The following excerpt is from “Carry the Fire: The Crucible of Leadership in the Fire Service,” Chapter 2, which highlights that Mission-Driven Culture (MDC) empowers individuals to make critical decisions in uncertain, high-risk situations by focusing on the mission rather than rigid processes. Grounded in five core values — service, trust, truth, initiative and continuous improvement — MDC assumes uncertainty, friction and danger are inherent in emergency work, requiring those closest to the challenge to act decisively. This approach builds loyalty, retention, clarity and accountability while aligning operations and improving outcomes. Though cultural change is difficult, with strong leadership and clear communication, MDC creates empowered teams capable of adapting quickly and effectively to complex challenges.
One essential aspect of MDC is implicit within the name itself: The focus is on each mission, allowing people more freedom to make critical decisions in challenging, unexpected situations. In other words, MDC is driven by the individual goals and mission of the entire organization. This is what firefighters work for; it is part of their daily work and how they structure their tasks. One of the most significant features of MDC, as compared with other leadership theories (as explored in chapter 1), is a move away from rote processes, instead prioritizing successful operational outcomes.
In an MDC, everyone has a role. MDC has a strong foundation of core values and practices to integrate throughout your organization. Five core values espouse this philosophy:
- Service to promote the common good
- A high state of trust
- The pursuit of truth, function, and form as defined by the result
- Individual initiative
- Continuous improvement
These core values must be the foundation of any implementation of this philosophy in a fire department. There are several assumptions when MDC is applied appropriately. First, MDC is implemented with the assumption of uncertainty, meaning that every decision will be imperfect and must be made according to the crisis. A decision made at the moment during a crisis will always be flawed. The second assumption is friction, meaning the individual closest to the challenge will make the best decisions. Ultimately, what this does is take away the danger of making decisions and ensures that those who are directly facing this challenge will make the best, circumstantial, flexible decision for the moment. The third assumption is danger, meaning that even a well-trained and highly experienced operator will take several precautions to prevent injuries and deaths.
In emergency work, no amount of education will prepare you for the challenges you face, as Heath shares in Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems before They Happen. No matter who makes the decisions, there is always risk involved here, but that doesn’t mean precautions cannot and should not be taken by all. These assumptions illustrate how complex and challenging emergencies can be and how there is no one set of rules that fits all situations. Thus, flexibility is key to provide significant benefits when MDC is applied appropriately.
The Benefits of MDC
There are several benefits to MDC. First—and one of the most important—is focus on the operation at hand. There is an encouragement that further illustrates a clear mission and can further inspire engagement and boost performance in this team environment. MDC has many benefits, the first of which is that firefighters following this philosophy will see more loyalty within their team. That is, there’s a common purpose with a common cause. When the job is done successfully and individually, it is no wonder that retention increases because job satisfaction is higher than ever before.
Next, MDC ensures strategic alignment. This helps leaders to balance their priorities and establish what is necessary within the organization. Leaders can then focus on the most critical aspects of their jobs, rather than having to focus on decision-making and accountability—or having to focus on absolutely everything, even the frivolous aspects. Ultimately, this allows leaders to focus on what grows and benefits their organization rather than everything at once.
Third, being focused on the mission allows for clarity in judgment, which can guide leaders to the best decision. Finally, as expected, operational outcomes are appropriately measured, and performance is appropriately recognized, making the ability for feedback and employee development more efficient than possible with other theories.
One of the most important factors that comes with this theory is increasing the organization’s accountability, speed, and balance. This has many benefits, especially in maximizing employee engagement, which can drive crucial organizational performance and increase accountability for all roles. Furthermore, autonomy and the removal of management policies that limit employees can enhance positive results across the entire organization, including in critical lifesaving actions.
MDC can optimize how leaders balance safety, effectiveness, and efficiency to deliver the service needed for the community. When a culture of permission is avoided, more risks are taken; however, individuals can take opportunities that make a difference, as opposed to breaking rules and being punished, and this can ultimately create better outcomes. This methodology encourages quick thinking and even quicker actions, which is essential in fire service.
The application of MDC provides numerous additional benefits. These include a decrease in grievances, an increase in retention, and even an increase in the quality of risk decisions. In turn, this leads to heightened trust, fewer surprises, and overall higher support throughout the organization, on and off the job.
How to Develop MDC
As you can imagine, building an MDC is not easy, but you must consider this necessary. Cultural change can be difficult, so leadership needs to decide to institute this culture for the team. Chief Fennessy, who promotes this methodology, believes in personally investing in this change. This creates further trust and reassurance and ensures that leaders can allow their team to assume the role of leader and make decisions in times of crisis; this can ultimately create further strength, further validity in their judgments, and further empowerment of the overall team.
Importantly, though, Fennessy cautions that legal counsel is necessary when making any change to the culture. Communication in these climates can be ensured to eliminate any potential problems, whether administrative or operational, that can come with these changes. When legal counsel are available, staff members can see and avail themselves of this additional support in situations requiring difficult calls. Through legal counsel, the boundaries between good and bad—or outright wrong—decisions can be articulated and made further apparent to all members of the team, including the leadership.
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©2025
Publisher: Fire Engineering Books
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