1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,360 Welcome to the Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast where we give you real tools to train ultimate 2 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,840 humor performance both on and off the emergency scene. 3 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:12,840 I'm your host, Kevin Housley. 4 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:15,320 Let's get to it. 5 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:19,440 Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast is brought to you by BruteForceTraining.com. 6 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:24,560 Enter the code Firefighter Craftsmanship at checkout for 10% off your entire order. 7 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:29,480 BruteForceTraining provides unstable and odd object load training systems that are adaptable 8 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:34,080 to meet whatever needs you want and they will absolutely give you all that you can handle. 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,080 Check out their new Adaptive Filler design which allows customization down to 5 pound 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:39,080 increments. 11 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,840 This is a great option for ease of entry for yourself and your crew to get relevant odd 12 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:48,560 object training that will help you perform on the emergency scene. 13 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:53,360 So BruteForceTraining.com and enter the code Firefighter Craftsmanship for 10% off your 14 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,560 entire cart. 15 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,560 Welcome to the Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast where we coach you to deal with the stressors 16 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:05,960 of the job as a first responder as well as how to thrive off duty. 17 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:10,800 Looking forward to today's episode which is going to be titled Setting Expectations at 18 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,400 the Crew Level and Beyond. 19 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:17,520 So expectations gets a lot of chatter around and we all have expectations of ourselves. 20 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:23,800 We all have expectations of others and in my experience it doesn't usually seem like 21 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:29,560 we communicate those expectations very well and so I like a quote from Dave Ramsey paraphrased 22 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:34,160 here a little bit is if you don't communicate your expectations then they're not expectations 23 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,040 they're just dreams. 24 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:40,240 And so we really can't be getting frustrated with people if we haven't very clearly communicated 25 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:46,320 our expectations and had a good solid conversation with those folks especially people if you're 26 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:52,840 in a crew environment of it's a two way conversation it's a two way street it's not just I'm imposing 27 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,440 these expectations upon you and you shall meet them. 28 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,720 You need to make sure that those things that you do expect of other people and that you 29 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:05,360 expect of yourself are within the ditch banks that they're attainable and that it's moving 30 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:09,480 you towards a positive direction that it's not just a mandated another mandated thing 31 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:14,520 because we don't need more mandates in our lives I don't care what organization you 32 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:18,520 work with we don't need more stuff to be ordered around to do. 33 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:25,680 So let's dive into today's topic and expectations what are they and who do they belong to. 34 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:32,240 And in my experience in different careers different organizations different organizations 35 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:36,560 we've had the fortune to work with there are a lot of different expectations out there 36 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:42,920 and and a lot of that really kind of comes into company culture or organizational culture. 37 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:48,160 And so organizational culture is really built around the things that we expect and the things 38 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:52,160 that we actually deliver upon when we're providing a service. 39 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,560 This could be if you're a sports coach it certainly could be in the home environment 40 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,920 and it certainly applies to us in emergency services. 41 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:03,800 So I'd like to challenge you a little bit to kind of think about expectations of belonging 42 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:09,040 obviously belonging to yourself but then if we're working in an environment where we have 43 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,160 other people on the team other crew members things like that the expectations don't just 44 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:19,720 belong to the supervisor whether that's you or whether it's not you the expectations should 45 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:23,800 really belong to everyone that's in that environment. 46 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:29,680 So as an officer on a fire engine I have expectations of myself and I have expectations of the people 47 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,720 that are working with us whether they're assigned to the company or they're not assigned to 48 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:38,320 the company they might just be visiting for a day on a trade or whatever but expectations 49 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:42,720 we have expectations of all those and all of those different people all of those different 50 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:49,960 stakeholders have expectations of me as well and my crew as well as well as the entire 51 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:54,360 shift in battalion and the entire fire department. 52 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,040 So is that the mile high fire con a few years ago and Chief Scott Thompson from the Colony 53 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:02,680 Texas had an amazing presentation where he talked about expectations specifically and 54 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,640 he used a really really cool example that I've actually tried to implement over the last 55 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:12,840 few years of do we know what the citizens the people that are actually paying for our 56 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:18,680 services of your district or your or your customers at the end of the day if you're 57 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:25,280 in the business world do we know what they actually expect of you and have you ever actually 58 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:30,760 asked them and so Chief Thompson gave a story when he came in there as the fire chief they 59 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:35,640 hadn't really ever taken any of those surveys they didn't really have a good understanding 60 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:42,080 about what does the community expect us to provide to them and so he went out and he 61 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,920 did basically just a straw poll at the grocery store he stood out in front of the grocery 62 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:51,440 store and he started talking to the people that were within his community and it was 63 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:58,560 a very simple question if you call 911 what do you expect of us and so that's something 64 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:03,520 that I've really tried to do when we're out grocery shopping or we're out in the community 65 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:07,800 and people you know we are very fortunate where we're in the fire service where we get 66 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:15,280 thanked for the job that we've signed up to do which in my opinion is completely unnecessary 67 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:20,120 but it's a great opportunity for us to ask that question of hey thank you thank you so 68 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:26,640 much for for your service we'll hear that a lot and you know my response is hey we really 69 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:31,280 really appreciate that you know it's an honor for us to to be in this position to help when 70 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:38,400 we can and to try to help but your your thankfulness really isn't necessary but thank you for saying 71 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:47,040 something if you call 911 what do you expect from us and then at that point just shut your 72 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:52,720 mouth and listen and they'll probably be like what what do you mean what I expect from you 73 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:57,440 like seriously if you call 911 or somebody in your family calls 911 what do you expect 74 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:02,440 from us and then just listen and you're going to get a lot of the exact same answers and 75 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:08,440 I like to ask this to different age groups of people if we have an elderly person that 76 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:13,000 stops us I like to ask them if we have a little kid where mom and dad maybe made them come 77 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:18,440 over and say thank you to us I like to ask them as well and the crazy thing that you're 78 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:25,600 going to find is the answer regardless of generation is going to be the same they expect us to 79 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:32,320 solve their problem they expect us to be nice they expect us to be competent and they expect 80 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:39,520 us to help them for whatever we called or they called us for and this obviously is grown 81 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,720 a little bit out of proportion for the way that emergency medical services is being used 82 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,240 as people's primary care doctors and things like that we're not going to jump on that 83 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:52,000 soapbox today at all so here's a that's a little fun thing or if you got probes on your 84 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:57,000 crew it's kind of a cool thing to model for you if you're a senior firefighter or you're 85 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:02,680 a senior leader in your department or organization or you're the officer start to teach them 86 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:07,280 to have those conversations because it's much more impactful when you hear as chief Brunessey 87 00:07:07,280 --> 00:07:12,680 would call it Mrs. Smith tell you what she expects from you it's much more impactful 88 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:17,280 than if it's just the boss over there talking about what he expects again blah blah blah 89 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:22,240 blah blah much more impactful when it comes from the actual stakeholders where the external 90 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:29,600 customer when we're trying to to provide a certain service or response type so to expand 91 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:34,280 upon expectations what are they and who do they belong to well they certainly don't even 92 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:39,520 just belong to the crew they certainly don't just belong to the boss they belong to the 93 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:45,440 internal and the external customer so everybody gets a voice and we really really should build 94 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:52,360 the crew level expectations to meet the citizen expectations so if the citizen expectations 95 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:59,840 are I want you to show up and be competent and to be able to solve the problem no matter 96 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:06,320 what it is and I want you to treat my family with empathy and kindness and compassion even 97 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:11,360 if it doesn't necessarily work out we don't always win it's just the fact of the job that 98 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:16,280 we're in an emergency services we don't always win and some days suck that's all there is 99 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:20,720 to it some days are really really bad but not every day is really really bad and there's 100 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:26,680 a lot of things that we can control to make that those bad days just a just a teeny bit 101 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:32,760 better which at the end of it is a win for both the external customer and the internal 102 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:38,880 customer so attached in the show notes for this episode specifically is a free downloadable 103 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:43,920 expectations template and this is a template that I've been using for quite a few years 104 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:49,680 and have had really really good success both at the company and it's now starting to leach 105 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:55,200 out across the country to be honest with this this free resource so check out the show notes 106 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,400 or go to firefightercraftsmanship.com and you can get that free company expectations 107 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:05,040 downloadable there and as you start to use this template make it better don't just don't 108 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:09,040 just copy what I have there like take that thing and make it better make it your own 109 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:14,600 make it your companies and so this this document here really is a living and breathing thing 110 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:19,760 and it belongs to the entire company or the crew depending on what what language you use 111 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:26,040 around that so let this thing grow make it better add stuff delete stuff but keep it 112 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:31,480 within reason it shouldn't be this like war and peace manuscript about all of these different 113 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:35,600 things so try to keep it nice and simple it should be easily digestible it should be 114 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:40,600 really really easy to understand and really for me in my opinion it should be if I hand 115 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,720 it to you you should be able to get through that thing in less than five minutes and have 116 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:48,560 a really really good understanding of what that expectations are and the way that we 117 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:56,040 can do that is by using foundational protocols policies and procedures SOPs whatever the words 118 00:09:56,040 --> 00:10:01,120 are that you use for those as the foundational building blocks for that I don't need to go 119 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:06,520 through every single one of my SOPs and write all of those into that we know that the SOPs 120 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:11,320 are there for how do we operate on a different emergency scene call types we know how it's 121 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:17,160 there how do we operate in the admin world in the firehouse all those sorts of things 122 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:21,760 but this just maybe take some of those highlight piece out and and one of the ways that I've 123 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:26,880 used this really really to good success is by giving it to people that are not assigned 124 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:33,040 to the crew so when they walk in the door we have the book is what we call it and it's 125 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:37,320 not a book it's just a simple PDF just like the downloadable version you can you can get 126 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:42,400 for yourself and I say hey when you get a second take a look at this because this is 127 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:46,280 what's expected of you based on what seat riding position so if they're driving for 128 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:53,120 us that day as the engineer here's what is expected of you but then also here's what 129 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:57,960 you can expect from me as the officer here's what you can expect from the back seaters 130 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:03,440 as the firefighters and when you do that for the first few times it might be a kind of 131 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,640 weird you know because there's not a lot of people out there really doing this and so 132 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:11,760 it might feel kind of weird but the more you do it the easier it becomes and just be ready 133 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:15,280 for when you hand them this and say hey I want you to go through this really quick you're 134 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:20,920 probably going to get are you serious and then the answer to that is simply yep let 135 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:25,040 me know if you have any questions or we can go through it together if you would like so 136 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:29,280 boom right away I've set the tone of like yes this is important to us as a company this 137 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,680 doesn't just belong to me this belongs to us as a company and we're excited to have 138 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:37,920 you here today but we also have some things that we're expecting of you and then you have 139 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:42,520 some things that you're expecting of me which we'll get to here in a minute when we have 140 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:47,640 a quick question you know question and answer session after you get through this document 141 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:52,480 and for all of those conversations where people have either challenged a little bit of like 142 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:58,120 you seriously want me to read this or they've just been taken aback in every single one 143 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:03,840 of those situations that person has said hey can I can I keep this this is something that 144 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:08,880 was really really valuable so I'm going to chalk that up into the win category so just 145 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:12,360 use that if you're doing something that's kind of new and it might feel kind of weird 146 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:16,820 for the first couple times just encourage them to take it with them or just be ready 147 00:12:16,820 --> 00:12:22,360 for them to want to take it with them which is awesome because then it grows and it spreads 148 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:28,920 and it makes things a lot easier on everybody involved so when we include the entire company 149 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:35,280 to build this expectations document or the book or whatever you want to call it why does 150 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:41,560 that really work and it works from a perspective of psychological theory that's heavily heavily 151 00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:47,920 researched called self-determination theory and self-determination theory really has three 152 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:54,400 parts to it and the first part is autonomy so meaning do you have control over your 153 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:58,920 own life and so when I say hey we're going to have an expectations document and I'm 154 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:04,240 the officer and I just sit up there and I do death by PowerPoint or whatever the version 155 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:08,040 of my delivery is and I just say these are the things that you are going to do blah blah 156 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:12,520 blah blah blah and in most of those conversations I've been involved with growing up in the 157 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:18,440 fire service there really wasn't ever what do you as the crew expect of me what did we 158 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:25,640 expect of that officer so when you give them the power to be involved in this and so if 159 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:30,800 you're if you're new to the company you might have to start and say hey as the new officer 160 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:37,400 as a new designated adult here are the expectations we are going to try to meet those things if 161 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:41,720 we don't meet those things here's the process on how we're going to make sure we do but 162 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:46,640 these are some of those non-negotiables I have as the officer which are all supported 163 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:53,480 by department policy procedure rules and regs things like that but once that initial meeting 164 00:13:53,480 --> 00:14:02,160 is over or in that initial meeting I say now what do you expect of me boom we're already 165 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:06,600 tapping into that part of self-determination theory with autonomy because I'm giving them 166 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:13,040 power to say well this these are the things that are also important to me or you're allowing 167 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:17,640 them to maybe challenge those things that you've written down which sometimes that's 168 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:23,200 really really good and sometimes it's just an opportunity for you to be like I understand 169 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,400 that might have been how it used to be here but that is no longer what we're going to 170 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:32,400 do and this is the standard that's going to set starting today so autonomy is a really 171 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:38,680 really cool thing and we will do more episodes on self-determination theory for sure but autonomy 172 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:44,800 and giving people power to have control over their own career path and their their own 173 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:49,920 ability to be successful and to learn from their failures and things like that is a major 174 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:55,000 major major component of people being happy at work and here at firefighter craftsmanship 175 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:00,920 we want you to be happy healthy and strong both at work and in retirement and so if you 176 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:05,480 might be in an environment where you're really really frustrated kind of use this and look 177 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:12,760 how much autonomy do I have and if you don't have very much well can you get it can you 178 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:17,920 get it within that environment that you currently in and if there is just no hope for you to 179 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:22,720 have any autonomy then simply stated it's probably time for you to look go work somewhere 180 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:29,720 else alright so the second part of self-determination theory is relatedness meaning well that's 181 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:34,320 why crew cohesion is so important and we talk about you know the family of the fire service 182 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:40,320 and things like that but you have to build relationships to relate to people and you 183 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:44,400 know you can certainly relate to people that you don't agree with we're in a very politically 184 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:50,640 trying time which with election season coming up is going to get even worse so let's work 185 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:55,520 on that can we have good conversations I would suggest not having political conversations 186 00:15:55,520 --> 00:16:00,440 at work but can we have good conversations about strategy and tactics with people that 187 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:05,280 we don't agree with and you don't even have to end the day by agreeing with them but can 188 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:09,920 I have a good solid debate and conversation and everybody leaves where nobody's just getting 189 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:14,320 bullied or getting name called or any of that stuff by the end of it but can I relate to 190 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:19,280 that person and say I understand their perspective where they're coming from I just don't agree 191 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:24,920 with it and that's okay too so relatedness how do you relate to those people that are 192 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:32,840 in your company in your fire department in your station within your platoon squad whatever 193 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:37,080 whatever your environment is can you have relatedness with those folks around you is 194 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:43,600 there a connection there both at work and potentially off duty as well and that's a 195 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:48,200 very very important part of self determination three and the final one which is something 196 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:53,280 we do really really well in emergency services in my opinion is competence if you look back 197 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:58,120 at your training calendar I would venture to guess over 95% of your training over the 198 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:05,320 last year is 100% dedicated to competence basic skills competence are we able to perform 199 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:12,240 those actions when we're called to do so and so I think when we look at this or an organizational 200 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:17,120 perspective almost all of our training other than mandated things like HR training and 201 00:17:17,120 --> 00:17:22,960 things like that is related to competence and if we go all the way back to what is the 202 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:27,200 external customer expect from us the number one thing that they're going to tell you 203 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:34,920 every single time is we want you to be competent and so when we when we do an expectations document 204 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:39,600 kind of like this downloadable PDF here we are tying into all of these where we were 205 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:45,920 building a community and a culture that's relatable we're explaining to people how they 206 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:51,680 fit into that and how they can be super super successful within that culture we're allowing 207 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:57,560 them to drive what are the expectations and we're also saying hey here are things that 208 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:02,320 we are going to be competent about and here is what I expect from you based on how you're 209 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:06,800 riding on the rig today what seat you're in these are the things that are expected of 210 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:11,120 you and if you are not competent in those then let's go out right now and figure out 211 00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:15,720 how we can make that happen or do we need to get you moved maybe to another assignment 212 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:21,360 if you're on a specialized company or something like that one of the other advantages of having 213 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:26,400 this this living and breathing document is that it makes us get back in there and make 214 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:33,120 sure that the expectations haven't changed aren't too hard aren't too soft based on what 215 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:37,960 the crew dynamic is if that crew has changed or things like that because if you have a 216 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:44,760 very very junior and not experienced company then your expectations of the work output 217 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:50,680 that they're able to perform in a super smart way has to change with that and then they can 218 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:55,120 grow within that and so maybe then it changes into hey here's some of the goals that we're 219 00:18:55,120 --> 00:19:00,800 working towards here's the basic expectations that are absolutely not negotiable but what 220 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:05,000 do you what do you expect as that new member to the crew how can we get you up to this 221 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:10,560 level of where we want to go so I'd encourage you to put this thing on a rotational basis 222 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:15,800 at the very minimum twice a year where you can go back to this expectations document 223 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:23,520 and say hey as a company are we meeting these as an individual am I meeting these as a group 224 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:27,920 are we actually doing what we're saying and so another fun way that you can incorporate 225 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:32,920 this is to create a company motto what do you want to be known as with your specific 226 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:37,880 environment your specific company do you in the fire service want to be known as that 227 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:42,240 company that when they show up everybody just wants you to leave because you're paying the 228 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:49,160 ass or your bravado and your ego is so gigantic that regardless of how good your basic skills 229 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:54,360 are nobody wants you around and they can't wait to cancel you as fast as humanly possible 230 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:58,800 or do you want to be known as that company that when you show up you want to get that 231 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:04,400 hardest job and you want to be in the mix and you want when you're on the ticket for 232 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:09,880 that response where those other responding units are like all right cool I know I don't 233 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:14,360 have to worry about them I can actually give them some really really good work and they 234 00:20:14,360 --> 00:20:18,720 are going to make this problem better I have a feeling I know what answer you would rather 235 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:23,280 have but this is where some self assessment and going back to that expectation of how 236 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:28,760 do we treat each other within the crew within the company how do we treat those surrounding 237 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:33,000 companies around us how do we treat those surrounding companies around us that might 238 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:40,760 need a little bit of help right how do we be leaders and extend that hey let's let's 239 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,800 get out there and work together and let's create good positive training environments 240 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:49,640 where we can where we can grow and we can push each other and I can really help you 241 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:54,280 with those things that might be a little bit sticky or you're just downright scared to 242 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:59,200 perform how do we how do we figure that out and this document can really be a good catalyst 243 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,680 for all of those conversations to happen I'd encourage you once you have this document 244 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:09,120 complete that you also provide it to the surrounding companies like I just talked about but you 245 00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:14,200 provide it to your superiors and you say hey if you're if you're on an engine company hey 246 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:19,080 chief as your battalion chief here is what you can expect from us because these are the 247 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:23,880 things that we're working towards every day and then also help us be that external factor 248 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:29,680 where you can say hey to me it looks like you you all are meeting this or hey we could 249 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:34,280 really really work in these areas here give it to your training division right let them 250 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:40,720 help you if you have one let them help you grow and push and challenge yourself to make 251 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:45,080 sure that those expectations are being met so the way that this document has been broken 252 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:49,800 down is really really simple so it starts with daily checks hey here's what I expect 253 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:54,040 from the daily checks here's what we expect of each other from the daily checks and then 254 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:59,280 it goes into specific call types and so for the fire service specific we have different 255 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:03,240 specific call types I don't have every call type on here but I got the big ticket item 256 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:09,040 ones like medicals what's expected structure fires how about if we get assigned as the 257 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:14,600 RIT company how about auto alarm and detector calls and the way that I've laid this out 258 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:19,160 is because those are the areas to me where I've seen lots of complacency either within 259 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:25,000 myself or with crews that I've worked with or worked around and so when somebody comes 260 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:31,120 in and they're a guest for us or they're brand new to our company hey here is the expectation 261 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:37,080 we're going to overdress until proven otherwise and so we have that conversation so if we get 262 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:42,800 dispatched to a motor vehicle accident we're expecting all of those to be turned into extrications 263 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:47,800 we're expecting all of those to have really really hurt people trauma cores things like 264 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:53,200 that and so that way when we show up and we have no information and we do have a nasty 265 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:59,200 call or a trauma core it's not we just are saying yeah of course I already expected that 266 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:04,760 now we just plug that into the basic skill sets that we know how to do or if we get dispatched 267 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:09,680 to an automatic alarm we're putting on all of our PPE we're getting out the door quick 268 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:16,280 and so that building is on fire until proven otherwise and so just remember you know with 269 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:21,120 if we're talking about fire specifically and ventilation limited conditions we have all 270 00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:26,200 this education around ventilation limited conditions but then that first in company gets on scene 271 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:31,000 and maybe their on scene report says I got nothing showing and so right away all of us 272 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:36,360 are like oh yeah of course not well which one is it could the building not be on fire 273 00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:41,800 of course or could it be a vent limited condition where it's just not showing me it's on fire 274 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:46,000 so there's one of the things that you could put in your expectation document of even something 275 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:52,320 like that if you're noticing some complacency around a certain specific thing then include 276 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:56,280 that that's a really really good talking point to have as a company and the biggest thing 277 00:23:56,280 --> 00:24:00,160 that I think has really been the most positive thing about having this expectations written 278 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:05,920 down and handing it to people that are either new or are with us for the day is the training 279 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:12,600 mentality and so there's a lot of nervous energy around training in emergency services 280 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:18,480 and there's even more nervous energy and chatter internal chatter for sure about failure and 281 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:23,920 what failure means so I really encourage you to write down on paper what is our training 282 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:30,440 mentality what do we believe in and how do we define failure especially in the training 283 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:37,400 environment and then live that and that might be a little bit tough right so you might think 284 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:44,120 that your poop doesn't stink but unfortunately it does okay and so this job and emergency 285 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:49,960 services as a whole has a fun little habit of finding you and kicking your ass on those 286 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:55,240 things that that you are not confident in it's just the way that it works and so you 287 00:24:55,240 --> 00:25:00,200 need to have a good healthy relationship with failure especially in the training environment 288 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:05,360 you need to have a good healthy relationship with failure on an actual emergency scene 289 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:10,920 and how do you respond to that it's really really important and that these are the things 290 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:15,960 that you can definitely define in this expectations document but you got to have people that are 291 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:20,840 outside the crew or you got to have those honest conversations within that crew that 292 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:25,040 says hey these are the things that we've said are important to us and these are the things 293 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:30,160 that we said we were going to live by and we're not doing that and so you have to have 294 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:34,320 whether that's the probi or the most senior firefighter or the officer it shouldn't just 295 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:38,760 always be the officer that's upholding that line because they slip too and it's easy for 296 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:43,920 them to get overwhelmed and let some things slip so have those external forces have those 297 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:48,520 internal forces that are really there to help fact check you no gotchas just help you get 298 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:55,280 better and to grow so head on over to firefightercraftsmanship.com download the free expectations 299 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:59,360 template downloadable or you can hit that in the show notes and it'll take you right 300 00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:04,960 to that download page as well so thank you for spending your time with us we really appreciate 301 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:10,320 it we really appreciate you sharing we appreciate you rating and reviewing the show that's really 302 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:15,520 been helpful for us to grow this thing week over week continue to reach out with questions 303 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:20,800 and ideas and challenges I've had some really really good conversations this week about some 304 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:26,000 past episodes especially the psychological detachment episode had a hilarious phone 305 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:30,800 call that started with hey I'm really really liking this I listen to this psychological 306 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:35,920 detachment episode which will be linked in the show notes but either you're full of shit 307 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:40,680 or I'm full of shit was how it started and we had a really really good conversation which 308 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:48,200 actually led to me wanting to record this expectations podcast so this is actually going to be a two 309 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:52,880 part series expect expectations part one is going to be how to set them at the crew level 310 00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:58,720 because that's the easiest lowest hanging fruit and part two of this is going to be how do you set 311 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:06,640 expectations with yourself so as always thank you for for following us thank you for the comments 312 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:12,400 and the feedback thank you for sharing this show please smash on that follow button on your favorite 313 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:19,040 podcast player so you never miss one of these weekly episodes and stay smart thank you for 314 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:23,520 listening to the firefighter craftsmanship podcast where we give you real tools to train ultimate 315 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:28,880 humor performance both on and off the emergency scene you can find more information on our web 316 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:35,200 page at firefightercraftspinship.com including all the classes that we offer and there's plenty 317 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:40,000 of free resources and training on the site as well reach out to us on social media including 318 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,000 instagram and facebook we'd love to have a conversation and figure out how we can help you 319 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:59,920 achieve your goals stay smart