For the past 20 years Chesterfield County (Va.) Fire and EMS has been developing and implementing leadership training programs that focus on fostering those behaviors in its people that prepare them to be successful leaders of the organization. This systematic approach to leadership development begins with our entry-level firefighter training programs and extends all the way to the position of fire chief.

In rookie school, for both career and volunteer members entering the department, we introduce the newest members of our organization to the concepts of leadership by appointing class members to leadership roles as crew leaders as well as an overall student school leader. We organize the members of each new class into three- or four-person crews depending on the size of the class, with each crew having a designated crew leader. In addition to promoting the development of leadership skills, this class organization also reinforces the ICS concepts of crew integrity, accountability and resource management early in their training.

Each day the school's company officer — a lieutenant assigned as the direct supervisor and chief instructor for each class of rookies — provides the crew leaders with specific tasks and the expectations for their crews' performance. For example, following a day of live-fire training exercises, one crew would be tasked with cleanup of SCBA facepieces, another crew with repacking hose, a third with overhaul of the burn building and so forth. Those crew leaders are held accountable for the successful completion of the jobs assigned to their crews by the student school leader; the school leader is in turn accountable to the company officer

For those firefighters who aspire to the rank of lieutenant, our company officer position, their first step is the successful completion the Officer Development Program I, which we developed and implemented in 1986. In this program, the student completes a total of 220 hours of course work linking directly to the Fire Officer I standards of NFPA 1021, Fire Officer Professional Qualifications. When we originally developed the program, we designed it using a “cafeteria menu” approach: Students could achieve program objectives by selecting from a menu that included National Fire Academy courses, fire training classes from the Virginia Department of Fire Programs and community-college courses. We developed classes in-house to meet the NFPA objectives where no class existed or where we needed to address a need specific to our organization. The curriculum addresses a broad range of topics ranging from Virginia Instructor I certification to technical writing.

When we first introduced the program to the organization, participation was voluntary because we didn't have the financial resources to make attendance compulsory. Students, however, were provided with a very strong incentive: up to 7.5 bonus points on the lieutenant's promotional panel for successful completion of program. This proved to be a very positive motivator, because in most years only three to five points separated the top five to eight positions on the lieutenant's promotional list.

The next rung of the leader ladder

In the mid-1990s, following our success with Officer Development Program I, we forged on and developed Officer Development Program II. This program is targeted at lieutenants who aspired to the rank of captain — our station commander position and primary staff officer rank in our support services divisions. Successful completion of the program requires that the student complete 208 hours of course work linking to the Fire Officer II standards of NFPA 1021. When we developed the curriculum for this course — and many of the classes were developed within our organization — we were looking to increase the “scope of thinking” for those lieutenants with aspirations of becoming captains. The classes that became part of the program ranged from Understanding the Impact of Arson to Incident Command System III.

In addition to the class hours, each student must successfully complete a research project on a problem or issue agreed upon by the student and the officer development program manager in our training and safety division. Past students' projects have included evaluation and recommendations for improvement of the firefighter training materials we use and how we deliver our EMS continuing-education program.

In 1999 we revised our promotional processes for the ranks of lieutenant, captain and battalion chief. The first change required the completion of the Officer Development Program I as a prerequisite for a firefighter to participate in the lieutenant's promotional process; candidates for the captain's promotional process have to have completed Officer Development Program II. Candidates for promotion to all officer ranks have to have completed formal educational requirements beyond high school; candidates for lieutenant or captain have to have earned at least an associate's degree in fire science, EMS technology, nursing or related emergency services field of study approved by the director of the training and safety division. Beginning in 2008, captains who seek promotion to the rank of battalion chief must have completed a bachelor-level degree program.

Our most recently developed program for the development of successful first-line supervisors is the Applied Leadership for Company Officers program. This 10-week program has classes meeting one day per week and is designed for the firefighter who is on the list for promotion to lieutenant. We developed the program to dovetail with the Officer Development Program I, which provides the course work for students to develop their knowledge base, while the Applied Leadership for Company Officers program assists them in developing the skills to apply that knowledge on the job as a new company officer.

In the applied leadership program, we use captains and chief officers from throughout the department as facilitators. The setting is more a learning laboratory than a classroom. At each session the facilitators provide focused simulation training on the management of emergency incidents, engage the students in meaningful conversations about their experiences working with company officers, and help them understand the practical skills and behaviors necessary to be successful as a company officer in our organization.

Students in the program also learn the skills associated with successful project management. Six out of the 10 class sessions contain material on the development and management of a successful project that addresses a fire station — level problem. During the first session students are directed to select a problem or issue that they would like to address. Over the next five weeks they work on the project both during and outside of class sessions. The culmination of their project is a 10-minute presentation during the last class to the fire chief and his deputies.

During the course students are also required to read three leadership books, one every three weeks, which we provide to them as a start to their “leadership library.” We selected The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey; Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D.; and The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts for the variety of perspectives they offer on leadership. Each student also must complete a written assignment related to each book, and we discuss those reading assignments in class.

The final learning element of the program is a concept borrowed from the National Fire Academy's Strategic Management of Change course. To help the students learn a leadership skill that has been valued by leaders across the ages — the art of reflection — students are required to keep a journal. Following each class they're asked to go home and reflect on something from class that day that had an impact on them, good or bad. Journal log sheets ask students to answer four questions: What was the event? How did I feel? What did I learn? How will I use this in the future? When the students return the following week, they turn their log sheets in to the chief facilitator for the class, who provides written commentary. A strict code of confidentiality exists between the students and the chief facilitator; what's written on the log sheet remains on the log sheet and between the student and the chief facilitator.

Don't forget incumbent officers

Our leadership development programs also address the incumbent leaders of our organization. For the past five years we've conducted an annual First-Line Supervisors School, a week-long course that every uniformed and civilian supervisor in the organization must attend. During these schools we focus on tapping the talent that exists within our organization and ask presenters to cover material dealing with leadership and management topics like supervision, coaching, time management, human resource management, and tactical-level operations management.

Coinciding with the development of the supervisors school was the creation of our Chief Officers School, a three-day course for all chief officers, battalion chief through fire chief. For this level of leadership development we seek the talent and experience of facilitators and trainers from outside our organization in an effort to broaden our officers' perspectives. The focus of the school is the development of strategic planning and managerial talents, and it has included topics in human resource management, strategic planning, project management, leadership and strategic incident management.

We've also worked to further expand the learning horizons of our chief officers by taking advantage of leadership development programs presented by the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. Darden offers a two-week leadership school for senior managers from both the public and private sectors. Participants in this program engage in a rich learning experience that encompasses a wide variety of leadership and management topics that are presented in an equally wide variety of presentations and forums. Darden also offers a similar program in a week-long format.

Programs need support

While we're extremely fortunate in CFEMS to have such a comprehensive set of leadership development programs, it's much more than purely good fortune. We have a governing body, our elected board of supervisors, that strongly supports all of our public safety agencies with not only rhetoric, but also with the financial means to be successful.

We've also been fortunate to have had fire chiefs who were all visionaries when it came to developing future leaders for CFEMS. Each of our leadership development programs has had its origins during the tenure of our current chief or that of one of his three predecessors. Not only did programs originate on their watches, but they also were sustained from one administration to another, even in tough financial times. Leadership such as that has been a key element to the successful growth of our leadership development efforts.

We realize that we have a solid leadership development program, but we know that we cannot be content with our past successes. Today we're retooling the Officer Development Programs I and II to more effectively integrate with changes to the fire science curriculum in Virginia's community college system. Those changes, in which Virginia fire service representatives have participated, are designed to bring fire training and education in Virginia in line with the recommendations outlined in the Fire Service Higher Education Model. The future success of our organization's ability to have skilled and knowledgeable leadership at all levels depends on our continued ability to “grow our own.”

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Bttn. Chief Robert Avsec is a 24-year member of Chesterfield County (Va.) Fire and EMS. He is currently the director of the training and safety division. Avsec has earned an undergraduate degree in fire science and safety technology and a master's degree in executive fire service, and is also a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer Program of the National Fire Academy.