Have you ever cooked stew or chili? Then you probably have learned a very valuable lesson. Once you bring these concoctions up to a certain temperature and they begin to boil and bubble, you need to periodically stir them to keep the material at the bottom from burning. To be a successful cook, you must stir the pot.

Yet in the firehouse, the phrase “stirring the pot” has a very negative connotation, implying that someone isn't allowing issues to remain dormant. Such people are agitating, and they're often labeled troublemakers. Some individuals have built a lifetime reputation of always stirring the pot.

How about you? Are you a pot-stirrer? If the answer is no, then there's a possibility that you're going to experience the same phenomenon as the cook who burns something on the bottom. If the answer is yes, then the question is: Do you stir things up appropriately, or just mix them around without any concern for the outcome?

What started me thinking about this topic was a discussion with a fire chief who has a reputation as a pot-stirrer. He was asking some pretty insightful questions about a particular issue in the contemporary fire service, which I won't disclose as it may prove more distracting than enlightening. When some of those present became angry at his questioning of the preferred point of view, he said, “I'm not stirring the pot to make matters worse — I'm hoping that we'll have a better outcome by asking the tough questions.”

You know what? He's right! We need pot-stirrers. If you're familiar with the concept of group-think, you probably realize that the person within your organization who asks the tough questions and stirs the pot from time to time isn't your enemy. In fact, he or she may be among your closest of allies, there to ensure that you survive the circumstances.

Over the years, I've observed that many of us who have had that fifth bugle added to our collar have a difficult time dealing with pot-stirrers, which is a contradiction because many of us were pot-stirrers when we were younger. There are some of us chiefs who don't mind being pot-stirrers outside of the organization but want total compliance and consensus within our departments. Life gets complicated, doesn't it?

My point is not for you to determine whether you're a pot-stirrer, but to get you to ask yourself some questions. What are you doing to encourage differences of opinion within your organization? What are you doing for the individuals who are unwilling to provide input for fear of being penalized?

Both of these issues are equally important. You can't have a team-building atmosphere unless people are willing to speak their minds when needed. One of the things that used to aggravate me the most in staff scenarios was when someone would be asked to provide input on a complicated problem and he would remain silent or say, “Looks good to me, chief.” This passive-aggressive behavior often results in organizations making mistakes that are blamed on the boss instead of the process.

So what should you do? My answer is pretty simple. We need to remember that a good cook doesn't turn up the heat and allow things to boil and bubble without appropriately agitating the contents. Instead, most gourmets will maintain a fairly low simmer while constantly stirring to ensure that the heat's effects travel throughout the contents.

If we transfer that analogy to the conference room or the chief's office, we should always keep the contents of our organizational interaction moving. Status quo is the antithesis of informed decision-making. Don't wait until the pot is boiling over to stir it; stir it almost every time you get an opportunity. Ask tough questions, and expect tough questions to be asked. Encourage people to submit ideas and to experiment.

The net result of such activity is not to create an organization in constant turmoil but one that's constantly exciting and interesting. Asking questions should never be considered as a form of obstruction. Once a course of action has been decided, the issue should be how to accomplish it in the most effective and efficient manner.

I've had the opportunity to work with several people who have taken pot-stirring to an absolutely professional level. Their mere presence has been enough to agitate others in the room. However, I have also had an opportunity to witness chief officers stir up a hornet's nest with only the soft and gentle touch of professional curiosity.

As the fire service moves down the road toward ultimate responsibility for fire and life safety, we need individuals who exhibit these kinds of behaviors. Silence is not golden — it is the verbal equivalent of blindness.

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Ronny J. Coleman is the president of the Fire & Emergency Television Network and a 40-year veteran of the fire service. He 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.