Please Suck Less

In combination systems, career and volunteers work together to provide excellent service to the citizens. That’s the way it is supposed to work. unfortunately, it does not always work that way. There are organizations that fight against each other. Career personnel want to get rid of the volunteers and volunteers refusing to work with the career. In the end the interior fighting makes the organization and the citizens suffer. 

There is strength in numbers these two entities working together can accomplish great things. there is no room for discord in the system and if the riff is from the top then the top needs to go. We are all here to do the job and when we do it together the system becomes great.

Why do unions gravitate towards a certain political party? Most of the time the answer is "we have always done it that way" At best that is a crap reason. All politicians suck and will promise you the moon and stars, but don't deliver yet election after election they keep supporting the same party. It is time for the heads of the local to listen to their members, who elected them to run the union in the first place. If your members want you to break the cycle and support a different candidate, then so be it. Stop blindly throwing you support to the same trash election after election.

Be loyal to your organization. Show some respect where you work. Stop trashing your department. Too many times we hear people who bash the system, trash talk how things run. These people may have legitimate complaints but fall on deaf ears because they never have solutions. There are those who just bitch to bitch, these people are never happy no matter what. 

If you don't like something work on fixing it. Speak to your leaders respectfully and offer solutions. You will find people listen when you speak with facts and not feelings.

So, if things are not great, ask yourself what can I do to make it better.

You say you take care of your people, but your people know it is Bull $h!T. if you did take care of them they would not be leaving and or trash talking you and the company. Take the time to appreciate the people who work hard and care about the job. 

Take time out of your day to meet the people face to face and tell them thanks for the work they do. Buy them breakfast or lunch or both. A little goes a long way. Letting your employees know you truly care makes the work environment better. If you don't, your employees will be less productive or may leave altogether and, in the end, you too may be looking for a new job.

So, a little off script this with this episode. I want to talk about the troubles I am hearing in the Healthcare field. Bad employees, no discipline for bad behavior, crappy managers, blind administrators, and arrogant Board members.

It is no secret that the waiting times in the ER to be seen or for an ambulance to off load patients is astronomical. The is no relief in sight and it keeps getting worse. 

It seems that management does not care, and all the good workers are fed up and are leaving the business in droves. 

It is time to revamp the system from the top down.  To the Managers, and Board of Directors go talk to the people who are closest to the issues and figure out how to fix the system and bring in and keep the good employees.

You graduated the academy and you got your station assignment. You are ready to embark on  the best job in the world. So what can you do to be a productive part of your new shift?

In this epsode I will lay out what you the rookie can do to be productive. I offer advice to the senior shift members to help turn out the best rookies.

It cost money to run the fire service. Things are expensive in the fire and rescue world. Fire apparatus is no longer 100's of thousands of dollars but a million plus. Our equipment and tools are expensive, a set of turnout gear is $5500, and our training continues to cost more and more, because we are asked to do more and more. 

When a citizen calls 911, they expect a well-trained well outfitted professional group of people getting off the apparatus, be you career or volunteer this is what the public expects. Not only is it our responsibility to give them that, but it is our job to continually educate the politicians, so they understand why our budgets increase every year.

Force the politicians to meet you on your turf. show them what you are required to do, then literally put them in our shoes and put them through the paces of firefighting. 

Open your fire stations to the public so they see what you do and why it is so important for them to donate.

Don't let the political figures cut our budgets hold their feet to the fire and be vocal to your needs. 

As a firefighter and/or an officer. you need to take you position seriously. This means on the fire ground. If you are the Rapid Intervention Company you take that task seriously. Full PPE SCBA and tools. 

If you are in the station make sure the apparatus is checked and clean. All your tools need to be clean and ready to go. The station must be clean (bathrooms, loung, engine room, kitchen...) 

Volunteer leaders you are responsible to make sure your station is in good working order. If you plumbing is crap get it fixed. if something is broken or does not work get it fixed. It is your house take care of it.

Don't be lazy do your job and stop SUCKING!

Do you work with employees who suck? We all do. How come they keep their jobs and the good employees leave because they are fed up. If your a manager or work in HR, pay attention to whats going on. Morale is in the toilet and you can't be bothered to fix the problems. You lose enough good people and you could be next.

Stop Sucking do your job!

Do you know people who just seem mad at everything on the job. Nothing is ever good. The get fixated on thing that can't be changed overnight. They are constantly bitching about thing they can't control, to the point that it affects their job. These people can tear a shift apart. 

Challenge these people get them to explain why they are so angry all the time. At the end of the day, it may be time for those people to move on from the shift or the job all together.

Don't let negativity seep into you work environment. We have the best job in the world. Approach the job with you best attitude.

In the fire service when the firefighters are not performing it is the Lieutenants and Captains fault. If the line officers suck it is the fault of the Battalion Chiefs fault and the fault continues up to the chief. The same is true for the civilian world. This is called the chain of suck. 

Hold your people accountable set the example and provide expectations.

Don't allow your people to only point out problems. Set a rule that no employee can point out problems or complain if they don't offer solutions. Your people must have the confidence to make decisions and offer solutions.  Support their ideas and encourage them to speak up.

Just because some people are not into the job like you are does not make them bad employees. Some don't eat and breath the job like you are. Don't compare someone else to your views. Look at their performance on the job, you will find they are every bit as good as you.

SUCK LESS DO BETTER