Page 10 - InCommand Volume 31

Defining High Performance: It Isn’t
Good Enough; You Have to Ride It
Chief Brad Jones, OFE
Author Bio Chief Jones, OFE
Chief Jones has experience leading and developing personnel within both career and combination fire departments. He currently leads a 39-member career department in Sidney, Ohio. Chief Jones is pursuing a Doctorate of Education from the University of Dayton, holds a Master Degree in Public Administration, and a Bachelor degree in Urban Affairs/ Public Administration, and is a graduate of the Ohio Fire Executive program (Class 4). He also retains
his paramedic card, fire instructor, incident safety officer, and fire safety inspector certificates.
If hanging ten is the epitome of performance in surfing, what is it in the fire service?
Is high performance fast response times, crew levels, and apparatus on initial alarm response? Is it the time from initial arrival to water application or time to first defibrillation? How about time dedicated to training and firefighter/officer development... maybe that’s the key to identifying high performance?
While all of these are vital jigsaw pieces of our puzzles, the actual difference is momentum... high- performance organizations have
an innate ability to capitalize on momentum.
What? Why momentum?
Momentum is the organizational “super juice” that fuels outstanding organization’s muscles. Amazing organizations have historically identified momentum within their industries and seized upon it. They have chosen to
do the heavy lifting, block by block, building on this momentum.
It’s a common thread, a common fiber found in any high performing organization. Once you have momentum, everything seems to click. Employees feel the energy and are motivated to do better and to better themselves. Candidates want to be your employee and want to be like your employees. The community recognizes the force and praises your team, which further fuels the momentum.
It is this momentum that is the life blood of great organizations.
Let’s go back to our surfing analogy.
Paint a mental picture...a large deep blue ocean, the sun on your shoulders, straddling your surfboard just past the wave break, waiting for the next big wave that will carry you toward the shore.
The wave is an idea, a vision your organization buys into. As a high performing leader, it is up to you to identify the next big wave of your time...to paddle your organization into the momentum of the cresting sea and ride the wave into the future. This isn’t new. In fact, if you are good at it, you will keep finding the next wave to keep your organization moving forward...to keep you on top.
In the 70’s, the ‘big wave’ was fire- based EMS...the organizations that embraced EMS and integrated it into their daily mission succeeded.
The 80’s gave us ICS and Haz-Mat (aka ‘glowworm suits’); the 90’s technical rescue and a little idea out
of Phoenix called ‘Customer Service’. Once again, forward-thinking leaders incorporated these momentum changing forces into their organizations.
World events in the 2000’s shaped altogether different public safety challenges, such as weapons of mass destruction, domestic terrorism, and the resulting training and funding for equipment and staffing. Leaders of agencies that recognized this paddled their boards into the wave and gained funding for equipment, training, and staffing.
It’s 2020. We’ve paddled back out, astride our boards in the calm water, just past the breakers, squinting into the sun trying to identify the next game changing wave...what could it be?
10 InCommand JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 • www.ohiofirechiefs.org