As 2004 progresses, fire-based EMS will be noticeably without the guidance and influence of one of the nation's fire service — EMS leaders, as Jeff Dyar has left his position as EMS/heath and safety program chair at the National Fire Academy.

Dyar was the 1999 recipient of the distinguished James O. Page Award, given annually by the IAFC to an individual who exhibits the drive and effort to resolve an EMS issue or bring about positive change in an EMS system. Dyar was recognized in part for his development of a core EMS curriculum now offered at the NFA. For those who attended the EMS programs at the NFA, you may remember Dyar starting every class by saying that “this course is your course.” For those he mentored or who expressed frustration over their careers or EMS system to him, you may recall him asking, “What opportunity does this present?”

As matter of practice, I always ask EMS management classes to name five current or future fire service — EMS leaders. It's always a struggle that results in an incomplete list, but Dyar's name routinely came up, along with John Sinclair, Ken Riddle and Jim Page. My point to the classes was that leaders are not necessarily found but built, and there are not a lot of individuals. The future poses some challenges for fire-based EMS, as many of those who could be called leaders are leaving the profession to enjoy their life free of politics and the rigors of advancing a cause.

So how will we build EMS leaders of the future in an age when it is so hard to find those who truly have a desire to give back without caring what's in it for them? It will start with building the core competencies of leadership vision, ethics, mentoring, risk-taking, team-building and education. Let's look at some traits that distinguished Dyar as a leader during his time at the National Fire Academy.

When offered a new idea by someone attending the academy, Dyar frequently would ask, “How do we get there?” Vision separates leaders from managers and requires the creative discontent in which a leader is always asking what we can do better. This should not be just for issues of control or staffing, but to build better systems and partnerships and enable the EMTs and paramedics to deliver the best-possible health care to the public. Vision requires abstract thought and making connections with the realignment of the health care system. EMS leaders must ask what our preferred future is and think critically about the mechanics of the profession.

Ethics, too, is a growing concern. Unlike rescue, the NFA does not have EMS in its mission and vision statements. A fire chief can avoid the consequences of an embarrassing press event or expensive litigation by putting out a value statement and rewarding those behaviors that display model behavior. While the fire service always has been highly regarded in the public trust, the next generation does not seem to have the same appreciation for serving the community. Ethics is not a topic to be assumed is understood and must be part of educational packages in every aspect of the organization.

Another ethical challenge to fire-based EMS leaders is to maintain integrity by doing what is right versus what is popular. Dyar often stood up for the rights of employees and looked to bring people together for the greater good.

Doing what's right for employees is also crucial to team-building, one of the single most important factors in reinforcing leadership. When you teach at the academy, you often work with a complete stranger. The program chairs are responsible for building those teams of teachers and credentialing instructors. The EMS programs under Dyar's watch had recruited some of the best people in the fire service.

A retired chief from our organization used to insist that all command and support staff members attend lunch every day. While many on the line commented on the process from afar, it was apparent that one thing the chief remembered from coming up the ranks was that the cohesiveness of a team is frequently built around the dinner table. The leadership toolbox on the Web site www.fireleadership.org contains an assessment on crew cohesiveness that could be a useful tool to a chief officer.

Taking risks is another common trait of a leader. Dyar liked to advance ideas that often were unpopular, and his speaking up brought intense challenges in an effort to move EMS forward. One such challenge is motivating talented officers to move away from union and hourly pay scales.

A few lessons on motivation can be learned from fire-based EMS quality improvement programs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been teaching ways to keep paramedics motivated to continue providing the right kind of care. The emphasis on maintaining motivation really revolves around focusing attention on the people who achieve or exceed our expectations. As a chief officer or leader, can and do we identify those people to reward for demonstrating leadership potential?

As the EMS program chair, Dyar had the chance to advance several people's careers and skills through mentoring. Mentoring really is an art not often taught in the fire service because of competition or ego. It is a rare fire chief who focuses on building people and challenging them to improve themselves and therefore the organization. Mentors are people who have beneficial, life-altering effects on other people through one-on-one contact.

Mentors offer knowledge, insight, perspective or wisdom that's helpful to another person in a relationship that goes beyond duty or obligation. Mentor relationships involve caring, sharing and helping where one person invests time, know-how and effort in enhancing another person's growth, knowledge and skills. Mentors respond to critical needs in the lives of that those mentored in a way to prepare them for greater achievement in the future.

Education is still undervalued in the fire service. Although many people are being promoted quickly to the chief officer level, education still does not seem to be as important a factor. I believe this sets in motion a cycle to handicap leadership development. Most management studies talk about a five-year window to be good at your job, but we often place people in a position where they spend a significant amount of their day learning their job, which takes away from their ability to focus on building and mentoring others. The IAFC has taken a positive step forward in educating future fire-based EMS leaders. The Chief Fire Officer Designation programs encompass an individual's knowledge and college course work to meet the competencies needed for future leaders.

The national leadership organization Phi Theta Kappa has partnered with several organizations to develop new leaders through a program call the California Public Safety Leadership and Ethics Training Program. This material encompasses the topics of leadership, motivation, ethics and team-building through the use of popular literature and clips from the silver screen.

Do we really understand what it's all about when we say taking care of our own? As a New Year's resolution, the challenge every fire chief in this country should consider is to identify one or two people that they will be committed to mentoring and building their leadership skills. This is a big request because the day-to-day responsibilities of the fire chief take a lot of energy, yet the only way we will replace those leaders we are losing or about to lose is to invest and give back to the system to ensure the next generation carries the torch.

There is much being written and many comments being made about the impending crisis of leadership and the lack of qualified and talented chiefs in the fire service. Every day headhunters are combing the country to identify the leaders necessary to take the American fire service into the next decade. Our best and brightest are not stepping up to the challenges of leading the fire service.

Fire chiefs rarely are able to prioritize their time and energy to build leaders due to the demand of just meeting the everyday needs of their operations. We have taught teamwork and demand customer service from our people, yet we do very little to educate, mentor and grow our own leaders. Do your departments and your community the service of passing along your EMS knowledge to those who may follow in your footsteps. It's what Dyar would do.

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Bruce Evans is the fire science program coordinator at the Community College of Southern Nevada as well as an adjunct faculty member for the National Fire Academy's EMS and injury prevention courses. A captain at the Henderson (Nev.) Fire Department, he has a master's degree in public administration and an associate's degree in fire management.

Online Tools

http://leadership.ptk.org contains an excellent leadership newsletter at the bottom of the screen and several links to creative ideas about using film to teach the various aspects of leadership.

www.fireleadership.gov is devoted to teaching leadership skills presented by the National Wildland Interagency Training Consortium and has several tools available for leadership and coaching.

www.emsa.ca.gov/Vision/Vision1/Vision%208%20Personnel.pdf is part of a California state fire chiefs association Web site that reinforces and provides a vision statement for EMS leadership.

www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/ems/agenda/emsbro.html#Reality details the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's key leadership issues with the EMS agenda for the future.

www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/LeadQual.html provides a tool kit for leadership training.