Page 4 - InCommand Volume 31

Chief Jonathan Westendorf, MPA, OFC
OFCA President
Change is the only absolute.
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A Message from the OFCA’s President
One of my favorite things about working in the fire service has always been that you never quite know what each day will hold. Normally it is for a “good” reason. A fire, a crash, or a challenging rescue of some kind. These calls give us a chance to get
out of the office, interact with the community, and the people of our department who actually get the job done for us. Best-laid plans...we all have them. Thankfully, leaders of fire and EMS agencies are well accustomed to having to adapt to sudden changes while working together to formulate plans followed by taking decisive action within the presence of significant uncertainty.
I made a single promise to the members of the Franklin Fire Department when I joined their ranks nearly 20 years ago. Much to the chagrin of many, I’ve kept that sole promise and have improved upon it exponentially. My promise was consistent and on- going change. Why? Because in the words of the former advisory chair for the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University Kennedy’s School of Government Warren Bennis, “Change is the only absolute”.
COVID-19 has certainly challenged us all. Despite being months into our pandemic response, significant uncertainty still exists and will remain for many more months, if
not years. Early in this pandemic, I read an article by Scott Berinato published by the Harvard Business Review titled “That Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief ”. (A quick Google search will bring it up for you.) We are all dealing with loss and a yearning for normal.
As leaders of public entities, we find ourselves on the front lines of having to lead change in a new way, about topics many of us are unfamiliar with. I am reminded of the four R’s of change management: where one can be Resentful, Reactive, Responsive, or Resilient. If you are anything like me, I am sure you have found yourself in several of these stages by now.
Bennis also wrote, “if change has now become a permanent and accelerating factor in American life, then adaptability to change becomes the most important determinant of survival”. This rings true to me on many levels. There are three primary types of flexibility that help people adapt to change.
1. Cognitive- rely upon alternative thinking strategies and metal frameworks
2. Emotional- modify your approach to deal with your emotions as well as those of
others
3. Dispositional- remain optimistic and realistic
The hallmarks of flexible leadership require a curious mind and a willingness to
consider, and ultimately the effort of seeking differing points of view that are beyond what we ‘think’ we know to be true. Leaders must be willing to understand our own reactions to change while immersing ourselves within a supportive environment who are also seeking the best options to serve and protect our people, and our communities.
Resilience is an often overlooked, and certainly underappreciated, leadership quality. However, the ability to turn what seems to be a negative into a positive is critical in times of crisis. For that is where we get to begin to define a new, and with effort, improved version of our future. Resiliency and tenacity will become critically important for us all as we collectively journey through the recovery and mitigation phases of this disaster.
Typically, we would be gathering at the Ohio Fire & Rescue Officer Development Conference in Columbus to learn from renowned instructors, network with peers, and celebrate Chief Rick Anderson’s swearing-in as our next President. For now, we are excited to welcome you to join us August 27-31, 2020 for a slightly delayed Annual Conference. Chief Tom Wallace and the Conference Committee have been working tirelessly to coordinate the schedule shift, while taking advantage of the new timeframe. We are hopeful that those who have had summer conflicts will take advantage of this change so they can experience all of the wonderful opportunities the conference offers.
4 InCommand JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 • www.ohiofirechiefs.org