“Would you follow you?” That is the question every firefighter and every leader in the fire services should be asking themselves. During this fast paced and interactive keynote, we lay out a plan that includes the Why, the What, and the How to develop your character and the character of the people you are called to lead. In the fire services, where training is almost always focused on tactical decision making, it is the non-tactical decisions – decisions of character – that get leaders in trouble. This keynote is designed to inspire and equip the attendees to develop their character and the character of their teams. Everything we discuss comes from Dave Anderson’s book Becoming a Leader of Character and the Six Habits of Character: Courage, Humility, Integrity, Selflessness, Duty, and Positivity. “Would you follow you?” We want you to answer “Yes” to that question.
Character failures are hurting the reputation of fire departments across the country. Yet, we continue to train tactics religiously, then hope our personnel pass the character tests they face. But hope is a lousy leadership strategy. We must prepare people for those character tests. Will they choose character or something less? Culture will happen. It is the leadership’s responsibility to shape and guide the culture to become a Culture of Character. West Point has been the model for character development for centuries. That model will work in any agency. But, it takes intentionality from the leaders to shape the culture of the agencies they lead. This is not a discussion of theory. This is a practical class where you will walk away with an outline any agency can implement, if the leaders are intentional.
In module one, we will focus on Becoming an Firefighter of Character. Together, we will learn about the 6 Habits of Character and how to practically apply them in our lives, thus becoming the leader we wish we had.
On day two, we will learn how to influence growth, how to deal with conflict, and how to coach people based on their individual DISC personality assessment. We will then look at how each DISC style can apply the 6 Habits of Character.
On day three, we will learn what it means to Lead an Agency of Character. We will teach you how to create an environment of trust and form character on your team by using the 6 Habits of Character.
