Why Leadership still stinks when we have all the help

Why are we still having such a major problem with leadership and bad culture when there are literally thousands of articles, videos, seminars, and classes out there dedicated to making us better? You’d think with all of these great leaders out there, who give their time to speak with departments, that we’d be in a much better spot, but we’re not.

It’s not that the content is bad. In fact, the content out there is really good, but yet here we are still struggling. Why? There’s a few reasons.

Bad leaders are not the ones seeking out this type of information. In their minds, they’ve got it all figured out, and they don’t need “to be taught” how to lead.

The people that do continue to educate themselves on leadership have problems because they have to deal with the ones that don’t.

Because of this, we’re stuck in a loop of bad culture. It’s like the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other. Except the mind that they’re fighting each other for is the entire organization. The biggest part we’re missing out on with this leadership problem is - how do good leaders deal with bad leaders?

In this article we’ll take a look at why we have these issues, and give practical examples of how to start making changes.

Why Good Leaders Stay Educated:

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re somebody who deeply cares about your organization, and any article you see about leadership you take the time to read. Kudos!

We’re also willing to bet that you currently have problems in your department that you’d like to change, but you have “leaders” that are doing a terrible job, and standing in your way. You’re not alone. What you can do at the moment is act on everything you’ve learned about leadership so far. Don’t let the negativity have an effect on how you treat your peers.

One of the first problems we see across organizations is the people who want to make things better, who get the wind taken out of their sails when things don’t go the way they planned. This is because motivation and hype are short term. Picture how you feel after reading a great article on leadership principles, and how excited you are to implement the strategies. You feel that sense of motivation to make things better, but that motivation dies out when the strategy doesn’t work. It’s at this point where you give up, and things stay status quo. You then stumble upon the next article, and on the cycle goes.

Where Do Bad Leaders Come From?:

Inexperience and ego. The latter being the worst of all. When it comes to people who don’t have the experience, it’s usually because there’s a vacant position available that needs to be filled. When this person lacks critical decision making skills on the fireground, they begin to lose the trust of their peers. When that trust is gone, their leadership efforts in the firehouse fall flat. This can potentially be fixed with training and working with experienced mentors.

When it comes to ego, this is what most of the other leadership articles are about. But like we said, people with a bad ego aren’t the ones taking the time to read, so we’re stuck with them. These are the type of people that make decisions without first getting opinions from others. If somebody questions them, they get angry and talk down to them. This is exactly what drives away great firefighters.

So How Do We Fix This?:

If you’re looking to change this overnight (like everyone else) it’s not going to work. There’s no one-thing that’s going to change the mind of an egotistical leader. This is why we emphasize consistency. If we don’t continue to act on these strategies, nothing will happen.

Think of it this way. When you were a probie, you didn’t just learn a skill, do it once, and then have the ability to do it flawlessly. Instead, you continued to train, and even as the years went on in your career, you continued to train some more, and learn new things. Consistency is in our blood when it comes to drills and practicing our skills, so with that in mind, we must apply this same concept to leadership strategies.

The key here when dealing with a bad leader is to become their go-to guy while getting the rest of the members on your side. This happens when the leader starts to feel like they don’t have the respect of their peers, but they know that they can lean on you to get the other guys motivated. Here’s an example from a TV show based on a real story.

In the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, it follows the true story of the men of Easy Company, and their intense journey through Europe during World War 2. In this show, Dick Winters would be the voice of reason for the rest of the company who are frustrated by their current leaders. Eventually, the members of Easy Company would seek guidance from Winters after receiving orders from the officers. He would show restraint in getting involved with the negativity, but he would get the members buy-in to carry out the commands. It gets to the point where these officers figure out that the only reason their orders are being executed, is because the company members are following Winters’ lead. He shows the officers humility by not questioning their authority like the others, and he makes sure that the commands are met. The officers, now understanding that they’re not respected by the company, decide to lean on Winters in order to complete the mission. Spoiler alert! By the end of the series, Dick Winters is promoted to the rank of Major.

The idea here is that, if you’re dealing with bad leadership, chances are, the rest of the members feel it too. If you become the person that people decide to follow, while also showing respect and humility to your superior officers, they’re likely going to see it, and lean on you to guide the membership. Eventually, you’ll wind up in their position and be able to run things the proper way.

What If We Don’t Have Any Buy-in?:

There’s a good chance that the morale around your firehouse is so bad, that you don’t have enough guys even showing up. In this case, you’re probably thinking that the idea we just mentioned about becoming the voice of reason for the other members is kaput. It’s not. With a little extra effort, you can start to build a “sub culture” within your department that will begin to grow larger as long as you stay consistent.

This is the snowball effect. Starting small, creating momentum, and eventually you have a giant ball of snow which becomes the base of a snowman - your organization.

The way to start this sub culture is by first going after the younger members and probies who are always hanging out at the firehouse. These guys are the ones that always go on calls, and at some point have either been the officer in charge at the scene, or have done something awesome at one of these calls. Use this to your advantage to find their “spark”. You can ask one of them something like “Hey, I heard you did a great job with forcing that door at the last fire. How’d you do that? What technique did you use?” You can guarantee they’ll love that question. They’ll begin to explain it to you, but then you ask them to show you.

At this point, you’re now walking over to the door prop in the truck bay with everyone, and the member shows you the technique they used. Next, you take a crack at it, then when you’re done you hand the irons off to the probies and let them try it. Before you know it, an hour has gone by, and you’ve been drilling with these guys on force entry outside of regular drill night.

To stay consistent with this, a few days later you go back down there, find the same group of guys hanging out, and tell them you figured out a new technique you want to show them. Again, everyone heads over to the truck bay, and you start drilling on this new technique. Because these drills aren’t mandatory, it makes the guys more eager to learn, and they have fun doing it. Eventually it will become a common theme around the firehouse.

The Growth:

As you continue doing these de-facto drills, other members who pop into the firehouse will see what you guys are up to, and ask what’s going on. It could be a Chief, company officer, senior man, etc. Either way, they’re going to love seeing guys training on their own time. What happens here is eventually these other members will begin to join in. Whether they jump in to work on their own skills, show you different techniques, or offer tips & advice, it becomes contagious.

This is how you start to create a sub culture within your department. You’ve now built trust and camaraderie with these members because you’ve removed them from the negativity, and gave them an opportunity to do something fun. Due to your efforts, you automatically become the voice of reason for these members, which these bad leaders will take notice of.

Putting The Pieces Together:

So once you have these members on your side, and the leaders begin to see it, you have a short window to tie it all together. Why? Because the first thought they’re going to have toward you is resentment. If you don’t get on their good side, you become enemy number one.

This might seem counterintuitive. You may be thinking “Why am I going to suck up to these leaders who don’t care about anyone else but themselves?” You’re not. The idea is that you want to keep everyone at bay for the greater good of the organization.

This goes back to the Band of Brothers example. You want to show respect to these leaders and show them that anything they need done, they can lean on you to do so, because the other members will almost always follow your lead. You want to show them that they have your support, and that you have no ill will toward them.

Eventually what happens is that these leaders will see the dynamic in real time. They’ll realize that the only way they can get to the members is through you. This starts to have an effect on how they manage. They will begin to see that they never had the respect of their peers, and they will begin to make changes accordingly. This is how good leaders handle the bad ones. You don’t need a title or badge to do this..

Will This Work?:

We know this has worked because we’ve done it before. But trying it once isn’t going to do the trick. You have to continue to try and implement these strategies. It’s also worth mentioning that you shouldn’t step on the toes of these officers. You may have a group of guys who are more likely to follow you, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore orders. You still have to follow the chain of command.

The whole point of this is to show toxic leaders how to be a good leader without actually telling them. It's based on the idea that, once you’ve created a strong inner circle, and you’ve built good rapport with this leader, it will open their eyes so they can see what they’re doing wrong. With that, it will influence them to be better.

All of this being said, you’re going to have some people who just don’t see it. You’ll build up your sub culture, get a bunch of guys on board, try to show respect, but this leader might be so stuck in their ways, that the strategy won’t work. That’s ok. At the very least, you’ve now started to build up morale with the younger, more impressionable members. In the case that this doesn’t work out completely, you still need to be consistent to keep the other members happy. Eventually, you’ll be the one in the officer position.

This is for anybody that wants to build a better culture in their department whether you’re an officer or not. All you have to do is try.

Questions Related to This Topic? Email Us info@vollyhousepodcast.com

-Tyler - Co-Host of the Volly House Podcast