If you’ve been promoted — to company officer, battalion chief or other ranks — how will you know how you’re doing in the new job? You’ll probably get performance evaluations, but on many departments these occur once a year at most. Performance evaluations are also usually done by one person who may or may not be someone you work with closely. It would be helpful to know how your subordinates or peers feel about your performance in your new position, or even those working in other bureaus or departments. So how will you get useful feedback from them?
The unfortunate truth is the higher up you go in an organization, the more feedback you need but the less you actually get. If you want to get useful feedback from a variety of sources, you’re probably going to have to ask for it. How you ask and what you do with the information given to you will determine how willing people are to tell you the truth in the future.
One model for getting useful feedback was popularized by management consultant Marshall Goldsmith. He suggested that quality feedback could be obtained by following these five steps: Ask, Listen, Thank, Think, and Follow Up.
The first step is critical. If you want people to give you honest feedback about how you’re doing, in most cases you will have to ask for it. This is particularly true if the person you are soliciting feedback from is of a lesser rank than you are. Giving unsolicited feedback to those in higher positions is just too risky. Even when asked, many people are likely to dodge the question as a way of protecting themselves.
For example, say you and your crew just returned from a difficult medical call that involved the extrication of multiple patients. It seemed to you that communications were a little scrambled during the call, which led to frustration on your part. You’d like to get input from the rest of the crew. How do you ask for it?
Positives first
If you ask the crew, “How did you think things went on that call this morning?” the most likely answer you’re going to get is “Fine.” This response is not really useful to you or your crew as you try to improve performance for the next event. Instead, be more specific. It helps to ask for positive feedback first, as this is much safer for most people to give. You might ask, “What do you feel went well during the extrication this morning?”
You might get a response such as, “It was great to be familiar with all the equipment. The training we did last week really helped.” This is useful information — training is working, and is appreciated. Listen to it (perhaps even actively, by repeating back the essence of the statement,) and thank the person for offering it. Once a positive tone has been established, you can ask for more critical feedback: “What happened this morning that you feel could have gone better?”
This is more dangerous territory for most people, but if you keep the first inquiry directed at the event rather than you personally, you are likely to get more honest responses. Maybe the other person will mirror your own impression of the incident by saying, “Well, it was a little confusing knowing what everyone was supposed to be doing sometimes. At one point, Jay was starting to take out the windshield when I thought we were forcing the doors.”
Now, if you want more directed feedback, ask again, building on this statement. “In what way did I contribute to this confusion?” If you have a high level of trust with the other person, you might get some real information here. Perhaps your co-worker will say, “Well, it was hard to get direction because you were busy treating the patient.”
Okay, now you’re getting somewhere. Absorb this information, thank your co-worker for offering it, and then give it some thought. Is patient care really the best use of your skills and position on a complex call? Did you convey information to some firefighters but not others? If so, why did this happen?
You don’t have to respond to feedback immediately. In fact, it is usually better to give it some thought, especially if the feedback is at all critical. But do follow up in a timely way. Follow up is important even if you ultimately do not agree or cannot act on the feedback offered.
In the example above, you might say, “I’ve given some thought to what you said last shift about my involvement with patient care on that extrication call. I realize I need to step back more on complex calls and take command. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.” Or alternatively, “I’ve given some thought to what you said last shift about my involvement with patient care on that extrication call. I wish I could just step back and take command on those kinds of calls, but you know how short handed we are. Still, I realize I need to be more attentive to making sure communications work among all of us.” The key is to follow up in a respectful way that clearly lets the other person know he or she has been heard.
Feedback can be hard to take, especially if it is critical, but without it you will be acting in a vacuum, and any mistakes you make will be magnified to the detriment of your crew and the public you serve. Make it safe for those you work with to give you honest feedback. It’s one of the best gifts anyone can give others on the job.
