THE FIRE EXECUTIVE ACADEMY

So, you've reached the senior leadership level of your organization. Congratulations!
Could be you’ve inherited decades of symptoms from your well-meaning, but poorly-skilled predecessors. Among those symptoms are: inadequate funding: fluctuating employee morale: lack of accountability: whiners: personnel who are retired at work: a city council or fire district board that doesn't understand; infighting among and between shifts, departments, and echelons; people who cause problems and people who simply want to complain about problems; not enough people to get the job done; and the ever-present double-bind of being held accountable for outcomes when you don’t necessarily control the resources it takes to produce those outcomes… So, what do you do? Perpetuate the complaining? Portray your fire department or battalion as a victim of circumstances? Blame it on someone else?

No, that’s what ineffective executives do. Fortunately, there is a viable alternative.

The Fire Executive Academy is designed for Chiefs, Captains, Battalion Commanders and other decision-makers in Fire Departments.

It consists of 5 consecutive days of work sessions (40 hours) - at a site near you. These work sessions are a combination of facilitated instruction, case examples and relies upon active participation by all attendees.


The work sessions are:
Session 1 The Fire Executive As Visionary & Strategic Planner
Among the topics to be covered: Strategic issues facing fire departments over the next 10 years and how to plan and manage around them; how to make “that visioning thing” work for you and your agency; executive-level techniques for strategic and tactical planning; improving productivity and quality; creating a learning organization versus a trained organization; obstacles to getting what you want and how to overcome them.

Session 2 The Fire Executive’s Role In Implementing Effective Management
Among the topics to be covered: How to create an environment that fosters effective decision making and acceptance of accountability at all echelons; implementing an effective job performance review system; how to improve communication among and between the rank structure, shifts, and sections.

Session 3 The Fire Executive As Inspirational Team Leader
Among the topics to be covered: Who is the “team” for this agency? What does it take to create and maintain an effective team, focused on the agency's mission and objectives? What factors become obstacles to effective teams? What is senior leadership’s role in leading by example and expecting others to follow accordingly?

Session 4 The Fire Executive’s Role In Budgeting & Finance
Among the topics to be covered: How to always be prepared for budget presentations; integrating the department’s goals with the budget process; how to sell your budget to other policy makers, budget committees and the taxpayers; how and why to involve decision makers throughout your agency in finance and budgeting. (This is not an accounting or bookkeeping class!)

Session 5 The Fire Executive’s Role In Effectively Marketing The Agency
Among the topics to be covered: Why every fire agency needs an effective marketing program; fundamentals of marketing, community relations, publicity and media relations; structuring the role of an effective Public Information Officer; how to deal with negative press; how and when to conduct a press conference; how to get the word out about your agency without relying solely on local media; critical elements in developing an effective marketing program.