Servant Leadership in Fire Service
Servant Leadership in Fire Service
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Servant Leadership in Fire Service
Servant leadership is one of its special kinds of leadership whereby the leaders are not just giving commands and telling others what to do but rather doing the things they are supposed to do in unity with their juniors. This is one of the special things that servant leaders are very good at. It makes them understand how difficult a certain task is and therefore putting themselves in the shoes of their juniors makes their manner of leadership very good and very effective (London business forum leader servant 2017). This was used back in china in 6 B.C. and it was written by Lao Tzu. Even though in the fire service servant leaders do not label themselves as such they exist and help their juniors to a very great extent.
Within the fire service department, the servant leaders are the ones who get seasoned the most and not only in this field but also in all the fields in which a person could practice leadership. this is because as the individuals get experience and as they learn to do different things together with their employees it becomes very easy and very clear that they learn more and more. They can understand the whole chapter of whatever they are doing and this makes them very good at the running of the activities of the place. Leadership in the fire service goes from the top-most level which is the chiefs to the chief officers, company officers, firefighters, and lastly the people who are being served who are community members.
Some of the qualities of a servant leader include the ability to overcome self-preservation, to focus on the needs of the crew among other characteristics. Self-preservation is a very difficult part of servant leadership because most people even though state this they do not practice it. This is the ability of a person to get rid of the desire to keep themselves and not involve them in activities that may harm them or which may not be good to them. It is an instinct and if a person relinquishes themselves of the desire to preserve themselves then it means that they are good leaders because it takes a lot of courage to do it.
Taking the needs of the crew before those of the individual is also very important and most servant leaders do this (Directors, 2018). For example, if a chief in a fire department has a car and there is a firefighter who needs to go to assess the damage done by a fire and the other vehicles are out. The chief will be able to give the car to the firefighter and go to see how things are. Therefore the needs of the crew come before the needs of the individual leader and they are always willing to compromise and do everything within their power to make sure that everything works out in the right manner for the sake of the success of the company.
References
Directors, F. N. C. (2018, June 8). Servant Leadership in Today’s Fire Service. FirefighterNation. https://www.firefighternation.com/firerescue/servant-leadership-in-todays-fire-service/#:~:text=Fire%20Service%20Leadership%20Servant%20leadership%20is%20applicable%20to
London business forum leader servant – Bing video. (2017). Www.bing.com. Retrieved July 26, 2021, from https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=london+business+forum+leader+servant&&view=detail&mid=AB9A17C5FA874C85F0CDAB9A17C5FA874C85F0CD&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dlondon%2Bbusiness%2Bforum%2Bleader%2Bservant%26FORM%3DHDRSC3
Servant Leadership chart
Position Role as a servant leader
Chief This is the top-most leadership of a fire department and his work is to oversee everything that happens and make sure that everything happens in the right manner. However in servant leadership, he does not just oversee, he interacts with the people from all areas even those fighting fire in the real incident, and tries to know their experiences and supports them where he/she can
Chief officer This is the second leadership position and they report to the chief in case of anything that happens. However, these individuals under servant leadership understand everything that happens and with the full undemanding of most of those who are under them can gauge productivity and other aspects of work being done as they interact and try to do things together with everyone.
Company officers These are individuals who are closest to the firefighters and in a normal sense and hierarchy of leadership, they are the ones who are supposed to know the most about firefighters. However not only do they know almost everything about the firefighters but they also know how to do the work of eh firefighters and they do not pressurize the firefighters because they know the ability of each of the firefighters.
Firefighters These individuals are mostly considered the lowest class in the hierarchy of firefighting service. However, in servant leadership, they do not feel like the lowest group of individuals because the group at the top supports them so much that they do not feel left out like in other aspects of leadership.
Community The community is the main focus of fire service and emergency issues being dealt with. In servant leadership, there is a clear understanding of the community and the society and therefore the dire department having a clear knowledge of the place knows how to administer help in the best and in the safest and fastest way possible in case of an emergency or fire. They interact with the community and become part of the community.
