Maintaining OurLegacy Through New Leadership

resources to provide that development. However, leadership preparation requires exposure of individuals to activities that provide them with the skills necessary to be effective leaders, and in some cases that simply means getting them involved.

Succession planning needs to be inclusive. Organizations often fail because only certain people are allowed to participate. Succession planning does not single out the “chosen one” or good old boy. It’s supposed to provide a group of future leaders that reflect the demographics of our service, and as such, involve all of our personnel in our future.

How many times have you heard the comment that we don’t train company officers in leadership until they get in the position? As such, they struggle with supervisory and leadership issues immediately upon getting the promotion and some never recover. While it is probably a documentable fact in some departments that we don’t provide leadership classes, it is misleading to say we don’t provide them any training. If they haven’t received any leadership training while preparing for the position, it's because of one or two issues: (1) no senior officer, instructor, or company officer took the time to mentor them, or, (2) they didn’t listen. To begin with, leaders are not born, they are grown. In his paper Growing Leaders for Public Service, Ray Blunt shows research that indicates that we learn to lead far more from tacit rather than cognitive knowledge, as apprentices of senior leaders. Tacit knowledge (as opposed to formal or explicit knowledge) is knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. In other words, we learn more from watching in relationship to leading than being taught in class. We learn to lead from significant relationships with senior leaders who take the time to serve as our coaches, mentors, and above all, our examples. Leaders are people who have followers, not because of who they are, not because of the rank or power they hold, or even their charisma, but because they have earned trust through humility, moral courage, integrity, caring, and a clear-eyed focus on purpose. One critical test of a leader is not so much whether they make smart decisions or take decisive action, but whether they teach others to lead and build an organization that sustains itself even when they are not around.

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Growing leaders can occur in three ways outside of leadership classes, even though classes may be important eventually to formalize their training. The first way is through personal example. As a leader, people watch you all the time. How you make decisions, treat other people, and handle tough issues speaks volumes about you and serves as an example to those that follow. The second is through significant relationships as a mentor. Take the time to mentor recruits, individuals looking to move up the rank, and people who seem interested in learning. You have far more to offer than just telling them what to do and what you expect. A third way is through varied experiences provided to the individual as a coach. Give them some problems to solve after you’ve mentored them, even if they are hypothetical, and then discuss their handling of those problems. Admit when you make an error so they learn humility is a leadership requirement, and no person is perfect. If you truly want to lead your organization, then serving as a servant leader and mentoring, coaching, or setting the example for those that follow is a critical aspect of good leadership. Assume personal responsibility for developing other leaders. Have a teachable point of view that they can articulate and show others how to organize, what behaviors are needed when, and what values are essential. Use stories to embody this teachable point of view. Always generate positive energy and encourage them when they have tough decisions.

While talking of succession planning and mentoring leaders, the aspects between developing them within an organization, or developing them to serve in leadership positions with a broader geography such as state and federal levels, are the same. We have to look for good people, mentor and guide them, and convince them they have a significant potential of doing something great in guiding our industry.