The Multiple Roles of a Company Officer Presentation provided by the Volusia County Fire Chief’s Training Committee

OBJECTIVES The participants will: Identify typical multiple roles and responsibilities of a CO. Prepare a personal role-set analysis. Identify four levels of accountability.

OBJECTIVES (cont'd) Identify possible sources of role conflict for the CO. Develop and apply a balancing strategy for resolving role conflicts. Recognize the importance of the CO serving as a role model for his/her subordinates.

ROLE A set of expected behaviors that characterize your part in a particular situation.

ROLE EXPECTATION How you are expected to act within a specific role How do you view the role or roles that you play?

Your role-set analysis ME Let the group fill in the blanks What roles do you play each day?

HYPOTHETICAL ROLE SET OF A FIRE OFFICER Subordinate of Shift Cmdr. Mechanic or Carpenter Consultant Son or Daughter Parent ME Fire Officer Church Member Spouse Subordinate of Shift Cmdr. Golfer Home Owner Student Civic Board Member Instructor

QUALITIES OF A GOOD ROLE MODEL Enthusiasm Initiative Self-discipline Courage Integrity Loyalty Good judgment Empathy Discretion Desire for self- improvement Qualities of a role model Discuss leaders that are viewed as enthusiastic and leaders that are not. Ask the group how they view themselves in this category and how other view them. What are some of the problems with a leader with issues of integrity?

LIAISON Liaison Who are you a liaison with or to? Subordinates and supervisors

"REMEMBER, YOUR SUBORDINATES ARE WATCHING YOU!" (YOU ARE A ROLE MODEL) Lieutenants have as much or more impact on the department personnel as the Fire Chief.

MONITOR Monitor What do you monitor? Emergency operations Daily routine Personal conduct of personnel Personality swings of personnel – may be something going on externally that may affect their performance Training

DISSEMINATOR Disseminator You are usually the first voice that your firefighters hear when information comes from the office. The tone of your delivery The acceptance of the information The importance placed on the information Depends on how you disseminate information.

SPOKESPERSON Spokesperson You are the spokes person for our department, the City, and the fire service in general.

DISTURBANCE HANDLER Disturbance handler How do you handle disturbances

CHARACTERISTICS OF PEOPLE WHO HANDLE ROLE CONFLICT WELL Take initiative Are confident Display social poise Desire to associate Desire achievement and power Reach their own conclusions

CHARACTERISTICS OF PEOPLE WHO HANDLE ROLE CONFLICT WELL (cont'd) Attain rewards from success Give priority to planning Lack excessive feelings of pressure Agree with department policies

ATTITUDE A definition: One's state of mind or how you feel about your leadership role. "Your attitude is showing."

BEHAVIOR SELF-DISCIPLINE CONTROL EMOTIONS EXERCISE MODERATION & DISCRETION REMEMBER YOU REPRESENT THE DEPARTMENT

NEGOTIATOR Negotiator As a company officer, you must have a clear understanding of communication with personnel. There are three classifications or levels of negotiation: As a company officer, you need to determine the level of importance of the topic being discussed. If the topic of discussion is time sensitive, there may be little or no room for negotiation. Negotiation usually requires a group buy-in Training and experience will play a large role with discerning which topics warrant negotiation with the group and which require an decisive decision from the company officer. The company officer’s supervisor (Battalion or Chief) should and is a resource for the company officer to use as a sounding board during this process.

DEMEANOR ATTITUDE + BEHAVIOR + COMMUNICATION SKILLS = DEMEANOR

LEADERSHIP ROLE FUNCTIONS Things the organization expects you to do (additional information will be discussed) Critical behaviors When discrepancy arise how will you present them to your supervisor and/or subordinates? Expectations More detail in other categories will be discussed by the commanders Critical Behaviors What is critical is that each accept the responsibility of roles that we have and recognize the impact on the organization when we don’t.

RESOURCE ALLOCATOR Resource allocator Be aware of you personnel and take notice when there is a personality change. We have had firefighters in the past that have experienced major issues personally that affected their performance. Keep in mind the safety of everyone. If that person isn’t focused on the job at hand, someone may get hurt.

SUMMARY CO must manage multiple roles Role conflicts are inevitable Balancing strategies must be developed Accountability is critical The CO is a role model