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Call-In Information for Virtual Training

Instructors:

Eric Rosoff, Executive Manager, Career Survival Group
Brian Cummings, Senior Trainer/Consultant, Career Survival Group

I. Rationale:

Terminating a firefighter’s employment has a devastating impact on the employee and frequently has an adverse impact department morale. Additionally, terminations and related behaviors cost agencies millions of dollars annually. 

With this in mind, it is essential that fire service professionals at all levels acknowledge today’s firefighter is much more likely to be fired than killed in the line of duty. Many of these terminations can be avoided if we explore the common factors/behaviors costing firefighter’s their jobs across the country. 

II. Course Aims and Outcomes: 

Aims 
Career Survival Training is designed to help establish a culture of “administrative accountability” that is on a par with the existing culture of “operational accountability” so prevalent in fire services. 

Outcomes:
By the end of this course, students will:

• Have a clear understanding of the common behaviors that are costing firefighters their jobs.
• Understand how their passion and skill for operational preparation and readiness must also apply to their application of administrative responsibilities.
• See how surviving a career is frequently a team effort, exactly the same as surviving a dangerous call for service. 

III. Format and Procedures: 

Our training is in the form of a PowerPoint supported lecture and is approximately two hours in length including a 10 minute break. The outline us as follows: 

• Introductions
• Brief statement of how this training was developed.
• Why Career Survival training?
• “No one gets hurt on my watch!”
• Unnecessary terminations hurt the employee(s) and agency morale.
• Maintain the pride.
• Behaviors causing terminations frequently get published causing personal embarrassment for the employee and their family as well as a lack of public support and trust for the agency.
• A review of operational vs. administrative emphasis.
• Fire service agencies stress operational accountability as it is a requisite for survival.
• We compare operational emphasis to current efforts in avoiding terminations.
• Both operational and administrative success require that we recognize and respond to dangers with courage and skill.
• What are the dangers?
• We review case studies from over five years of researching firefighter terminations and identify the most common involved behaviors.
• A culture of administrative accountability.
• Accountability in all directions of the organizational chart.
• Frontline Supervision.
• No one in the agency has more influence on day to day operational or administrative success than the frontline supervisor.
• Tools
• Similar to hoses and chainsaws, there are tools every agency has to put out small administrative fires INSIDE the station.
• Counseling/Coaching
• Evaluations
• Conclusion
• Review of lessons learned including personal anecdotes of success and failure. 

 If you are unable to attend, there will be a recorded version available to members after the training by request. 

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