Chapter 1: The Colony Project Flashcards
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What were the six goals of the colony project?
- Id the current success factors.
- Define operational capabilities & limitations
- Gain the insight necessary to inspire members to position the organization and themselves for success.
- ID & describe the return on taxpayer investment (added value).
- Identify the threats to the department, our members, our community.
- Examine the suburban fire department organization.
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What is efficiency?
Is doing the most with what you have in performing competently.
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What was the effectiveness of demonstrating the return on taxpayer investment (added value) in terms of latitude with city leadership?
Once city leadership realize the effort that TCFD was making to operate efficiently, the justifications for projects that had their credibility recognized face less review.
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What was the result for the colony fire department when they made the case for members as capital investment, not cost?
It became easy to justify the time and expense necessary to properly develop their most important assets members.
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As an organization what was the value in defining our philosophy and policy on risk-taking?
It allowed them to train officers on the difference between sensible aggression and reckless aggression.
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The three dominating formal elements of an organization are its policies, systems and standards. Many fire departments have two of these which do they lack?
Many fire departments have policies and systems that govern their daily operations, clearly defined performance standards are not as common.
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Why are standards important?
Standards are important because they lead to Consistency, Predictability, Continual improvement, and loss production (injuries, accidents, damage equipment etc.)
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What are the informal internal elements that influence the organizational?
Philosophies
best practices
daily rituals/routines
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The decentralized natures of fire departments can lead to what?
The development of subcultures unique to shifts and fire stations.
If sufficient direction is not received from above fire stations and companies will create their own routines, best practices and philosophies.
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How can subcultures be detrimental to the organization?
Daily rituals may develop in the firehouse that are radically different from the organization’s desired culture. This misalignment causes additional challenges for company officers when placed in a position that forces them to choose between what is expected by members and in what is viewed as right by the organization.
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How can subcultures be prevented?
By providing company officers with the tools they need policies, guidelines, processes, systems, and standards
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Ideas and opportunities
Internal influences that keep the organization up-to-date, and set it apart from other organizations. The fire chief is responsible for making sure the department’s position to take advantage of the ideas of members and the opportunities that present themselves. New ideas have a degree of risk and often departments are adverse to change in risk.
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Threats are things that can harm people and systems. What are the types of threats a department can face?
Threats can include adding the policies, training lacking quality, failing to use new technologies, or the wrong people in the wrong place in the organization. An aggressive position towards risk management is essential for eliminating or managing threats
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Are we breeding aggression out of firefighters, an article that the Arthur wrote. Anti-aggression arguments came down to three themes:
Moral – if there’s not a savable life what are we doing, vs when you sign up as a firefighter you put other people’s lives and have your own.
Operational capabilities – bigger more mature departments tend to be more aggressive. Smaller and newer departments divide their perceptions on what they can operationally do
Operational limitations – see above
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What was the goal of phase 2 of the project?
Build a model of the organization that supports the chosen culture and provides the greatest value to the community.
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Based on the colony project three infrastructures were identified for the purpose of understanding, responsibility, and accountability throughout the organization, they are:
Chosen culture infrastructure
intellectual infrastructure
support infrastructure
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Chosen culture infrastructure
Includes each of the things necessary for the chosen culture to exist to assure that it can help be sustained.
This infrastructure includes the vision, core values, leadership and operational philosophies, performance and behavior standards, departmental recognition and constructive redirection, and audits and the continual service improvements (CSI) objectives and measurable goals.
Providing clarity on these items is essential for supporting a culture of choice and ensures that the organization has what it needs to thrive.
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Intellectual infrastructure
Has to support the chosen cultural infrastructure. It includes things necessary for selecting, developing, and placing the best people in the right positions. It focuses on people and contains direction for the members of the organization.
Leadership teams are responsible for developing the intellectual infrastructure.
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How is intellectual infrastructure built?
- Hiring good people and putting them in the right place
- Providing honest immediate feedback
- Supervising effectively
- Leading courageously
- Having battalion and company level recognition programs
- Offering excellent training, mentoring, and professional development programs
- Creating policies and procedures, protocols, rules and regulations, and general orders
- Supporting and enforcing the organizations commitment to risk management based on rank and position specific roles and responsibilities
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Support infrastructure
Provides the backbone for the other two critical infrastructures. Comprises the things that the organization needs for its day-to-day operations.
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What does the support infrastructure include?
The playbook SOGs
Preparedness standards
- mental
- physical
- mechanical
- procedural
Systems
Apparatus
Tools and equipment
Support functions
- comm
- prevention
- public education
- fleet
- emergency management
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What were the target system outcomes for TCFD?
- Take care people – to be successful the organization must take care people who call for services and for members of the organization. Culture values taking care of people internally and externally.
- Prevent and solve problems – do what you can to prevent the need for emergency response. But respond when you fall short able to solve the problem.
- Manage risk – support a chosen culture that values risk management, and will share the responsibilities for risk management throughout the organization.
- Maximize operational capabilities – through preparedness and training commit as an organization to do the most with what we have. Operational capabilities save lives in operational imitations cost lives. Maximize capabilities minimize limitations.
