The Vital Importance of Perspective in Public Safety Leadership

Originally published on LinkedIn

I'm a ponderer; some might say I'm an overthinker. As any year ends, I reflect on how things are going. I do my own little "after-action review" of the year. What went well in 2023? What did not? What were my personal and professional successes? What were my personal and professional failures? What are ways I can improve in the next year?

2023 taught (and re-taught) me several important lessons, but there is one lesson that touches almost every area of my life and, in my opinion, is the most important lesson for anyone who wants to be an effective leader.

When in Doubt, Zoom Out

When firefighters transition to company officers, we teach them to "take a step back" and "see the big picture." Learning how to do this is essential when supervising people in high-risk situations. Task saturation leads people to narrowly focus on the task at hand and become blind to hazards around them. It's a lesson the fire service has learned repeatedly, and learning it has come at a high cost. This is the job of the effective company officer: to lead from the front and guide people through dangerous situations while maintaining enough distance to notice what others do not. On the fireground, taking a step back is not a metaphor. We often mean that the company officer should literally take a step back to gain a wider vantage.

A few years ago, I transitioned from company officer to Battalion Chief. This change of role is the most significant change of perspective in the fire service, in my opinion. Being largely stationary in a command post during major incidents enables incident commanders to see the bigger picture. It also feels terrible in the moment. Nothing happens as fast as you hope it will; you see potential errors and lost opportunities before they happen. This is the point. The distance gives you the advantage of making more objective decisions. You can see how interior efforts are affecting exterior conditions; you know (or should know) where everyone is and what they are doing to accomplish strategic goals. This is possible because a fireground is a highly hierarchical and choreographed place. Thanks to the Incident Command System, everybody on the scene knows who they work for and what they are expected to accomplish. This level of control is not present in other areas of life, so zooming out can be harder.

Zooming Out is a Super Power

The benefits of the improved perspective gained when "taking a step back" or "detaching" have been well documented. The ability to detach is a superpower, according to retired Navy Seal Commander Jocko Willink. Watch this video to hear him explain it far better than I can: https://youtu.be/A4BH2wlBpog?si=G5eI1LRZ11sxp9o1

2023 was the year I learned taking a metaphorical step back in other areas of life has tremendous power. Just like on the fire ground, if you take the time to zoom out and force yourself to detach, you will see circumstances from a different perspective.

Zooming Out Will Give You a Better View of Work Stress

I've started asking myself a few questions whenever I find my frustration level increasing:

What was I frustrated about at work two weeks ago? A month ago? A year ago? Do I even remember? If I do remember, are any of those things still important? Is it possible that I am upset now about something that's not as important as I'm making it out to be?

This simple practice has helped me decelerate my frustration and remember to focus on what is really important.

Zooming Out Doesn't Mean Shirking Responsibility

Good leaders feel responsible for improving everything they see, even things that fall outside their scope. This desire can contribute to frustration when progress is slow or non-existent. While we want leaders to feel ownership, we need to remember that there is only so much we can control or influence.

This is not to say we should have a laissez-faire attitude about our jobs. Hyperbole aside, the job is dangerous, and as leaders, it is our job to mitigate that danger whenever possible. Weak leaders let their emotions run wild, and spread frustration onto co-workers. This incentivizes our co-workers to shut down in an effort to avoid conflict and detracts from our ability to make a meaningful impact. Consistently maintaining high standards while treating people with respect and dignity is a much more difficult, but far more effective approach. This approach requires us to lead ourselves first and remain in control of our egos and emotions.

Zooming Out Will Show You How to Proceed

Making an effort to detach from your feelings in frustrating moments will help you see the problems in your organization. You will see ego and emotions inhibit progress during meetings and interactions ostensibly meant to solve problems. You will see how decisions are often made based on emotion rather than data. You will see people you admire and respect treated unfairly. You will see personal agendas on full display. You will see training opportunities lost because some would rather ridicule or disparage a struggling member than help them improve. You will see people who complain about a lack of accountability being applied to others while taking liberties for themselves.

Most importantly, if you really "zoom out" far enough, you will see the areas where you are obstructing progress in your own ways. It's a cliché at this point, but no less true. For us to effectively lead others, we must lead ourselves first. This means maintaining control of our emotions and keeping our egos in check. It means providing an example for those we lead. It means focusing on progress rather than perfection and opportunity rather than negativity.

What are the most impactful lessons 2023 has taught you?