My Board

I would disagree with the article.
For one, we have been doing education and fire prevention for years now, so that’s nothing new We have also known that the  burning of wood, plastics, furniture, electronics and other building materials releases hazardous substances such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that with proper use of your PPE and SCBA can greatly reduce the risk for exposer. Where we need to get better is after the event with decon, equipment and self and I believe we’ve made great strides in doing so.
Also, listen to the 911 call from the lady in Florida who latterly burned to death because the fire department would not enter the house. I wouldn’t assume that everyone is dead just because you have smoke and fire on your arrival. That’s just asking for trouble.
And last, holding home/business owner accountable for fires is silly, especially when a majority of them are undetermined cause. Good luck with that in court.
Kevin Stevens

Kevin I agree with you that in general the fire service should be doing a much better job with decon of our equipment and ourselves.  This definitely is a realistic process that can be accomplished.  Doing a gross decon on scene and a more thorough job once we are back at the station.  I agree with the author that just using wet wipes to decon yourself isn't enough.   

Problem......Lazy Lump

I believe most people that I have supervised over the last 20 years all want to do a good job. But on occasion including my-self will become lazy from time to time. I had a guy that worked for me that always did a great job with every task that I had ask him accomplish. But what I didn't know was that when I wasn't around he would not do a thing except play on his phone and the computer. Other team members would complain that if I was not there he would do as little as possible and would find every excuse not to work. I noticed that if I did not give him an assignment every morning he would do nothing at all but sit around and wait for me to come back in and he would jump up and act like he was doing something. So I pulled him into the office and I told him what is co-workers were saying about him and also what I had observed over the last couple of weeks. I explained to him that he was letting the team down and that he needed to start pulling his fair share and that is behavior is not acceptable. He agreed and after that day I had no complaints are issues with this employee.

I do agree with you that most people want to do a good job and be productive.  The further I have gone in my career I have realized the importance of clear expectations.  I find it more difficult to support the employee meeting those expectations.  Every employee is different and how you reach one employee doesn't translate to the next one.  I think being honest with their situation is always the best way to go.  Hopefully out of the respect of an honest evaluation they can become an effective member of the team.

I won't pretend to have a lot of experience in counseling employees as a supervisor, but I have seen many situations that relate to this topic.  I worked with a firefighter that had many years of experience and was in the twilight of his career.  The supervisor we worked for ignored the problem of him being lazy and making excuses for poor job performance.  It was easier for the supervisor to place the burden on the other crew members than to deal with an uncomfortable situation.  After many frustrating months working as this guys partner I realized he wasn't necessarily lazy or unmotivated.  He had been shuffled around the department and felt under valued which led to him being unmotivated.  His supervisors didn't deal with the issue and sent him to a out laying station and had little expectation for him.  After I took the time to talk to him and recognizing he wanted to be more active I started helping him work on updating his skills. I was also able to have him teach myself and another member of the crew from his many years of experience.  It led to the "senior firefighter" feeling like he contributed to the crew and gave him buy in.  The firefighter and I had set expectations for each other as partners and both were able to meet them.  We became a great team and I was glad I didn't write him off as many had.

What strategies do you use to manage your time effectively?
I have struggled with this my whole adult life.  I have tried many ways to curb this without success.  Recently I talked to a mentor about this problem and he gave me some great advice as well as some good ideas to manage my time more effectively.  I have always made lists for myself.  I would create a list of all tasks to be completed.  What I found was it was very cumbersome.  Now what I find useful is to create separate lists comprised of long term, short term and daily goals to be completed.  I write these down in a notebook as well as use a an app on my phone.  I refer to my paper list constantly and cross out task as I complete them.  I use the app as a backup and to give me notifications for deadlines.  This approach has helped me with managing my time.         

What are some of your biggest obstacles to you managing your time effectively?
1)Distractions are a time killer.  Whether its work or home life getting sidetracked takes away from accomplishing my goals.

2)I have issues on prioritizing goals.  I can find myself tackling goals that are the easiest first.   
 
What can you do to remove some of these obstacles?
1)Like the article states taking breaks during work helps with this.  Use those breaks for checking email, texts, TV etc...then go back to work.

2)Sticking to my lists that I have created will help with accomplishing the goals that need to be completed first.   

I like the idea of completing the easier tasks first.  I tend to prioritize my tasks by how urgent they are.  Trying to stick to your lists can also be a challenge when other things come up.