After the 2006 NBA Finals, most-valuable player Dwayne Wade said the Miami Heat won “because we played as a team.” After Super Bowl XLI, MVP Peyton Manning said it “was a team effort that allowed [the Indianapolis Colts] to win this game.” This begs the question: if players laud the team effort, why do the leagues single out one individual as the most valuable?

Like a sports team, a fire department has veterans and rookies, some who are highly motivated and others who aren't. There are three very distinct generations of firefighters who work together yet approach everything differently. Baby boomers don't mind doing the extra things, like changing the turn-signal bulb when it burns out. The Generation Xers report the burnt bulb because they don't know how to change it. The Generation Y members probably can't fix the bulb, but they can fix cell phones, laptops or anything electronic.

How can chief officers get all three to work as a team to meet the core mission of a fire-rescue department? The answer is simple. Officers must understand their work force and support their training officers with staffing, facilities and other resources and facilities to do their jobs. The job of a fire service instructor now is to train 300 firefighters to do one thing 300 different ways.

But how do training officers get this diverse group to play as a team? Think of playing as a team as an individual sport — a paradigm shift that older firefighters are going to have to embrace.

First training officers need to identify the players on the roster. Establishing a baseline to work from by looking at the birth dates of the members of the department is beneficial. Employee names aren't necessary, but birthdates are. The silent generation was born between 1923 and 1945, the baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, Generation Xers were born between 1965 and 1980, and Generation Yers were born between 1981 and 2000. Baby boomers most likely will comprise 40% to 45% of the department, often in mid- to upper-management positions. Generation X will make up the majority of a department, about 55% to 60% in firefighter or mid-management positions and a few in upper management positions. The smallest group will be Generation Y because they are just now entering the work force.

Members of the silent generation like to contribute, are loyal and disciplined, and appreciate courtesy. They believe in work first, and their work must be satisfying and use their skills and expertise. They like to be asked for advice, and then they expect you to listen.

Baby boomers live to work. They are driven to compete, seek to improve and work hard. They grew up knowing that to survive they had to work and to work hard. They want to be challenged and valued; they want to be part of success. They invented the 60-hour work week, are loyal, work well in teams and are politically savvy. Their self worth is related to their status on the job.

Members of Generation X work to live. They are independent, diverse, flexible, outcome-oriented, and focused on having a life in the present. When opportunities for growth, mobility, challenge and responsibility dry up, so does their motivation. They lived through downsizing, so they are skeptical. Changing jobs for more money or elevated position is acceptable. Their work or status isn't important to their self worth.

Members of Generation Y live, then work. This group questions authority, is always asking “why” and doesn't believe in following the rules. They are informal, digitally savvy and multitasking. They are teamwork-oriented, enjoy group endeavors, are well-educated, and like freedom and flexible work schedules. They want a wide range of projects and challenging and meaningful work. They need structure and supervision. They look for immediate gratification and feedback. Unlike the Gen Xers, they may not change departments for advancement. Rather, they might change their whole careers.

It's important to note that not all people born during these time frames will act as described. Outliers who go against the collective norm have been termed “tweeners.”

Next, officers should identify how each generation learns. When the crews arrive for training, they are a mixed group. The training officer must recognize and accept this fact. Awareness of this fact and understanding of the need for a variety of teaching techniques make training more successful.

The baby boomers grew up with lectures, reading assignments and written exams that tested memorization. Occasionally they had some hands-on learning in shop or home economics classes. Conversely, many young people entering the job market today grew up with teaching methods that focused on teamwork and collaboration and they learned to use critical-thinking skills. Autonomous learners who are motivated to become, and responsible for being in control of their own learning processes are the norm.

Training officers have to blend two very different styles of teaching into one. Older firefighters like a leisurely learning pace and the newer firefighters want a quick learning pace. Older firefighters like lectures and reading, while younger firefighters prefer hands-on interaction. Older firefighters want to focus on the content or subject, whereas the younger firefighters want to know how it relates to them and what they have to do. Older firefighters like a straight-line approach, direct and to the point, while younger firefighters want different learning options.

A fast-paced program with many choices, group problem-solving activities, and high-tech video and computer simulations may be overwhelming and distracting to some baby boomer learners, but some may learn to love it. Emphasizing different generations also is helpful. An example would be playing team-building games like Trivial Pursuit, using examples from all generations. If firefighters realize that there is a difference between learning and life experiences, they may become more tolerant of one another, eventually making life at the station more tolerable.

Finally, training officer must make each firefighter accountable for his or her own actions. If firefighters do their jobs, an incident goes by with few or no problems. Training programs must adjust to teaching firefighters the basic concept of the task and why it should be performed, but allow them to decide the best way to accomplish the task. Instead of training and evaluating, officers must educate and train firefighters. Then they can evaluate firefighters' understanding. When firefighters understand the why and how of a task, they gain a better understanding of the task or procedure. Not doing so will produce robots. Firefighters are problem-solvers and as such, officers must provide them with the how and why so they can implement their natural problem-solving skills.

An engine and rescue company responding to a structure fire will be far more effective if each crew member knows and understands his or her role. The driver ensures that all personnel fasten their seatbelts and chooses the shortest route to the call. He or she drives in a safe and sane manner and arrives in a timely fashion. The driver sets the pump and is ready to establish a water supply. The officer does a size up, establishes command and gives the order for the hoseline to be deployed properly. The other firefighters are packed out and donned in proper PPE. They are on the hoseline ready to enter the structure. Two other firefighters pull tools and the PPV fan and prepare for ventilation.

It is like a carefully choreographed dance. Each firefighter does his or her job and works as a team. The fire is quickly extinguished, a primary search is done, and salvage and overhaul begun. If any one firefighter doesn't do his or her job, the example above would have a different outcome. Pick any part of the example and imagine the consequences if one firefighter didn't do his or her job

Officers must educate and teach all firefighters their job and how it integrates with all of the other firefighters on their team. Working as a team in the fire service is an individual sport. Today's training officers must be willing to be flexible in their teaching techniques, understanding that today's firefighter is different. In many ways they are the same — they are still willing to do this dangerous job — but it's up to the training officer to teach each generation how to do the job efficiently and safely. The concept of working as a team starts with a group of highly skilled, highly motivated individuals coming together to perform a common task.

Bureau Chief Jeff Alter is the training and safety officer for Martin County (Fla.) Fire Rescue. He also serves as the safety officer for the Florida Division of Forestry Interagency Incident Management Red Team. Alter is a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer Program and has his master's degree in public administration.