Guest Blog written for ATS by Robert Avsec
During my fire service career, one of my roles that brought the greatest amount of personal and professional satisfaction was that of being an instructor. Whether my students were there for entry-level training or continuing education or professional development, there was nothing like the “high” of helping people learn the job, or get better at doing the job, of being a firefighter/medic.
Along the way, I had many great teachers and mentors who were great at teaching the KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities) from the curriculum. More importantly, people like Deputy Chief Jim Graham and others, also taught me how important it is for the instructor to also be an effective leader.
Why Instructional Leadership is Important
In the department where I served for twenty-six years before retiring as a battalion chief, the Chesterfield County (Va.) Fire and EMS Department, there’s a banner that hangs prominently in the main hall way of the fire training wing at the Eanes-Pittman Public Safety Training Center with this motto:
“Training teaches what Operations does. Operations does what training teaches.”
For me that motto has always captured the essence of what fire and EMS training should be about, eradicating the age-old fire service adage, “Forget what they taught you at the academy. This is how we do it in the real world,” that too many young firefighters hear from more senior members and officers.
In today’s world, where it’s become increasingly important for fire service organizations to become more diverse and inclusive, instructors play a key role in imprinting entry-level personnel with the organization’s vision, mission and values. Those instructors also have a vital role in continually “refreshing” those same vision, mission and values for incumbent members of the organization during continuing education training and professional development classes that they teach.
The following is an excerpt from an upcoming article that I wrote for publication on EMS1.com on the subject of how Paramedic Chiefs can promote diversity and inclusiveness in their organizations. I believe that these same behaviors are important for fire service instructors as well.
4 Inclusion Behaviors for Employees
Successfully developing an inclusive organization takes more than just buy-in and support from the organizations formal leaders. Those leaders can’t be everywhere all the time. Individual employees of the organization must also be actively engaged.
- Develop cultural competency and engage differences. Cultural competence involves understanding and appropriately responding to the unique combination of cultural variables—including ability, age, beliefs, ethnicity, experience, gender, gender identity, linguistic background, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status—that the professional and client/patient bring to interactions.
- Engage with others, own your actions and lead by example.
- Assume responsibility for developing and supporting inclusiveness in your organization.
- Take risks and step out of your comfort zone. Learn about the differences between you and your co-workers. Engage in conversations that can lead to a deeper understanding of who people are, where they come from, and what’s important to them. “Never criticize a man until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins. -Native American proverb
5 Characteristics of Effective Instructional Leadership
Developing these five characteristics as an instructor can help make you a better instructional leader for your fire department.
- Be accountable for knowing your material and stay current with knowledge and technology. The body of knowledge for the fire service continues to grow and evolve. Increasingly, research from organizations like UL, NIST, and the USFA is shedding new light on the safety, effectiveness and efficiency of our current strategies, tactics, and operational procedures for managing fire incidents.
Many instructors are quasi-independent contractors, even within their own organizations. Regardless of the level of instruction that you’re addressing, your students are seeing you as the subject matter expert for the topic. You have a moral and ethical obligation to provide the most current and factual teachings to your students.
2. Be a positive role model who espouses a love of learning and the profession. Particularly for entry-level students, you are the “face” of your organization, whether you’re teaching within your department or your teaching for an outside entity, e.g., for a regional or state fire service. You never have a second chance to make a positive first impression. You have an obligation to your students to bring your “A” game to each and every class you teach.
3. Don’t just teach, supervise as well. Lead, guide and direct the learning process. A huge factor in conducting fire suppression operations that are safe, effective and efficient is teamwork. For entry-level students it’s critical that they learn how to operate as a team and for that they need leadership. For more of my thoughts on this subject, see my post, 4 Steps for Better Firefighter Training Exercises.
4. Be a safety officer. Keep the good and welfare of students at the forefront at all times. Always ensure that students, and your fellow instructors, are complying with your department’s applicable policies and procedures. Pay particular attention to student welfare when training in hot or cold weather. Always make sure that appropriate Rehabilitation and medical care areas are set up before any operational training gets started.
5. Wear your protective gear. Lead by example. At a minimum, you and your fellow instructors should be wearing an appropriate helmet or hard hat along with utility gloves when teaching. When conducting live fire training, always wear all of your personal protective clothing and SCBA correctly operate your SCBA properly. Nothing sends a negative message to newbies like an instructor who can’t properly reset their SCBA regulator or silence their P.A.S.S. feature on the SCBA.
For more information on Action Training Systems video resources call 800.755.1440 ext 3 or email info@action-training.com
Battalion Chief Robert Avsec (Ret.) served with the Chesterfield (Va.) Fire & EMS Department for 26 years. He was an active instructor for fire, EMS, and hazardous materials courses at the local, state, and federal levels, which included more than 10 years with the National Fire Academy. Chief Avsec earned his bachelor of science degree from the University of Cincinnati and his master of science degree in executive fire service leadership from Grand Canyon University. He is a 2001 graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program. Since his retirement in 2007, he has continued to be a life-long learner working in both the private and public sectors to further develop his “management sciences mechanic” credentials. He makes his home near Charleston, W.Va.
