Know Your Audience

(Photo credit: Chris Ayer)

Something to think about – Have you ever sat down with a new employee or even one that you have worked with for awhile and asked these four important questions: What drives you? What gets you up in the morning? What is your belief about success or failure? How do you deal with challenges or something new to learn?

My personal experience with these types of questions is multi-faceted. These are questions that are important as leaders in our jobs, and I think it can’t be understated. 

I came from a career of the most driven and successful, high achievers imaginable outside the fire service. I played professional basketball against some of the top players in the world for eight seasons. These are questions that players are typically asked by scouts and coaches to gauge and understand how a player will fit into an organization or on a team. My first professional head coach—who I played under for three seasons, including a championship—was very interested in asking me about these questions. Professional sports interviews are the norm and can "make or break" signing large contracts. I was asked these same questions by my first engine captain and a mentor who helped me get my start in the fire service; more on that funny story later.

These questions are important, undervalued and under-utilized. They are essential to learning what makes a new employee “tick.” Personal connections, such as knowing a person’s name, what they like to do or what their kids' names are, has unbelievable value; but it does not paint a picture of the person and how they view the world, their job, or the agency. Understanding a co-worker or teammate/crewmate on a level that you know the “why” they show up to work or "why" they chose their profession is invaluable. 

Leadership is much more dynamic and only becoming more complicated due to generational changes, individual beliefs, and both relational and cultural values. Having this information gives you a background of values, morals, and ethics. The advantage comes when you need to motivate or guide your people with the purpose of supporting professional and personal growth. How often do you hear someone justify an action with statements, such as “he is Generation Y, she comes from a different background, he just doesn’t get it, or he is lazy and doesn’t work hard"? Maybe she doesn’t understand the values of her team, or he doesn’t understand how to apply his drive to the mission.

So back to the funny story...

I came from a culture that is relatively similar but very different than the fire service. It is completely dictated by performance and results; there is no hierarchy of time on the job, no rank except for player or coach. Professional basketball is based on production, points, rebounds, assists; it is a culture of win at all costs. Coaches actually calculate out +/- rating for the minutes you played during a game. No one cares about your personal feelings. When somebody doesn’t do their job, you tell them, right then in the bluntest way possible, that they failed. Obviously there are some descriptive four-letter words involved to keep it lively. I grew up in this system from the time I was in junior high and worked in it until I was 31 years old. 

I entered the fire service with this production and win-at-all-cost mindset. If you didn’t clean the truck or you didn’t sharpen the tools, then you didn’t do your job and I called you out, often with colorful and very direct language. It landed me in our Fire Chief’s office a time or two. Looking back, I was not building relationships and didn't know my audience. I was on the fast track to getting fired from my dream job. Fortunately, my captain took the time to learn who I was as a person, learn the system that I had come from and how my morals, values and ethics were shaped by my professional career and how they could be applied in the fire service. It took some time and some explaining, but he was able to guide me by using my prior career, drive and values as assets. I learned from exemplary leaders about the similarities and differences between the locker room and the fire house. As a result, "learning your audience" has been a constant for me and my crew and has produced positive outcomes: coworkers feel more comfortable and have become better at their job, creating team cohesion, and probably most importantly, establishing trust. 

Knowing your audience and understanding their drive and values is an easy place to start in leading  and growing the people around you.

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Christopher Ayer is a Firefighter/Firefighter Type 1/Paramedic for Corona De Tucson Fire Department in Tucson, Arizona. The expressions and views are those of the author.