Brotherhood-Sisterhood in EMS

When we look at the public safety family of law enforcement, the fire service and emergency medical services (EMS) it is readily apparent that we are the “redheaded stepchild” of public safety. But have you ever asked why? Why is EMS often the odd man out in the public safety triad?

While this is a simple question the answer is quite involved. The industries of law enforcement and fire protection have been around for hundreds of years in the United States. The first recorded use of law enforcement and fire protection goes back to Boston where the city began utilizing fire wardens and night watch officers in the 1600’s. However, Emergency Medical Services truly began to develop in the 1960s. Following the return of military medics from Vietnam, the modern-day industry of EMS truly began. Our industry was federally recognized in 1973 and we have grown extensively over the last 50 years. With our industry only being 50 years old we are still in our infancy and we have many things to learn and integrate into its development.

The great news is that we have our older brothers (law enforcement and the fire service), to look too as we grow and develop our industry. With law enforcement and the fire services laying the groundwork for public safety development we can use their paths and direction as a road map to improving our own industry.

Both law enforcement and the fire service have great public representation, legal representation, well established employee associations and unions, amazing retirement and pension options, portability of retirement options, well established health and wage benefit plans, as well as social, psychosocial and mental health support networks. These are the attributes and professional development resources that we could greatly benefit from If we could bring them into our industry.

Within EMS we also struggle with employee recruitment, retention, morale, performance issues and a transient turnover that is rampant in EMS. Not to mention, the massive mental health crisis that is beneath the surface of our industry that is being neglected and ignored by many.

One of the simplest and greatest tools that law enforcement and the fire service have in their arsenal is simply their Brotherhood. There is a connection and identity they all share regardless of where they work or where they live. A firefighter can walk into any fire station in the United States and they will call him brother. Unfortunately, in EMS we lack this connection, we lack this bond and often we look at our competitors or neighboring agencies as strangers. If we are to heal our industry it is imperative that we recognize the value of Brotherhood-Sisterhood and begin to work to mature our industry within the public safety family.

Once we truly understand the importance of creating Brotherhood-Sisterhood within EMS all we need to do is to change the work culture of our organizations. By changing the work culture of our organizations, we can work on improving our daily operational struggles, while at the same time caring for our employees and representing our industry in the best light.

While changing our work culture seems like a daunting task it is actually quite simple. There are five simple steps to changing your work culture and creating a Brotherhood-Sisterhood environment. Those simple five steps are:

Creating an Ethos of Respect within your organization
Elevating our Standard of Behavior
Creating a Genuine Connection within your organization
Teaching the Appreciation for Individual Differences
Creating a Culture of Value within your organization

Part of my passion as an educator is working with organizations that help foster work culture and leadership paradigm shifts. I am available for speaking engagements and consulting if your organization is interested in shifting its work culture and creating a new tomorrow for our industry.

I have listed numerous resources below to help you start the process of changing your work culture. I hope you find the following resources useful and would love to hear about your organizations journey.

1. Creating an Ethos of Respect within your organization

Without an ethos of respect your organizational goals will be unattainable. When employees share this deep level of respect within an organization they will go above and beyond for leadership. But leadership must share this same respect and be willing to go above and beyond for the field level personnel. When your organization has this level of profound respect it will permeate every aspect of the organization and will be palpable to your customers and clients. Five steps to creating an ethos of respect include:

First and foremost “Break the boardroom barrier”
Ensure mutual respect exist at all levels within your organization
Engage and involve ALL personnel in the mission of the organization
Maintain a unified vision and be consistent with everything
Engage in organizational activities that center around mutual respect

2. Elevating our Standard of Behavior

The definition of excellence is the quality of being outstanding. All of us want our organization to be reflected in the best of light and to be the very definition of excellence. The only way to achieve this is to elevate our standard of behavior throughout the organization. Often leadership creates their version of excellence and expects field level personnel to support it unequivocally. This is where the miscommunication occurs and creates two different groups of thought within our organization. Our definition of excellence has to relate to each level of our organization and have a pertinent meaning to the field level personnel. It has to be more than a mission statement or a glossy advertisement. Excellence has to permeate our entire organization at every level. We can accomplish this by elevating our standard of behavior within leadership, within middle management, with field level operational personnel, our physical environment and everything we do.

Excellence begins with being excellent. Set a higher standard of behavior for your organization and its members
Ensure leadership is setting the bar for excellence and holding an elevated standard of behavior
Ensure the organizational environment , equipment and are held consistently to a higher standard

3. Creating a Genuine Connection within your organization

One of the most overlooked aspects of leadership is the simple concept of being genuine. Let us be honest, people are smart and intuitive, and they know when they are talking to a used car salesman. As a leader if your only goal is to improve the profit margin you will rarely be able to gain the confidence of the average employee. Employees who believe in the mission and trust in leadership will go above and beyond for the organization. If the employee knows leadership is only in it to improve their profit margins they will rarely go above and beyond. And in truth, many employees will actively work against the organization and the leadership. People want to know that they are more than just a financial asset. When you have a genuine connection with your employees they believe what you say, they have trust in your actions and they will work hard to support you in the mission.

Ensure the motivation for all change is genuine and consistent with your mission
Avoid the “car salesman” approach in your leadership role. Employees are smart and they will know whether you are simply trying to boost the profit share or if you're there truly to be a leader
Create events, social networking, appreciation, and involvement programs that celebrate the people and their lives. Make sure these programs and events are authentic and genuine and not simply pulled out of the corporate handbook of approved social events

4. Teaching the Appreciation for Individual Differences

While we've all been programmed to believe in the strength of diversity, very few organizations truly embrace the individual differences within their organization. If you have 100 employees there are 100 different perspectives on how your organization should run. Obviously, everyone can't be the boss, but every single person does have valid input and strengths that can be applied to the organizational model. Learn to integrate all personnel and listen to their suggestions. Follow the steps below to bring new suggestions and ideas into your organization. Listening to your diversity and the differing generational groups can bring great strength to your organization.

Model the behaviors you expect out of your personnel
Create meaningful involvement for your staff and personnel
Celebrate achievements and milestones for the personnel in your organization
Get rid of the “rookie” or “new guy” classification and involve all generational groups into your think-tank groups

5. Creating a Culture of Value within your organization

What is the culture within your organization? Our culture can be defined as the patterns, traits, and the expression of a particular organization. We want our culture to represent values that are meaningful, genuine and consistent with our mission statement. Our culture of value must be built on a foundation of respect, trust and a passion for helping people. The culture of our organization will form based on our behavior and how we present our organization. When we do not focus on crafting the right culture of value we often create a culture that is counterproductive to our mission. It is imperative that we take an honest look add our culture and ensure that it matches what our mission and expectations. Creating a culture of value within the organization is easy but requires consistency and a genuine effort.

Clarify your organization's values and ensure those values are integrated on all levels
Create rituals and traditions within your organization that have meaning to your personnel
Encourage personal growth and education with all personnel and celebrate these achievements within the organization
Value every member of the organization equally and ensure they have a place in the organizational strategy for growth

Download my infographic with the

5 Steps to creating Brotherhood-Sisterhood in EMS