The Art of Speaking Up

Recently I received a phone call from a captain in Colorado. He wanted to bounce a few ideas off me about training ideas I inspired during my recent Training for Failure program they hosted. One of the topics we addressed was teaching firefighters how to speak up when they have concerns. Teaching how to do this is especially important for new firefighters. Here’s why.

Recruit Firefighter Expectations

Many recruit training programs are highly regimented and recruits are taught to shut up and do as they are told. They spend weeks, sometimes months, learning how to take orders and execute those orders without question. Instructors can be intimidating – sometimes on purpose and sometimes not.

Recruits have a lot to learn and oftentimes there’s not much time for debate, discussion or opinions about what is being taught. The programs are highly regimented and recruits are there to learn. If this describes your training program, there’s nothing wrong with that. Environments like this teach recruits to be seen but not heard.

Post Recruit Firefighter Expectations

When recruit firefighters complete their training and receive their station assignment, it is highly probable that the respect for authority and the seen-but-not-heard expectations ingrained in them during their recruit training is likely to continue.

Most company officers and command officers I have spoken to have told me, without question, if they were making a mistake that would cause a subordinate firefighter to get hurt or killed they would want the subordinate to speak up and express their concerns in hopes of preventing a catastrophe.

However, it’s highly likely that firefighters will not speak up – out of fear or respect.

A few years ago I had an opportunity to give two presentations to wildland firefighters. The first day’s presentation was for the bosses. The second day’s presentation was for hand crews (front line firefighting crews). When I was with the bosses we talked about a wild land fatality incident where front line personnel did not speak up, even though they knew things were going bad. We dissected that event and talked about organizational culture, fear of retribution and the importance of creating an environment where front line firefighters would be willing to speak up if they thought mistakes were being made.

The bosses assured me that they have worked hard to create an open culture and strongly encourage hand crew personnel to speak up if they see or sense something is going wrong. They referred me to the wild land fire “Ten Standard Firefighting Orders” and the “Eighteen Watch Out Situations”, (a.k.a. as the “10s and 18s”). Several in attendance held up their field guides. Since they seemed to have a handle in this important cultural concept, we quickly moved on to the next lesson.

However, on the second day, when I had the hand crews in the room, the story was quite different. Along with the hand crews, there were also some crew bosses present so I asked them to step out of the room for a few minutes so I could talk just to the hand crews. Once the room was clear of all bosses, I asked the hand crews to raise their hands if they would be comfortable speaking up if they saw or sensed something was going wrong in the field. Out of 50+ in the room, three raised their hands and one of them qualified his vote by saying it depended on which crew boss it was.

Speaking up is a skill

Knowing when and how to speak up if there is a concern… is a skill. As a skill, it can be taught. But is it? The curiosity about this led me to the next question for the students. Raise your hands if you’ve ever participated in a training session where you actually practiced speaking up to a boss.

Several of the attendees had admitted to receiving instruction about how and when to speak up. But, sadly, not one student in the room had ever practiced the skill. It’s much easier to TALK ABOUT speaking up than it is to ACTUALLY speak up.

This brings me back to my discussion with the Captain that prompted this post. Like the bosses of the wild land crews he also admitted to having many discussions where he encouraged his firefighters to speak up. But, by his admission, they’d never actually practiced it.

I recommended the captain teach his crew how to disagree with him and then have them practice the skill. It’s important that during the practice, the firefighter avoid talking in the third-person voice (e.g., “I would tell the captain that I disagree with his decision because…”). There is no ownership in the action when presented in the third-person voice. Rather, the firefighter would look the captain in the eye and say something like: “Captain Jones, I have a concern about what we are doing here and I want to tell you why before we engage. Then the firefighter would express his concern in the first-person voice, talking directly to the captain as if it were a real conversation on a real fireground.

Expect there to be some stumbling and stammering at first because many firefighters are going to be uncomfortable voicing their concerns. The captain could, preemptively, demonstrate how he would want to be addressed under such conditions by role-playing as the firefighter. This will help the firefighters find the words – and the courage – to speak up.

Then, once the courage has been mustered in the classroom, it is time to take the skill set to the next level and create training scenarios where the captain makes a bad decision and/or gives inappropriate orders on purpose. Of course, it goes without saying, these scenarios should never create actual danger for the firefighters. Then, in the moment, the firefighter practices their newly acquired skill set of disagreeing with respect.

The Five Step Assertive Statement Process

I have previously written about this concept so I will only cover it in summary fashion here and include a link to the article.

The Five Step Assertive Statement Process comes directly from the Crew Resource Management program developed in aviation. For the process to be most effective, a department should develop a policy and train all firefighters on when, why and how to use the process. The steps of the process include:

1. Addressing the person you have a concern with formally.

2. Using a standard phrase to indicate you have a concern. (In aviation, it is simply “I have a concern.”)

3. State the concern.

4. Recommend an alternative action.

5. Gain approval or consensus of the decision maker.

Dr. Gasaway’s Advice

It is likely that in most organizations the bosses would want subordinates to speak up if there was a concern about safety or concerns about decision making. Sadly, however, in some organizations, the culture is not supportive of subordinates taking exception to the decisions of superiors. So, the subordinates say nothing and let the incident degrade into a catastrophe. This leads to outcomes that are both tragic and avoidable.

I recommend developing a policy that stipulates the terms and conditions that authorize a subordinate to speak up and express a concern without fear of retribution. In fact, the policy should go as far as to explicitly state the employee will be protected from retribution.

But a policy is not enough. Subordinates need to practice the script, in the first-person voice, to gain comfort with how to utter the words and how to overcome the inherent fear of defying an authority figure.

Honestly, some bosses will also need to practice receiving this kind of feedback. Because, let’s face it, some bosses are equally uncomfortable receiving the feedback that indicates they are making a mistake.

The Pigs are Eating Lemons

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to speak to the recruit class of the Buckley Fire Department (Washington). Chief Predmore was in attendance and he took my message seriously. Having firefighters who would not speak up if they had a concern was, in his words, unacceptable. So he engaged his firefighters in a discussion about how to speak up and what they might say if they had a concern. Step 2 of the Assertive Statement Process is to use a phrase that indicates there is a concern. In Buckley, they got creative. They wanted a phrase that would be so unusual that the commander would have to listen up. They chose “The Pigs are Eating Lemons!” It may not work for everyone… but it works well for Buckley.

Action Items

1. Assess your department’s culture to determine if line personnel feel free to speak up when there are concerns for safety.

2. Assess your department’s culture to determine if supervisors are open to critical feedback.

3. Consider developing a policy to address how and when to employ an assertive statement process.

4. Provide training for all personnel on how to give and receive critical feedback.

5. Create training scenarios where personnel practice the skill expressing concerns for safety.