How it all began…
In 2009, Bill Dolan, Rick Gomes, and Peter Ostroskey, three veteran Fire Chiefs from Massachusetts, started talking about what was becoming an issue for their professional organization, the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts. FCAM had begun to receive a number of requests for assistance from Chiefs for situations involving their leadership that were at the crisis level and needed monetary, as well as legal, assistance.
Although FCAM maintains a Legal Defense Fund for Chief Aid funded by a percentage of its professional development revenues, the veteran Chiefs realized that many of the cases concerned issues in which legal assistance should not be necessary—issues that were preventable but had accelerated into crisis stage because the individuals affected had drawn a definite line in the sand. Providing assistance to all of these cases would rapidly reduce the funds available for situations that more closely met the original intent. The mission of FCAM is to “further the professional advancement of the fire service; to serve as the recognized Fire Chiefs’ organization for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience in the area affecting fire prevention, fire extinguishment, and the safety of life and property from fire; and to promote efficient fire administration.” However, the requests for assistance often involved unrelated problems.
What the veteran Chiefs discussed that day was how to maintain the legal fund’s original intent while still providing assistance to Chiefs in crisis. The idea of situational “interventions” surfaced—making more seasoned Chief’s available for “advice” sessions—when a request came in, FCAM would ask a veteran Chief from a similar department profile to work with the Chief to resolve the problem.
The fact that this realized idea worked well set the same Chiefs to thinking: “Perhaps we can be even more proactive by starting early with new Chiefs, hooking them into a network, giving them some preventative advice, so that, as issues arose, they knew someone to call.” Thus began the Board of Director’ efforts to institute a more formal FCAM mentoring program. Not a replacement for the one-to-one situational intervention efforts, but a broader program with a more proactive approach to helping Chiefs ensure and complete successful careers.
Like any new idea or venture, the program has been evolving slowly. The Chiefs wanted to get as much input as possible from the individuals who would represent the soul of the effort—the mentors who offered their services to Chiefs facing leadership challenges within their communities. The original concept has been expanded to include other components as well as the mentoring component initially envisioned. Although the proactive nature of the networking and mentoring was initially designed for new Chiefs, the audience has also expanded to include active Chiefs and Chiefs nearing, or in, retirement.
At the center of the program is the belief that any Fire Chief, from the moment he/she begins their tenure, starts to accumulate a vast amount of knowledge and experience from which other Chiefs can benefit.
The goals of the program are fourfold:
- To provide new Fire Chiefs with guidance on optimizing their effectiveness as a Fire Chief through building a network of professional colleagues and potential mentors
- To provide new and current Fire Chiefs with the opportunity to obtain competent, reliable, and consistent assistance by qualified peers when needed
- To provide Fire Chiefs close to retirement with guidance on benefits, job opportunities, and mentoring on how to transition out of the role of Chief.
- To accomplish these goals while maintaining respect for the individual’s stature as Fire Chief
The program activities are intended to facilitate the building of long-term mentoring relationships through four different types of activities:
- Initial networking and relationship-building with new Chiefs
- Initial and ongoing training for mentors
- Assistance for Chiefs in crisis (not to be confused with Critical Incident Stress Management) (current implementation of mentors)
- Building a web-accessible repository for documented knowledge and experience. A major component of this repository is the situation report—a report that is expected to be completed should a Chief request assistance in a problem area.
This program is not limited to members of FCAM. It is intended to assist fire service professionals including any Active Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief or Life Member of the Association (life members may be serving as interim Fire Chiefs) who seeks or requests assistance.
Coordinators of the program are retired Norton Fire Chief Rick Gomes, retired Westford Fire Chief Richard Rochon, and Marshfield Fire Chief Kevin Robinson. Calls for assistance are routed through FCAM Secretary Bill Dolan to the program coordinators who then match the circumstances and demographics of the community with those of a trained mentor who is available for advice. When these interventional processes are completed, the situation report is completed and provided to Chief Gomes or Chief Robinson. Some aspects of the report, such as names and location, are confidential and for program administration purposes only; however, general information is documented and available for the web repository.
It is important to reflect on what longer-term mentoring relationships as well as short-term interventional mentoring represent for Fire Chiefs—namely, a significant change in behavior. Chiefs must consider the benefits of asking for and accepting advice and experience as a means of avoiding crises and furthering the success of their careers.