My Board

A time I found myself in the top left box was the first time I pumped a structure fire.  I remember driving E48 while working at Miami Township and being more nervous than I had ever been when we pulled off the ramp and saw a large column of black smoke rising in the distance. We had been dispatched to a working apartment fire on the 3rd floor.  We were first on scene.  I could feel myself starting to become overwhelmed with all the tasks before me.  E48's crew pulled a handline and was gone to make an attack on the fire.  I had to make sure and slow myself down mentally to ensure I did everything correctly. 

Slowing down and falling back to my training helped me manage a high stress situation.  I learned that training was vitally important.  It is import to train to the point you cant mess things up.

It's great you were able to slow down and step back to refocus.  I believe someone else mentioned it but I agree that we shouldn't rush new people through our FAO program.

The first time I responded to a structure fire with a possible trapped victim was definitely a time a was in that top left box.  The location of the call was in our first due district.  The structure was a multi family apartment building and it was 4 or 5 in the morning.  As several others have mentioned the pucker factor was present.  Dispatch relayed that there was one person unaccounted for but the time of day meant there could be more than one victim.  As we arrived there was smoke showing from a second story corner apartment.  My crew and one other crew met at the door of the apartment and we forced the door.  As we made entry there was zero visibility.  At this point the my heart was beating out of my chest and I was breathing heavy.  I knew I had to calm myself and rely on my training.  My crew went one direction and the other crew went the other.  As we searched and called out things just fell into place.  We finally made it to the bedroom and we found the victim on the floor near his bed.  We were able to remove the victim and hand him off to EMS outside. Our training and working as a team is what help us accomplish our goal.  Unfortunately he did not survive.  The only thing I would try to do better is to calm myself before entering the apartment.  As for what I'd pass on is to make sure you train and be confident in your training and your trust in your crew members.

When I was a station lieutenant I supervised an individual that was an inherently lazy employee.  Laziness was something that extremely irritated me.  I would passively and jokingly comment to the employee about their laziness in hopes they would get the hint.  One day, we were loading supply line after hose testing and this employee was nowhere to be found.  I found the employee talking on his cell phone and I blew up.  I yelled irrationally at the employee.  After my temper tantrum, I found out that the employee was having a small family emergency that they needed to attend to.  Talk about feeling like an ass.

This employee situation was handled inappropriately by me.  I have learned through higher education and experience that supervisors and managers should not have a one size fits all approach to handling personnel problems.  My passive approach may have worked with a different individual; however, it didn’t work with this particular person.  Instead, it led to me acting unprofessional.   In this situation, I should have had a formal coaching approach with this individual.  The employee did perform better after we had a conversation, I apologized for my behavior.  However, it is unknown to me if I breached trust and respect from that employee.

Probably not the only time you felt like an ass.  It's good you recognized how and where you went wrong with this.  It's easy to react the way you did because of this employees past behavior.  I'm sure you apologizing helped the situation because you owned your mistake.

While working at a previous job I was in charge of a small group of people.  Everyone in this group was a high performer...except for one!  This individual fell into every category of bad employee.  Lazy?...absolutely.  Bad performer?...check.  Excuses?...yup, tons of them.  Bad attitude? ...one of the worst.  So how did he keep his job?  His father was an executive with the same company.  he was a highly protected punk.  All previous supervisors turned a blind eye with this employee for fear of retaliation from above.  My plan was different.  I was going to coach this person.  We were going to work with positives not negatives.  After several weeks of trying this is was apparent this person had no desire to be better at anything.  I still stand by my original approach.  I tried to help through coaching not punishing.  No one had ever tried this with him.  Ultimately this failed as he was not willing to change...anything!  I was told by my boss to let it go with him and just concentrate on the team.  This didn't sit well with me but I relented and backed off.  I learned that even though my plan was achievable the person has to be willing to participate and has to care about their job.  I also learned not everyone can be helped. 

*This employee was moved to another group and continued the same behavior.  Soon after that I heard he had been fired...only after his father left the company to pursue other means of employment.           

I use these strategies to manage my time, both personally and professionally:  I prioritize tasks based on the necessity and how critical they are to operations or people.  I make sure the most important things come before everything else.   I use my calendar to schedule things at work and at home.  I have a separate work and personal calendar.  I make lists.  I have a daily list and a separate list for long term items.  My daily list may include long term items, but I make one list every day.  If something is not complete, I carry that over to the next day, or I reschedule that task.  I look ahead to forecast and plan.  I get help or delegate items that people can assist me with.  I make sure I have time to take on any task that I accept.  I get assignments like everyone else, but I have to watch how much extra stuff I take on. 

Some obstacles I face in time management, and how I remove them:  I let myself get distracted.  I have to focus and decide how much time to spend on a task.  I will also get up and take a break to get refocused.  My mind will wander, and I won’t get work done.  I can get frustrated when multi-tasking.  I will schedule time in the day to do individual things.  I will set self-imposed deadlines.  I will force myself to eliminate time wasting activities, because I use these to avoid doing what I need to do.  Sometimes, I have to close the door and dedicate time to finishing a specific activity and eliminate all distractions.  I also find that sometimes the best solution is to just go ahead and do something right now, to ensure it is completed. 

As simple as many of these things sound, it can be difficult to manage time to accomplish tasks.  Always being prepared for an emergency call, along with the amount of distractions, whether from people, email, electronic devices, phones, or whatever else, it is important to find a way to manage time effectively.

I have used a lot of what you talk about in my daily planning.  These are the things I took away from our talk.  It has been extremely helpful.  Asking for help is still a weak point for me but I am working on it.