The fire service constantly is dealing with professional standards and ethical issues throughout the ranks and divisions. As societal values change and institutional tolerance for situational ethics increases, many of the fire service's core values also may change and be enforced less rigorously than in previous periods. A good leader recognizes that a reaffirmation or review of ethical activities is needed on a regular basis. Nowhere in the organization is this concept more visible than in the centralized or corporate training division.

Firefighters frequently are exposed to refresher or compliance training in ethics, as it pertains to personal financial integrity and potential conflicts of interest. Receiving any personal gain as a direct result of professional position and duties normally raises a red flag. As a practical rule of thumb, any item of value outside of normal compensation for performing normal job activities is suspect. In the conflict-of-interest arena, anytime a real or perceived benefit derived from a decision or other official activity should warrant examination.

One area in which these ethical rules and standards has not been applied as often is the training and professional development divisions. I have witnessed dozens of situations over the past 30 years that were blatantly unethical and maybe even criminal. I have heard nearly 100 anecdotes about wildly unethical processes and activities hidden behind the closed doors of the training academy, classroom or drill tower. Some of these situations were passed off as rights of passage, others as mere hazing, and still more as payback — but all were unethical. I also have seen conference instructors, traveling fire service experts and the local training officer commit some of the worst educational atrocities and chalk it up to business as usual.

Many departments strive to make reality match their vision statements through employee training. Translating a mission statement into organizational culture takes consistency and reinforcement. There is no quicker method to derail these transformational activities than to have a hypocrite deliver training on behalf of the organization.

Some years ago, I was contracted to audit a training program for a college emergency services program. After conducting staff, instructor and student interviews, I was appalled at some of the horrors that were being committed on a routine basis. The instructors were some of the most corrupt, arrogant and cut-throat individuals I had ever encountered. And they all were professional firefighters.

They would schedule multiple instructors to maintain the required instructor-to-student ratio for practical and manipulative skills practice. Only one instructor would show up to do the practical instruction, but he would put all of the scheduled instructors on the timesheet and class roster. This was a clear ethical violation and resulted in less-than-optimal instructional time for the students to learn critical manipulative skills.

The instructors also commonly browbeat and harassed the students. Many of the these students were intimidated by the foreign public safety culture. Still more were intimidated by didactic theory, practical performance, and state and national testing. The instructors added stress and discipline to the process while flexing their own power muscles.

It's been said that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This program evidenced that with no accountability and delegated authority to one unethical instructor. This instructor modeled the unethical behavior, and his staff perpetuated the disgraceful behavior class after class, year after year. I interviewed a former student who was involved in practical testing for EMS skills. She was behind closed doors with the male instructor when she failed to verbalize a critical pass/fail skill. The instructor pointed it out, saying it was an automatic failure. He then said that if she lifted her shirt and let him take a good look, he would pass her on the skill station.

I also found that the training director was under deadline to prepare national accreditation documents for the program. He requested and received supplemental compensation to complete the accreditation process. He contacted an accredited program in another county and did little more than take its documents and change organization names to meet the initial deadline.

As with all shoddy and unethical pursuits, the truth eventually came to light. The program was shut down and all of the offending parties were dismissed.

Unethical activities in your program might not be this blatant, but routine, mundane and unchecked issues might still be present. Over the past 30 years, I have seen chief officers who can attend as little as 10% of the content of the training, yet receive the same certificate as those that attended the full course.

I have seen instructors who provide the answers or facilitate a “group test” on certification exams or who give reviews that consist of the exact questions and the exact answers to the students. I also have seen instructors who aren't prepared or who use outdated materials to teach a course. I've seen fire instructors who show disregard for copyright laws, provisions or practices or who show preference or disdain to students based on rank, position or assignment. And I've seen instructors who allow or promote a negative, stress-induced training environment.

An ethical learning organization must set standards for itself. In such organizations, the focus is on learning, and the learning environment is optimized. Content is fresh, accurate, timely, interesting and compelling, and instructors ensure its accuracy. Instructors communicate their responsibility to teach students learning objectives and stay current in professional knowledge and experience. Instructor/student interactions are consistently fair and professional, instructors treat all students with dignity and respect without showing preferential treatment, and they use discretion and confidentiality in discussing student performance. Students earn grades that are not subjectively given by the instructor. Copyright and intellectual property is respected. Task books and training records are not pencil-whipped, and no one is ever added to the roster who did not attend.

So how can a fire chief transform the lazy, apathetic and unethical training organization into an ethical one? Start at the top. Replace, transfer, demote and/or discipline those who are responsible for any portion of the organization that has deteriorated beyond acceptable standards.

Set the new tone by example and by reference. Provide examples of what is and what is not acceptable to the new standard. Train the trainers to be 100% on board; dismiss those who won't and recruit those who will. Be selective about who presents any official messages for the organization during training programs. Old dogs can learn new tricks if they choose to. If a chief chooses to rehabilitate a poor performer, the supervisor takes on a lot of work to hold the previous poor performer accountable and to model the newly expected behavior.

Chief officers should make a clean sweep and take drastic moves when shaking out an underperforming training program that has been stagnant for many years. Rename the division from Bureau of Training to Employee Development Division, Company Standards and Performance Unit, Career Enhancement Program, or the like. Put a standard bearer or a mover and shaker at the helm. Recertify all instructors and presenters and require them to commit to the new ethical behaviors and standards. Centralize and standardize the instructional design process and delivery to ensure fresh delivery of accurate content.

Celebrate the small victories and maintain a zero tolerance of any bad habits from the “dark ages.” If chiefs allow any of the old to creep back in, it will take over and negate the change effort. Give credit and praise to all those who carry the torch. They must receive continual feedback and affirmation when they perform according to the new standard. If recognized, they will continue to walk the talk and get those around them to do the same.

Being a trainer or an instructor is a privilege, not a right. Assessing, modeling and enforcing the positive ethical behavior a chief wishes to see is one key to turning a department's mission, values and motto into reality.

John Linstrom is executive director of The Linco Group LLC, an emergency services consultancy. He served in fire departments in California and Texas for 22 years and retired from career service as an assistant chief in 1999. A member of the Institution of Fire Engineers and the American College of Forensic Examiner‘s Institute, Linstrom is an adjunct faculty member for Texas A&M University, Northwestern University‘s Center for Public Safety, Barstow College and the National Fire Academy. Linstrom also serves as commander of a federal Medical Response team and has been involved in the National USAR Program since 1996.