Rules Without Relationships Equal Rebellion
Rules. They serve an important purpose and without rules, we would have complete anarchy, both in the fire service and throughout the world. But what are rules built on?
Rules are built on two things, fear and trust. Fear for their job is a motivating factor to follow rules. Similar to why citizens follow rules in society, is for the fear of jail and prison or fines. Fear will ensure compliance with rules and laws but we should never lead based on fear because that is not leadership, it’s dictatorship.
When we look at the fire service hierarchy, when trust is developed throughout the organization, a relationship is built between the line staff and administration.There is mutual respect and sincere understanding of purpose-driven decisions. This allows dialogue and discussion on solutions and a collaborative approach to rules and policies. When providing firefighter with input on rules and policies, there will be higher chance of buy-in and empowerment to abide by those rules and make compliance a higher likelihood. The officers will be able to enforce the policy and not get push back from the line and therefore correcting a problem for the rule in the first place.
When trust and the relationship is broken between the line staff and administation, implementation of rules is difficult and often times met with resistance. Because no empowerment or collaborative discussions were had, this could reduce the chance of compliance because of lack of understanding, lack of correct solution to the issue, or resistance because of disagreement.
It’s important for officers to have deep and meaningful discussion with the crews, not superficial conversations. When trust and relationships are developed, it allows firefighters to express their concerns and to share solutions to issues the organization is experiencing. When these relationships are lacking or trust is not built, superficial conversations will be the product of the failed leadership. This ultimately hurts the organization and its culture. When unfavorable policies are implemented, the morale and environment could begin to deteriorate. Poor morale is the first indicator of a bad climate, which leads to bad culture.
As administration, it will be inevitable that a unfavorable policy will have to be implemented, but this does not negate the ability as the officer to address concern, incorporate line staff into the discussion and allow for constructive criticism to design the policy to correct the issue or address the concern. It is important to be able to address concerns with crews face to face and answer their questions, providing your reasoning why the policy is necessary in its current format. This is not the time to send it out in an email and try to justify there. GET OUT IN FRONT OF YOUR PEOPLE.
When firefighters don’t understand the reasoning or intent of rules and lack trust in the leadership, they will find ways to push the boundaries and rebel against the policy. This is where strong leadership is necessary, not to discipline the offenders, but to explain and provide reasoning for the policy. In addition, work with those who are frustrated by the policy to come up with solutions or ways to improve the policy. Good leaders will redirect and reenforce the policy while calming tensions, but greater leaders will listen to the concerns of their people and try to empower them to become part of the solution.
We as leaders needs to understand the most critical thing to leadership is building trust and relationships. Without those, we are not leaders, we are managers.