Are you sure you’re ready for promotion?

Firefighter promotion is a hot topic in and around the fire service. Many seek advancement for several reasons. What is your reason?

One of the problems, in my experience, is the few that want to promote for the sake of the title. Many people have the natural ability to lead, and some don’t. Some seek advancement for the accolade and ability to control others. Some just for the title alone, to be able to say, “I’m a Lieutenant.” For those, I always pose the question: “Are you SURE you are ready for the promotion?”

The hard questions are rarely asked. You must ask yourself if you are ready. You can convince yourself all day long that you are but let’s split hairs on this to get some reality. Your first shift as a commanding officer, and YOU get the strip mall fire… Are you prepared for that? Can you, with one hundred percent certainty, run that incident as command in this current state? Can you be sure that you are ready for your personnel to come into your office, close the door and break down with his deepest darkest secrets about his struggles at home? Are you ready to reprimand your longtime friend and previous partner who got in trouble with the law last night? Have you thought about the “buddy to boss,” transition you must make with your tightest brothers? Have you thought of having to stand there and tell your brothers wife that he didn’t make it back to the station last night? How about the news? Cameras in your face, everyone is waiting, are you prepared with the proper things to say that both go along with the organizations mission, but keep information at a minimum in order to give a scene report?

Have you asked yourself any of these questions? There is a lot more responsibility that rests upon your shoulders after promotion, as it isn’t just a title. Remember to be true to yourself, and always strive to be the best version of you. Stop and ask yourself the things that scare you the most if it were ever laid in your lap, and deal with it right then and there. If you suddenly realize that if the local High School is ablaze, you wouldn’t know the first thing about standpipes and water flow, because it’s been so long, it’s time to grab that book and brush up.

Prepare yourself for more than just how to lead and choosing what type of leader you want to be. Be fluent in all areas of the service and ready yourself for the tough things we don’t always think of.