Incipient Leadership

 For purposes of the article I am using IFSTA definition of fire growth.

“According to the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) there are 4 stages of a fire.  These stages are incipient, growth, fully developed, and decay.”

If you travel back to any of your basic fire service education models you learned at one point that a fire has an incipient stage. This is defined as the early stages of development when all of the elements are coming together to then evolve into the growth period, then moving to a fully developed fire and finally ending at decay.

We are focusing on incipient. This of course is the stage in which there are many variables that will have an impact on the development of the fire.

I’d like to explore and analogize this as it relates to developing leadership characteristics and behaviors in the fire service.

The initial elements in the incipient stage are:

• Heat
• Oxygen
• Fuel Source

Heat:

As generally correlated we will place heat and passion in a similar context. When you began your exploration of the fire service you were likely filled with unwavering passion that led to long hours in the books or on the drill yard mastering the craft. The craft was what you lived for. It coursed through your veins and mind like an intoxicating notion of grandeur. It brought you to the level of intense dedication that every single fire chief looks for in a new recruit. You were unstoppable. Maybe you were the guy that could without reservation site any number of suppression theories and the reasons and science behind them. Maybe you were the guy that knew the design and history of every piece of equipment that was in the station or assigned to the apparatus. Which ever you were you were certainly one thing, you were a Firefighter, in every sense of the word.

Oxygen:

This is the area in which you began to breathe. You had some time under your belt and maybe a few jobs along the way. You were beyond smelling fire and had probably extinguished a few room and contents by now. Maybe made some intense medical runs. You were able to exercise some of those honed skills that you had been ready with for what seemed like far too long. You got to actually do. You got to show the guys what you are actually made of. You had grit, tenacity, skills and abilities. What could possibly get in the way .

Fuel Source:

Finally you get seen for what you are doing. You are not looking for the pat on the back. You just want to be seen for what you are doing. Maybe taken under the wing of someone that is ready to help you get to the next level. This, much like in the world of fire is where things can get difficult. Everyone see the new up and comer and not everyone is ready to help you along. Sometimes it can be down right impossible to find someone to mentor you in the middle. Chief Officers are too busy to doing Chief Officerish things and to be quite frank some of the guys just below them may have checked out already or worse yet are going to go to great lengths to keep “things” to a minimum. Do I need to spell that out? Unfortunately I am pretty sure I don’t.

Most often this is where things start to decay and the fact of the matter is that we never had a change to get through fully developed or growth. We are missing two of the 4 things that we need to for fully developed leadership. We got stuck before we could grow. Starved, smothered, extinguished.

This is where we need to focus. We really need to start to divert our attention in the land of leadership development to the guy in the middle. The guys that are ready for growth. Develop an evaluation system and start to look for growth from within your agencies before its time to have new leaders.

Leaders, build your replacement.

Be Ready. Be Willing. Be Present.

-NexGen