Seminars
Retaining and Recruiting Volunteers – this seminar will help local leaders of fire departments that manage volunteers.
Topics include; conflict resolution, motivational techniques, coaching versus managing, marketing, organizational management and leadership.
Fireground Command with Limited Staffing – this seminar will discuss strategy and tactical operations for FD’s with limited staffing. Strategic and Tactical options will be covered including the modern fire behavior tactical options based upon research.
Training Needs Assessment / how do you comply with NFPA standards, OSHA and ISO? We would look at your existing program to validate what you are doing and how you might improve the delivery of training that is competency based.
Develop an OSHA compliant training program for in-service training. Using the OSHA 1910 standard we would develop annual training plan for your department that would include lesson plans, skills assessment documents, and logistics.
Instructor Professional Development Seminar – Competent and excited instructors is the key to a successful seminar. The course is only as good as the instructor leading a given section. This seminar can be a rich and rewarding teaching experience. It can also be challenging.
Who am I- This workshop discusses multi-generational relationships and managing conflicts. This workshop discusses stereotypes and how to avoid them. Conscious and unconscious biases and how to avoid allowing biases to impact relationships will be explored. How to have dialogue with various generations will be examined. Identifying common needs, wants and desires for different generations. 45 minute keynote, 90 minute workshop, 3 hour seminar. Audience- current/future officers/firefighters.
Workshops
Command Simulations
This seminar will be custom built to your community. You provide us with photos of various structures in your community. You provide us with basic geographical information about the specific address. You provide us with FD information. This information will be built into a command simulation scenario that your command personnel will establish command, determine the appropriate strategy, determine tactical options and implement. Your commanders will make assignments based upon local policy and procedures. Your commander will be evaluated using a standard evaluation instrument. Open discussion with the attendees to learn from this experience.
Planning, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling
A leaders primary challenge is to solve problems. Creativity is a necessary component of solving problems. The four functions are actually highly integrated when carried out in the day-to-day realities of running a FD. The typical day in the life of a officer at any level can be fragmented and hectic, with the constant threat of having priorities dictated by the law of the trivial many and important few. There are many different types of plans and planning that involves analyzing competitive opportunities and threats, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This seminar will assist local leadership in developing plans in order to increase funding, reduce the loss of life and property value saved.
Presentations will be customized to your expected audience.
Keynote Presentation
Leading from the back! Leading from the front is easier than from the back. The most effective leaders for today and the foreseeable future will lead from the back, not from the front. This requires a significant change in thinking for today’s leader who was trained to lead from the front. This concept allows the most flexible go out ahead and others will follow. Today’s leader must pull followers along.
Start with Why? Change is not necessary for the sake of change. If you ask the question Why? the change may be an easier sell. What are the expected outcomes and who will those outcomes benefit? Leadership is not a license to do less; it is a responsibility to do more. Leaders are the ones who run headfirst into the unknown. They put their own interests aside to protect us or pull us into a brighter future. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
Other current topics
Behavioral wellness – surviving the job.
Chief Buckman is the primary author of the Yellow Ribbon Report released in August 2017 by the International Association of Fire Chiefs Volunteer and Combination Officers Section. This report details actions need by local public safety agencies to improve our personnel mental and physical health.
Taking Action Against Cancer in the Fire Service – facilitator for this innovative look at the cancer issue for firefighters. The report details information from cross-party participants which included legal, medical, social research and the fire service including chief officers, firefighters, fire training directors and labor organizations. Multiple studies have repeatedly demonstrated credible evidence and biologic credibility for statistically higher rates of multiple types of cancer in firefighters compared to the general population. The report ‘Taking Action Against Cancer in the Fire Service’ identifies potential contributory factors and recommends control measures. These control measures are not routinely applied by Firefighters due to a lack of education and information. “Cancer is a looming potential health issue for each and every firefighter, and it is the most dangerous and unrecognized threat to the health and safety of our nation’s firefighters,” said FCSN President Dan Crow. ”FCSN is honored to be able to partner with industry experts to provide this important information to the nation’s fire service.” The white paper explains the approach to identifying risks associated with cancer in the fire service, some effective ways of dealing with employees diagnosed with cancer, and, most important, standard methods of reducing the risk of cancer during the course of duty. These prevention tips include wearing the SCBA during all phases of the overhaul process, decontaminating PPE at the fire scene before returning it to service, undergoing wellness exams annually, and wearing sunscreen when in training or when prolonged outdoor sun exposure is anticipated, to name just a few. To view the full report, go to www.FCSN.net
Organizational Transitioning of the Staffing Component – Managing change within your organization can be difficult. In order to make change go smoothly, you need to instill in all the affected parties a sense of confidence that the change is positive. When you are managing a transition from an old organizational structure to a new one, you can take certain steps to help the entire organization through the change without disrupting business.
Steps in the transition process:
Clearly define roles and responsibility of the labor component under the conceptual format.
Identify need – through an inclusive and collaborative process.
Create a transition team – consisting of managers and all levels of staff. Gather support for the change from leadership and managers, along with any strong leaders who may not be part of management. The transition plan should be put on paper so everyone knows what blueprint to follow. It should explain why the change is being made and what the department will look like when the transition from the old organizational structure to the new one is complete. The plan should lay out the new structure and how current personnel will fit into it.
Get input – the organization needs some consensus on the change. Finalize the plan – carefully consider input and the transition team’s vision. Create a comprehensive plan detailing how the transition will take place, how it will affect the department, staff and the timetable for the change.
Clear the path – identify resources and employees within the organization that may cause obstacles to the transition, and deal with them.
Milestones – mark the progress of the transition by milestones created during the planning phase.