The bad lieutenant problem

On Easter Sunday, the New York Post followed up their expose of the hate-filled tweets by FDNY EMS Lieutenant Timothy Dluhos^1,2 with a blockbuster: the posting of victim pictures on social media by EMS providers³.

Skip Kirkwood, immediate past president of the National EMS Management Association (NEMSMA), posted this observation: “The reason that bad things happen is that good people stand around and do nothing when bad people do their thing.”

Superb Leadership Skills
John Ryan, president of the Center for Creative Leadership and former superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, says that superb leaders share three critically important skills:

• Driven by an inspiring vision of success.
• Excelled at communication.
• Exercised superior judgment.⁴

Ryan shared his experience when provided an opportunity to fly a $100 million state-of-the-art plane and lead a team of 12 as a new Lieutenant:

“It’s because you’re an owner, not a renter,” my hard-charging commanding officer said. Every organization, even the U.S. Navy, had both types, he explained. Owners accept full responsibility even when it is not formally assigned, believe deeply in their mission, collaborate with others, take initiative and hold co-workers accountable to the same high standards. Renters, meanwhile, approach their work with an “it’s just a job” mentality, tend to make statements like “that’s not my problem” and point the finger at others when things go wrong.⁵

Renters get more rules
Attorney and former deputy chief Curt Varone shared this observation:

“I cannot help but go back to something one of my captains told me very early in my career with Providence. He said “Kid, we either keep our own house clean, or someone’s gonna come in here and clean it for us… and we’re probably not going to like the way they keep it clean…” He was not talking about housework.⁶

Varnoe points out that Connecticut and New Jersey passed legislation making in a criminal offense for an emergency responder to take a photo of a patient or victim, and a separate criminal offense to post it online.⁶

No respect means no reason to become an owner
Rich Adams⁷, editorial director for the Washington, DC, CBS Television affiliate and an active member of the Bethesda Chevy-Chase Rescue Squad, identified the challenge in moving employees from renters to owners when he was advocating for career emergency service workers in the 1980s.

The issue was a practice of involuntary hold-overs of paramedics and firefighters to cover vacancies on the next work shift. Management knew about many of the vacancies days in advance but would make the hold-over assignments as the members were ending their work shift.

Adams pointed out that when employees feel that they do not have control over their work time, they become frustrated and unhappy. Douglas McGregor’s management Theory X assumes that people are inherently lazy and dislike work. They will avoid work if they can.⁸

Theory X establishes a hierarchical structure with narrow span of control, close supervision and comprehensive controls requiring immediate and complete compliance. Which is exactly what we need when commanding operations for a complex or high-risk emergency.

Using the same technique for administrative and human resource issues creates a hostile atmosphere where employees will eventually demonstrate Theory X behavior. Their behavior will validate the assumption employees are no good and need to be coerced to work. Employees dealing with a Theory X boss do not feel empowered to make a difference.⁹

Start where you are standing
It takes courage to break the renter mentality at work. The most powerful secret of becoming an owner is that it comes from you, not from an external source. There will always be challenges and Theory X bosses.

Start by providing feedback to your colleagues and subordinates. As the FDNY EMS “Vic Pix” crisis unfolds, it will be obvious that there were many opportunities for colleagues or supervisors to professionally share a concern about what was being posted FaceBook and Twitter.

It is not easy. When teaching law enforcement in-service classes, risk management expert and retired state police captain Gordon Graham used to have the students write down the name of the officer within that agency likely to get into professional trouble. In a classroom of 30, he would get the same one or two names.

This demonstrates his “predictable is preventable” approach to risk. If Graham can learn the name in the first ten minutes of an in-service class, what is management doing about this $100,000 liability risk?

Set the right example
It is frustrating when competent EMS providers restrict their excellence at the patient’s side. They assert that their responsibility ends at patient care. The challenge is that they need to expand their excellence to their colleagues and work environment.

Given a choice between a perfect paramedic who invests 100% of energy and attention to patient care, and a competent paramedic who invests 20% of energy and attention to colleagues and the work environment, I will take the competent medic.

References

1. Giove, C.M. and Edelman, S. (2013 March 24) FDNY EMS Lt. spews racist, anti-Semitic tweets, but cried when confronted. The New York Post. Accessed April 1, 2013 at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/staten_island/bravest_crying_shame_Ez4sgNRTlOPVLGiSJ146qK
2. Giove, C.M. and Edelman, S. (2013 March 25) FDNY honchos slap EMT twit: Crybaby suspended over vile posts. The New York Post. Accessed April 1, 2013 at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/staten_island/fdny_honchos_slap_ems_twit_fJDPS9uxIwpUzHwfYuccAP?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Staten%20Island .
3. Giove, C.M. and Hamilton, B. (2013 March 31) FDNY EMS workers post gory, private photos of patients online. The New York Post. Accessed April 1, 2013 at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/emts_are_pic_and_twisted_WHMpohpsktzM2epWfrXw9I
4. Ryan, J. (2009 April 29) The Three Fundamentals Of Effective Leadership. Forbes. Accessed April 1, 2013 at: http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/29/vision-communication-judgment-leadership-managing-ccl.html
5. Ryan, J. (2011 March 30) Owners Or Renters: Which Is Your Workforce? Forbes. Accessed April 1, 2013 at: http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/30/employee-loyalty-commitment-owner-renter-leadership-managing-team_2.html
6. Varone, K. (2013 March 31) The Consequences of Looking The Other Way in the Facebook Age. Fire Law. Accessed April 1, 2013 at: http://firelawblog.com/2013/03/the-consequences-oflooking-the-other-way-in-the-facebook-age/
7. Bruno, H. (1996 November 30) Remembering Rich Adams. Firehouse Magazine. Accessed April 1, 2013 at: http://www.firehouse.com/article/10545548/remembering-rich-adams
8. McGregor, D. (1960). The Human Side of Enterprise. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.
9. Heil, G., et al. (2000). Douglas McGregor, Revisited: Managing the Human Side of the Enterprise. New York, John Wiley & Sons.