I read fire service articles from several different web sites and periodicals. Why? Because there are great fire service leaders who publish in other venues as well as ours. Recently, on the exact same day, I came across two different articles about motivating firefighters in the 21st century.
The first was actually more a one-sided critique of our newest generation of firefighters, where the author lamented a change in attitude in these new firefighters and voiced a fear that we in the fire service could soon lose our credibility with the public that we serve. He stressed that the newest recruits not only have to be taught to be firefighters, but also, in most cases, how to be adults as well.
By contrast, on that same day, an article by Jennifer Kirkland entitled, “Engaged Supervisors Set the Tone for Employee Retention” provided four suggestions for fire service leaders to increase engagement and retention of their newest members.