Before you agree to get involved make sure your reasons are sound

Have you ever taken up a task, a job or a position, either in your professional or private life, with which you really didn’t want to be involved? I know I have, and it didn’t work out well. The lesson I learned: Don’t get involved with things you don’t care about.

There is a difference between having a choice and being told to do something. If you’re in a position that causes some unpleasantries to come your way because it’s your job, then you don’t have a choice — get to work. However, it’s an entirely different animal when someone asks you to get involved in something and you have a choice whether to participate. In my experience, it’s best in these situations to stop for a minute and ask yourself a few questions: 1. Why am I being asked to do this? a. Is it because I have a special talent in this area? b. Is it because the person asking me is lazy and doesn’t want to do it themselves? c. Is it because the person has no clue, wants me to do all the work and will then take the credit? (Not that this has ever happened, of course!) 2. Am I interested in this project, committee, group, subject, etc.? 3. Can I work with the people associated with the project? 4. Can I really do what they want me to do? 5. Will they provide support that would contribute to the success of the project?

I am sure you can come up with a few of your own questions to add to this list, but the bottom line is that you need to ask yourself some questions before saying yes.

DON’T BE LIKE MIKEY
I’ve been asked to do some things based on the fact that someone knew I was stupid enough to do it. It’s like that Life Cereal TV commercial, when the little kids tell Mikey to eat it, because he’ll eat anything. Don’t let your ego get in the way of making a good decision—don’t be like Mikey.

One time I actually applied this strategy, and I’m thankful I did. I was asked to join a team that had some leadership issues. The person asking me to step up felt I could get involved with this group and in time become one of the leaders and make some changes. The issue: The team’s leadership problems were not new, nor did I have an ounce of interest in this line of work. The person asking me was not persuaded easily when I told them I didn’t think I was the right guy for the job. In fact, this individual pretty much ignored what I was saying. This exchange between us continued for several weeks, but despite the individual’s persistence, my answer remained the same.

Why did I stick to my original position? Since I wasn’t interested in the team’s work, I would ultimately have done a disservice to the team in a few ways. First and foremost, I might have taken a position from someone who was sincerely interested in it. Second, I would have done a poor job because I lacked the desire to be a part of the team. The lure of doing something because it will look good on your resume or because you’ll gain a new title often clouds good judgment. In this instance, letting my ego get in the way of my decision would have been a mistake.

I know this because I have been on the other end of a number of bad decisions. Looking back on some of these situations, I can only conclude that my ego influenced me to make poor choices. I didn’t ask some of the above questions and I let the wrong factors influence the reason I took the project— I had a self-serving attitude backed up with a healthy dose of an "I can do anything" mentality. One example: A few years ago, I was a member of the Ontario (Calif.) S.W.A.T. team as a tactical medic. It was an extremely fun experience, but it also took up a lot of my free time, and I had many other things going on in my life that needed my attention as well. As a result, I was asked to leave the S.W.A.T. team because of my lack of commitment to the team. I had never been kicked off anything in my life, and I regretted putting the S.W.A.T. commander in that position.

Fortunately, I learned a few things from this and other similar experiences. First, I can’t do everything I thought I could, and second, people may goad you into things that they themselves wouldn’t do. My dad used to tell me, "Don’t let your alligator mouth bite off more than your canary ass can crap out." If I would have listened to Pops, I could have saved myself a ton of work and an equal amount of headaches.

DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE CARROT
Many people in the fire service get involved in things for the wrong reasons; I’m certainly no exception. Unfortunately, firefighters sometimes find themselves in vulnerable positions that lead to poor decisions. New firefighters are sometimes guilted into doing things they don’t want to do because they want to fit in. Other times, when firefighters find themselves on a promotional list, they often feel they cannot refuse requests for their time or assistance. I have seen people do some really interesting things when a promotional carrot is dangled in front of them. Both new firefighters and those on the promotional list are in a very precarious position because they can’t say no. Other people realize this and sometimes take advantage of the situation, convincing the vulnerable person to make a bad choice.

One instance that sticks out in my mind happened when I was a young firefighter. I found out by accident that my partner was on a committee that I couldn’t picture him having any interest in. I jokingly busted his onions about it, in hopes he could explain his decision. He went on to confirm his involvement and the reasons for it. He had been told that serving on the committee would be good for his career and recognition, because the fire chief had a personal involvement in it. Translation: Serving on the committee now will help with promotions later, because the chief will know who you are.

At this point, our engineer had become involved in the discussion. We questioned my partner on what he actually did on the committee and what he found interesting about it. He couldn’t tell us, because he had missed two of the three meetings. I was a little disappointed in his reason to serve on the committee, and I was concerned about the potential outcome. I asked him, "So let me get this straight. You got yourself involved in a committee for the wrong reasons, and now you’re planning to back up this decision by doing a horrible job?" I believe that if someone convinces you to do a job and you accept it, then you have an obligation to do a good job. If you don’t plan on attending, contributing or participating, then say no.

The engineer and I gave my partner some examples of other firefighters who had followed a similar path and the results of their actions—they did a horrible job and now their name was associated with a failed or poorly completed project. So the entire reasoning for getting involved—name recognition— backfired. They were recognized, but it wasn’t the type of recognition most people want!

We concluded our verbal body-slam session with this advice: Get involved with things that you enjoy and have an interest in, because ultimately you’ll do a great job. And it’s better to do a great job with one thing than a crappy job with 10 things. We must have made a point, because the very next day my partner quit the committee, and today he is one of the most influential people in our fire department and his work is second to none, whatever he does.

BE READY FOR CRITICISM
Company officers get involved in unpleasant jobs all the time. Some of these are self-induced; some are simply job requirements. Remember this any time you are going to do a job, chosen or not: People will criticize you. People who aren’t willing to do their jobs are always the first ones to point out the reason you’re doing something: "Joe’s just kissing ass"; "Joe’s just trying to make a name for himself"; "Joe’s a new captain; give him some time to figure out how to be a real captain."

The one constant in all of this is that you will be criticized, so it better be worth it. Don’t just do something for the sake of doing it. When something matters to you, when you have a genuine interest in something or when you’re simply doing your job the right way, it’s worth any criticism you receive.

The difficulty in being an officer is that the job you are asked to do at times is not a pleasant one. Sometimes you may not even agree with what you are asked to do. If you disagree with something a chief officer asks you to do, express your concerns to them in private. It’s not good for a company officer to drag a chief officer through the mud because they don’t have the guts to take heat from their crew. Officers who do this make the organization weak.

YOU’RE THE MESSENGER
The company officer is in many ways the messenger for the fire department, although our role goes beyond that of messenger because we’re tasked with carrying out the messages. How captains deliver messages to their crews is crucial to the success of the message. If an officer supports something, generally, the crew will support it. If, as a company officer, you tell your crew, "We have to do this because the chief is making us do it," how positively do you think your crew is going to receive the message? Even more important, will they ultimately follow through with what you’re asking?

Ray Gayk is a company officer with the Ontario (Calif.) Fire Department (OFD). Gayk is a 16-year veteran of the fire service who has been actively involved with the OFD’s development of engineer and captain mentor programs. Gayk has also been a training officer and currently works on Truck 131 in downtown Ontario.