By Division Chief Brandon A. Lambert
How often do you get new recruits who are disgruntled when they walk in the door? Hopefully not often — and if you do, they probably shouldn’t make it through the hiring process.
I’ve conducted hundreds of interviews, and I’ve never recommended anyone for hire who wasn’t genuinely excited to be there. People generally don’t enter the fire and EMS service unhappy with it. We make them that way.
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That’s right, we do it. I mean, all of us — anyone around those new members — from the moment they tell us how excited they are to serve their community in their interview, up to the moment they start complaining about the pay and how they have to catch up on hydrant maintenance on Sundays in November because they slacked all year. That being said, one person in their circle is more responsible than anyone else — the company officer. Why? Proximity and exposure.
If a company officer doesn’t put on their turnout gear to respond to fire alarms, the rookie probably won’t either. If an officer doesn’t know how to stretch a line, you’ll find a rookie who can’t either. But what about attitude? Though a person of good character and with a strong work ethic might resist for a while, we all tend to become like the people with whom we spend our time. The amount of time we spend together in this line of work makes it very unlikely we will remain unaffected by the constant influence of our crews and frontline leaders.
Asch (1951) demonstrated that even when individuals clearly knew the correct answer, the pressure of group opinion could lead them to conform to an obviously incorrect choice. More recent research has shown that individuals don’t simply coexist within groups; they adapt to the expectations, attitudes and behaviors that define the group’s norms (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004). The same principle applies in the firehouse: Attitudes, not just behaviors, are contagious.
Attitude is contagious
Leadership is more than instruction or providing direction; it is influence. The technical skills are easy enough to correct. We can measure them against benchmarks and train until the deficits go away. Attitude, on the other hand, is something we can all see but is hard to measure and even harder to correct.
When I became a battalion chief, I set a short list of rules for my company officers, one of which was that they were not permitted to sit around their kitchen tables complaining to their crews. Instead, they should bring their complaints to me or to other company officers, in private. They didn’t fully appreciate the idea, as if it were their right to complain about their organization. One officer thought I was suggesting he had to fake being happy. But that wasn’t it at all.
Consider this: Do you feel like you should enjoy your work environment? If someone is standing between you and finding joy in your work environment, should someone intervene? Who? At the company level, the obvious responsible party is the company officer. Yet we see so many company officers neglect morale maintenance and culture management as a core job function. Instead, many company officers contribute to negative environments. So while you may agree with the thinking that I was asking them to fake being happy, in reality, I was simply asking that they share their dissatisfaction in an appropriate forum and with the appropriate audience.
Leadership sets the emotional climate
A lot of company officers express how important it is to them that they stand up for their members — have their back, if you will. But truly having their back is acting in their best interests, not just being seen opposing unpopular rules in public. Taking care of them includes taking care of their mental health. Leaders shape not only how their members perform but also how they experience and recover from stress in the workplace, which directly affects long-term morale and well-being (Sonnentag & Frese, 2003). The emotional tone that officers bring to the station has a ripple effect; moods and attitudes, both positive and negative, spread quickly through close teams (Barsade, 2002).
Mental health isn’t just about coping with critical incidents; it is about maintaining a general state of happiness. Research shows that maintaining a generally positive emotional climate doesn’t just make people feel better in the moment, it supports long-term physical health and resilience across a lifetime (Pressman & Cohen, 2005). If a company officer truly cares about their people, this is where their influence matters most — not standing on a soapbox with the crew cheering them on but creating a healthy environment where their members can thrive.
Bottom line: Whether you’re a company officer, hope to become one or simply expect one to have your back, we must start holding officers accountable for morale just as we do for technical competence.
Make it happen
So, let’s say you’re bought into the idea. You agree that morale is part of your responsibility as a company officer. Here are a few practical ways to keep spirits up in your firehouse:
- Start with yourself: Your crew takes their emotional cues from you. When you stay calm, steady and composed, even when the day goes sideways, you give everyone else permission to do the same. Research shows that emotions are contagious; leaders’ moods directly shape team climate and performance (Barsade, 2002).
- Communicate with purpose: The way you talk about the job influences how others feel about it. Praise publicly, correct privately, and use “we” instead of “they.” When leaders express positive expectations and reinforce a sense of belonging, it strengthens group norms and morale (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004).
- Protect the kitchen table: That’s where culture is built. Keep it a space for laughter, learning and connection, not complaint sessions. Negative conversations and chronic venting can create what researchers call “emotional exhaustion climates,” which quickly spread through teams (Totterdell, 2000; Barsade & Gibson, 2012). If the conversation turns negative, maybe it is a good time to start the daily training or duties.
- Build belonging: Ask for input, listen actively, and make sure every voice is heard. Teams thrive when members feel safe to speak up and contribute without fear of ridicule. Studies on psychological safety show that this kind of environment builds engagement, trust and performance (Edmondson, 1999).
- Reinforce meaning: Remind your crew why the work matters. Connect routine tasks to the bigger purpose of service and community. Your department’s mission, vision and values should be a guide. People stay motivated when they feel competent, autonomous and connected to something meaningful (Deci & Ryan, 2000).
- Celebrate wins, big and small: Recognition builds resilience. A simple “nice work” after a tough shift does more for morale than most formal programs. Positive emotions have measurable benefits for long-term health and stress recovery (Pressman & Cohen, 2005; Fredrickson, 2001).
Yours to own
As leaders, we can’t complain about how things are if we aren’t willing to do the work to create positive change. Culture management may be one of the most difficult responsibilities of a company officer, but it’s also one of the most important. In the end, culture isn’t written in policy; it’s spoken around the kitchen table. So, if you’re wondering who taught them to complain, the answer might depend on who’s sitting at the head of the table. You won’t get it right every day, and some people won’t change no matter what you do, so give yourself some grace, but the morale in your house is yours to own. Keep trying.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brandon A. Lambert is a division chief in Coastal Georgia with more than 18 years of fire service experience. He holds a master’s degree in Fire and Emergency Sciences from the University of Florida.
REFERENCES
- Asch, S. E. (1951). Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgments. In H. Guetzkow (Ed.), Groups, leadership, and men (pp. 177–190). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Press.
- Barsade, S. G. (2002). The ripple effect: Emotional contagion and its influence on group behavior. Administrative Science Quarterly, 47(4), 644–675.
- Barsade, S. G., & Gibson, D. E. (2012). Group affect: Its influence on individual and group outcomes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(2), 119–123.
- Cialdini, R. B., & Goldstein, N. J. (2004). Social influence: Compliance and conformity. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 591–621.
- Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268.
- Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383.
- Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226.
- Pressman, S. D., & Cohen, S. (2005). Does positive affect influence health? Psychological Bulletin, 131(6), 925–971.
- Sonnentag, S., & Frese, M. (2003). Stress in organizations. In W. C. Borman, D. R. Ilgen, & R. J. Klimoski (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Vol. 12. Industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 453–491). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
- Totterdell, P. (2000). Catching moods and hitting runs: Mood linkage and subjective performance in professional sport teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(6), 848–859.
