community outreach because it’s the “right” thing to do; you do it because you have taken an oath to protect the lives, property, and environment of the people you serve, and it would be irresponsible not to use all available resources to help you live up to that promise.

Let’s say your “big picture” of public safety is creating a safe, healthy, economically viable community. Your agency cannot do this alone. To be fully successful, you must   educate your stakeholders about THEIR roles and responsibilities in this big picture. By keeping the “why” of community outreach front and center, you are able to inspire all stakeholders because they are able to “connect the dots” between the agency’s ability to achieve its mission and the need to create partners with a vested interest in their own safety, health, and economic viability.   

2. Conduct a public safety size-up
Just as preparation and training are critical to positive outcomes in the field, so are theyessential to a successful community outreach process. The latter is analogous to the size-up you conduct on scene: taking action comes AFTER you make a plan that is based on the priorities established as a result of assessing the facts you’ve gathered about the situation and available resources. Evaluating the consequences and changing tactics/strategy as necessary are just as applicable to your community outreach process as they are to your on-scene size-up process. What must YOU do to ensure your members are fully successful in their efforts to create and sustain viable partnerships within the community?

3. Maintain situational awareness
Maintaining situational awareness isn’t just critical to the positive resolution of the emergencies you face in the field. It helps determine whether your efforts to reach out to your stakeholders are a success or a failure. We live in a world of constant change that plays out in the public safety arena. Thus creating and maintaining viable partnerships in the community for the purpose of enhancing the level of public safety is an on-going process of education and relationship building in which ALL members must contribute.

The skills needed to create a viable public safety partnership with your community already are familiar to you: you learned them in your training academy and you practice them in the field every day. They keep you safe. By transferring them to the context of community outreach, you also enhance the level of public safety.

Imagine going to work each shift and thinking, “My staff/crew and I get to improve the safety, health, and economic viability of my community today by partnering with our stakeholders.” Now imagine the alternative: “My staff has to conduct two public education sessions today and I have to attend the Chamber of Commerce luncheon.” What mindset do you choose for yourself and for your agency?

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To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

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Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

©2016 Pat Lynch | Public Safety Insights

How to Gain Buy-in from Resistant Stakeholders
Public Safety Insight:	Following a proven process that takes a positive approach enables you to win over resistant stakeholders no matter the issue at hand.

Human beings seem hard-wired to resist change, even when we believe the promised outcome will be positive. In the late 1980s, for example, when CEO Fred Smith declared that FedEx would become the first service company to win the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige Excellence Award, I didn’t hear of a single employee who was anything but enthusiastic about this goal. That is, until we found out that it required US to change how we worked. Suddenly the status quo looked a lot more attractive to us.

Like other organizations, public safety agencies are subject to stakeholders’ resistance to change. However, Fire Chief Kingman Schuldt has developed a process that has enabled the Greater Naples Fire and Rescue District to overcome successfully the objections by a variety of stakeholders to a number of initiatives. As a result, the agency has been successful in consolidating multiple independent fire districts as well as developing and implementing an organizational strategy, an employee performance system, and a customer satisfaction survey program. Here are the steps in that process:

1. Recognize that winning buy-in is a process, not a task or activity.
2. Take a positive approach.
3. Have a plan to address negativity.
4. Identify all relevant stakeholders.
5. Tell stakeholders up front what’s in it for THEM to support the change.
6. Create a procedurally fair process that enables widespread participation.
7. Identify, research, and vet potential solutions.
8. Delegate as much responsibility as possible to relevant internal and external stakeholders.
9. Communicate, communicate, communicate – directly, openly, frequently, and honestly.
10. Provide positive constructive feedback.           
11. Co-create a big picture of the desired outcome and use it as a touchstone.
12. Address the political aspects of the issue.
13. Invest in outside experts when necessary.

By following the above process, over time, your agency can establish a culture that takes a positive approach to all issues, not just those at the strategic level. Such a culture can result in increased employee morale, greater public trust, increased bonding as an organization, and greater community and partner support. Why not make that investment in your community’s public safety?

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If you’d like details about the above process and some examples of how it works, take a look at my article Using a Positive Approach to Gain Buy-in from Resistant Stakeholders. To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

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Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

©2016 Pat Lynch | Public Safety Insights

How to Create Meaningful Measures
Public Safety Insight:	Whether used in a strategy, an annual report, or a promotional process, meaningful measures make your life easier.

By “meaningful measures” I mean indicators that demonstrate performance and/or outcomes clearly to the target audience. For example, in a strategy, measures reveal to stakeholders the progress toward, and achievement of, organizational goals. In an annual report, they demonstrate the value you provide your community. In a promotional process, metrics enable you to differentiate between qualified and unqualified candidates.

Unfortunately, “metrics” or “measure” is a word that can intimidate even the most accomplished leaders. Although measures are an indispensable leadership tool, the reality is that developing meaningful indicators can be challenging. Here are nine suggestions to help make that process easier for you.

1. Focus on measuring RESULTS that are meaningful to your target audience (vs. activities).
2. To determine what results your stakeholders find meaningful, ask and answer two questions from your audience’s perspectives. (Note: when you have more than one type of stakeholder, be sure to address each one’s interests.)
   1. So what?
   2. What’s in it for ME?
3. Include measures of progress as well as of achievement, especially for long-term goals.
4. To identify relevant measures, ask yourself these questions: "How will stakeholders know when we have achieved this goal or objective? How will they know when we have made progress toward achieving it?"
5. Use measures that are as objective as possible, such as quantitative data or comparisons to existing performance standards.
6. Use qualitative measures that assess more subjective outcomes that stakeholders value. For example, use relevant examples of behaviors or outcomes (e.g., "…as demonstrated by…") to describe a change.
7. Be very, very specific. For example:
   1. Use action verbs that specify WHAT is to be done or what will change. ("Know" and "understand" are not action verbs.)
   2. Identify a specific person WHO is responsible for achievement of the goal or objective, and has the authority to do it. Though he/she may delegate it to someone else, he/she retains ultimate accountability.
   3. Specify WHEN the outcome or progress is expected (e.g., "by 3/15/16" vs. "in March 2016"), or time frame (e.g., "Within 90 calendar days of the Board’s approval of resources").
8. Include one action verb per measure. For example, "Develop and implement a supervisory skills class" requires two objectives and two measures because it contains two actions.
9. Put the measures in contexts that the audience can understand and appreciate. For example, percentages, ratios, and multi-period or "before and after" comparisons allow people to interpret and evaluate results effectively.

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If you’d like more information about how to create meaningful measures, take a look at my article Solutions to the 5 Most Common Measurement Mistakes. For information about how to write an annual report that gets people’s attention instead of putting them to sleep, listen to my February 2015 IAFC webinar How to Write a Compelling Annual Report.  To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.PublicSafetyInsights.net.

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Public Safety Insights is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help first responders maximize their performance. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

©2016 Pat Lynch | Public Safety Insights