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Posts Categorized: Change

Customer Service: A Bad Concept?

While we can quantitatively point out that having a customer service attitude benefits us in public support, there should be a much more altruistic reason for our embracing that belief. Read More »

Too Much Information For a Paramedic?

Our friend Greg Friese was told that a class he taught was "too much information for a paramedic". Now there's three bloggers ranting, good job there, Anonymous Student Evaluation. Read More »

A Little Safety Parable

Firefighting isn't Jackass: There is a serious difference between taking stupid risks and calculated risks. Read More »

Stuck In The Past

When your organization is experiencing such dysfunction that it is obvious even to the newest recruit, then how clueless are you to insist that everything is coming up roses? Read More »

Attachment to Before

Attachment is when you believe that things can or should remain one way forever. Things are in a constant state of change. Read More »

Balance and Equilibrium

Unless I am compelled to do so for official business, or intend to engage in a learning session in which I can take away lessons from the event, I'd just as soon do the things I do and avoid hanging around to look at the carnage of someone else's bad day. Read More »

Sometimes We Need A Kick In The Head

Motivation to learn is directly proportional to the perceived benefit of the education. If there is no perceived benefit, we have to change that perception to achieve the team goals. Read More »

FHZ Does “Sharing The Wealth” – First Due Blog Carnival

Until I met Chief Harry Diezel, who at the time was the Chief of the Virginia Beach Fire Department, I didn’t really have a vision of what my future in the fire service would be. He inspired me to be visionary and innovative, and to not be afraid of change. Read More »

Conflict

Conflict is inevitable. Conflict will come regardless of how much you try to avoid it. Because it is inevitable, as a leader, you need to know how to deal with it. Read More »

First Due Blog Carnival 3rd Edition: Call for Submissions

With the April edition of the First Due Blog Carnival complete, it’s time now to begin collecting your submissions for this month’s topic: Sharing the Wealth. Whether young or “seasoned”, career or volunteer, rural or urban, each of us has seen or heard something which changed the way we personally approach firefighting. Read More »

International Influence

We have to seek to understand deeper before we can determine and judge. In the process, we might also gain more information on subject matter that we didn't have the answers to before. Read More »

If We Do What We’ve Always Done, We’ll Get What We’ve Always Gotten…

I want to take the opportunity offered by the First Due Blog Carnival to express my disgust with those in the service who make no changes to the way their agency operates based on the findings of the NIOSH reports. Read More »

RESPECT

I'm going to make this short and sweet: you will never be afforded the respect you think you deserve if you can't clean up the mess you have made. Read More »

Technology Assessment

Our organization is really embracing some new concepts right now in an effort to improve capability. Sometimes these ideas work and sometimes they do not. But the act of trying these things out are learning opportunities in themselves. Read More »

WWJD? Renew the passport….

This is a rant. Maybe I can counterbalance today’s post that includes dead babies with a more light-hearted post tomorrow- perhaps about cute puppies? Read More »

Stay Stoked!

Here is my First Due Blog Carnival submission. This month’s topic is: I am a Firefighter Because. First, I'll answer the question: why did I become a firefighter? Read More »

TMI: Are we creating distracted drivers in our apparatus?

Like a litter of eleven puppies fighting for six nipples, we've been inundated with computers, map routing and GPS devices, cell phones, and multiple radio stacks- all competing for our attention while responding. How much is too much? Read More »

Two Cases, One letter – From one Paramedic’s struggles, change can come

A letter I got from a fellow Paramedic has caused me to write a long tyrade on the state of EMS. This post will make you mad. It will challenge you and challenge our profession. You will probably see yourself in the words this Paramedic wrote to me. We Need Change. Read More »

Capitalize on Your Strengths

When we put together teams, the act of doing so in order to develop effective teams requires some thought as to what is needed by the organization, but to fail to consider the small team dynamics and assume everything is going to go swimmingly, is simply nonsense. Read More »

Values

If your organization doesn't have agreed-upon values, it's a good time to get your people together and discuss some. Value statements provide direction to those who have to make a watershed decision at some point with little guidance otherwise. Read More »

All you need to know this weekend

Justin Shorr, Mark Glencourse,  Thaddeus Setla, and Chronicles of EMS Read More »

What The Hell Were They Thinking?

My hope is that we all reach a certain level of new-age maturity, where knee-jerk criticisms can be throttled so that departments increasingly share the wealth of what they have learned from their mistakes. Read More »

Why I am Passionate about the Chronicles of EMS

I am energized, passionate, and genuinely excited about the Chronicles of EMS. I'm in 100% - Here's why you should be too. Read More »

Mental Quickness – Do Smart Alecks Make Better EMTs?

Input, processing speed, and decision making skills are all part of being a good EMT or Paramedic. How can we improve our own? By thinking about it in a new way... and by busting some chops too Read More »

Prove Yourself

Don’t waste your time thinking that opportunity is going to come find you. The chief of department, when he has a sexy project, isn’t going to come hunting you down unless he is familiar with your track record. If you want those good assignments, you are going to have to sniff out and handle some unpopular ones first. Read More »
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