You most likely have had basic first-aid training. Quick, what are the first three things that you have to do to make sure that a person who is unconscious and down survives?
If your mind didn't lock on airway, breathing and circulation, or ABC, I would be moderately surprised. Those three letters have been branded in the minds of everyone in the life-safety business.
Now let's change the scenario. What if your organization is comatose? What if your organization is in need of life support? What if your organization is suddenly in need of immediate resuscitation?
Go back to the ABCs, except let's substitute three new terms: attitude, behavior and code of ethics. In essence, these three things stand for keeping an appropriate perspective. Acting on incidents in an appropriate fashion restores credibility to the organization over time.
When someone goes down with a heart attack, he probably isn't going to run a marathon the next morning. It is the same with organizations. They deteriorate over time, and when they do go down, it takes a lot of rebuilding to bring them back. The approach I am recommending here is simple, yet it provides life support to an organization in distress. It is not a substitute for good leadership, nor is it an effective replacement for strong management — it's resuscitation.
As readers of this column know, I frequently get my ideas from conversations I've had with other fire chiefs from across the country. This particular column was inspired by a conversation with an individual who was experiencing very serious problems with his department. He was angry, disappointed and frustrated, and his behavior was counterproductive — even vengeful. He wondered why he was still having problems getting his organization back on its feet. He was distraught over these conditions, and he let his disappointment show. His attitude was in need of adjustment.
Attitude is a mental position relative to a way of thinking or being, or a leaning toward that which you believe. A positive attitude is the inclination to be in an optimistic, hopeful state of mind. A negative attitude is the inclination to be pessimistic and in a depressed frame of mind.
If you wan a positive attitude, you have to work at it. If you do a Web search on “positive attitude,” you'll be amazed at the number of entries. One I found compelling was an article by Remez Sasson that spells out specific actions in which you can engage to remain in a positive mood. There were literally hundreds of resources, ranging from textbooks to quotes. One of my favorite quotes was from Friedrich Nietzsche: “On the mountains of truth, you can never climb in vain; either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.”
Once you overcome your attitude, you must behave in a specific fashion. That leads to the concept of behavior modification, or the use of empirically demonstrated behavior-changing techniques. Such techniques include altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior, and reducing maladaptive behavior through punishment or therapy. If you believe in making a positive change in life, you have to actually act on the behavior externally. Look up behavioral modification on Wikipedia and you'll find a really good definition of what you might have to do to change your behavior.
And that leads us to the final letter in the ABCs of organizational resuscitation: code of ethics. The Life Skills Coach Association's Web site says organizations should have a code of conduct:
- To define acceptable behaviors.
- To promote high standards of practice.
- To provide a benchmark for members to use for self evaluation.
- To establish a framework for professional behavior and responsibilities.
- As a vehicle for occupational identity.
- As a mark of occupational maturity.
If your organization is suffering from malaise, start the resuscitation process. It combines taking ideas out of your head about what is positive in life, transmitting them to others and repeating them until the organization is breathing on its own again. But, not unlike medical CPR, make sure you call for assistance before going it entirely on your own. That is what your mentors and role models are for.
With more than 40 years in the fire service, Ronny J. Coleman has served as fire chief in Fullerton and San Clemente, Calif., and was the fire marshal of the state of California from 1992 to 1999. He is a certified fire chief and a master instructor in the California Fire Service Training and Education System. A Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers, he has an associate's degree in fire science, a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in vocational education.
Related Stories
For More Info
American Fire Sprinkler Association
12750 Merit Dr., Suite 350
Dallas, Texas 75251
www.firesprinkler.org
American Society of Sanitary Engineers
901 Canterbury Rd.
Westlake, Ohio 44145-1480
www.qsse.plumbing.org
Center for Campus Fire Safety
10 State St.
Newburyport, Mass. 01950
www.campusfiresafety.org
Home Safety Council
1250 Eye St., NW
Suite 100
Washington D.C. 20005
www.homesafetycoucil.org
www.mysafehome.org
International Residential Code Fire Sprinkler Coalition
8207 Asmara Dr.
Austin, Texas 78750
www.ircfiresprinler.org
Institution of Fire Engineers U.S. Branch
PO Box 22505
Alexandria, Va. 22304
www.ifeusa.org
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services
101 Monroe St., 12th Floor
Rockville, Md. 20850
www.mcfrs.org
National Fire Sprinkler Association
P.O. Box 810
Warrenton, Va. 20188
www.nfsa.org
NFPA
1 Batterymarch Park
Quincy, MA 02169
www.nfpa.org
www.firesprinkleriniutitative.org
PARADE
3400 John Carroll Drive
Olney, Md. 20832
Phoenix Society of Burn Survivors
1835 RW Berends Dr., SW
Grand Rapids, Mich. 49519
www.phoenix-society.org
Subscribe
Subscribe
Subscribe
Subscribe
Subscribe
Subscribe
