In Command of Guardians: Executive Servant Leadership for the Community of Responders

By Eric J. Russell

In Command of Guardians: Executive Servant Leadership for the Community of Responders, Second Edition spotlights the philosophy of servant leadership and offers a pathway for strengthening first responder organizations. Responders work in high-risk, critical situations under the pressure of time and consequence. Being a responder means one must become an active player in the tragedies of others. Because these situations can change the responder over time, a special type of leader is needed to walk beside them while they navigate the realities of public safety and emergency service operations. This book illustrates how being a servant leader to these guardians allows the community of responders to strengthen their resiliency, foster individual growth, and perform at peak levels. 

“The book spans a wide breadth and depth, and is written in a way that engages the reader immediately. It is packed with sensitive and wise insights, as well as eminently practical advice for today’s emergency services leaders, as well as those of tomorrow.”

- Emily Hough, Editor-In-Chief, Crisis Response Journal

"Emotionally moving, research-based, and a compelling case for why any organization can benefit from a servant leadership organizational culture.  Eric debunks the myth that servant leadership is "soft" and shows how the hard work of skilled servant-leaders is exactly what is needed in the alpha worlds of public safety and emergency services." 

- Duane Trammell, President, Trammell McGee-Cooper & Associates, Inc

“Eric Russell is a pioneer in applying the principles of servant leadership to the communities of brave police, fire, and emergency services responders. This book is destined to be a classic reference work for the field.”

-Don M. Frick, PhD, Authorized Robert Greenleaf biographer and co-author of Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership: The Wisdom of Leading by Serving.

“In Command of Guardian speaks great leadership truths to first responder communities throughout the world. This is an important work for those in command of the men and woman who put their lives on the line to save others.” 

– Christophe Libeau, Lieutenant Colonel, Brigade de Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris

• Language: English
• Publisher: Springer
• Release date: May 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9783030124939

Book preview

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Eric J. RussellIn Command of Guardians: Executive Servant Leadership for the Community of Respondershttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12493-9_1

1. In Command of Guardians

Eric J. Russell¹ 

(1)

Department of Emergency Services, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT, USA

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

—Vincent van Gogh

Abstract

This chapter introduces the philosophy of servant leadership to those responsible for a community of emergency responders. This introduction spotlights the potential that servant leadership can have for improving the lives of guardians. It begins by offering a pathway for self-reflection regarding the emergency services leader’s desire to serve—a desire which brought them to the career field years before. It defines the community of responders as a quasi-family-like paramilitary world in which responders live and operate. Serving this community, as well as on-scene command-and-control, are the greatest responsibilities facing the emergency services leader. The career of a first responder is one of noble sacrifice and service; servant leadership is offered as a way to honor that service.

Where you are at today didn’t happen by mistake. Your position and authority formed over time. Who you are today stems from a sequence of events and experiences. This journey didn’t begin with you yearning to be a leader—it began with your desire to serve (Russell 2014a). Long ago, before it was even possible to imagine what the profession entailed, you simply desired a life of serving others in their time of need. The money didn’t matter. For many, even the specific organization didn’t matter. All you longed for was an opportunity to be a part of something greater then self. You wanted to save the day.

Take a moment and think back to your time in the academy, when this was all new to you. Think about your technical courses, and your academic studies. You looked at those that did the work with awe. You hung on every word uttered by your instructors, professors, and preceptors. You imagined serving with them. You longed to hear the there I was war stories. This is where the journey began and why you chose this path. It started not at the top of the ladder, but rather, at the very bottom.

Today you find yourself in command. You are a leader. You are the one they look to. Now your followers hang on your words; they desire to hear your there I was tales. They long for your mentoring. They want your approval. They want your protection. You are now in command of guardians.

To be in command of guardians means one has been gifted the responsibility, and therefore power, over those who willingly serve and sacrifice for strangers. Regardless of whether you achieved this position by election, promotion, or appointment, you are accountable for their wellbeing. Every decision you make will affect them, be it the closing of stations, shifts in staffing, implementation of new policies, or changes to operations. Each decision you make impacts the community of responders. This is a group built upon traditions, holding tight to the familiar and finding comfort in the known. So much of this profession requires problem solving in the face of the unknown. Problems arise in this profession when there’s nothing in need of solving, when something cannot be solved, or when sudden changes, perhaps unexpected, occur.

An emergency services leader must not only realize, but also, help his or her followers recognize that the average person can never see the world from the perspective of the responder. Hence the reason that you as a leader must be a steward for them—not just within the community of responders, but also, to the public itself. In his work The Ethic of Strength, Greenleaf (1996) wrote,

Very few people accept that this is a dangerous world [morally, physically, intellectually] and hence they do not choose to be aware of where they are, who they are, what kind of world they live in, or what its traps and hazards are (p. 38).

Though at the time he wasn’t writing specifically to the emergency services, his words identify an intractable barrier existing between emergency responders and the citizenry. Additionally, it highlights the stark differences needed to lead a community of responders.

For example, because of their experiences, the responder encounters flight-or-flight before the civilian. What’s more, the responder will make certain life decisions based upon their previous experiences. The public is predominantly ignorant to the fact that their story will become a responder’s story; their decisions in life can have a negative impact on the responder. Case in point, the driver that chooses to not wear a seatbelt or a motorcyclist that chooses to not wear a helmet. Though it is the individual’s decision, the consequences when they are involved in accidents become gruesome realities responders must navigate.

To go one step further with this topic, think about just how difficult it is for you and for many other operators to sit with one’s back towards the door. The responder is keenly aware of their surroundings and the people around them because of an understanding of human nature and just how quickly things can change. Within minutes of being a patron of a business or a guest in someone’s home, responders seem to know the location of egress points as well as potential hazards and threats. It must never be forgotten that unlike a knot, experiences cannot be undone.

So, what does it mean to be in command of guardians? It begins with an understanding of the structure of the emergency services profession. The nature of emergency services work involves long periods of routine monotony interrupted by moments of traumatic, adrenaline-pumping chaos. This is the world the professional responder must navigate and you must lead. It is a balancing act between paramilitary governmental structures with patriarchal ranks coupled with family-like living arrangements. Between calls, responders live in close-knit sibling-like relationships with clear demarcations between the quasi-family unit and a hierarchical command system. Leaders will find themselves giving life-or-death orders to crews and teams on an emergency call that interrupted their dinner together. This is a comparable reality for emergency services personnel across the globe; it is the collective familiar world that they live in; it is what is known as the community of responders.

To be in command of guardians is one of the two greatest obligations facing leaders within the emergency services. The other is the management of emergency scene command and control. The profession succeeds at preparing managers for the role of incident command through rigorous academic and training programs coupled with vast amounts of continuous education. However, when it comes to areas involving the preparation of individuals for non-emergency scene leadership within the emergency professions, research reveals a need for improvement (Russell 2014a). There are some theories as to why this area is neglected, such as a concentration on managerial functions within emergency services officer curriculum, or the assumption that one’s rank automatically makes them a capable leader. Such concentrations and assumptions create vulnerabilities for the profession’s most valuable asset: its people.

This lack of focus on the role of leadership within the emergency services led to the development of this work. Specifically, this book spotlights the reasons why leaders need to focus more on this community of responders and with it, the hope of motivating those same leaders to take a more active role in honing servant leadership skills that benefit the needs of people. So why servant leadership and not another leadership theory? It is because servant leadership characteristics, constructs, and attributes mimic those found in most emergency services responders (Russell 2014a). Research has shown that the characteristics, constructs, and attributes forming the philosophy of servant leadership are the same ones that brought the responder to this profession (Russell 2014a, b; Russell et al. 2015). They just need to be called out, revived, and brought to the forefront.

Currently, existing empirical works present the relationship between servant leadership philosophy and the emergency services; however, they don’t explain how being a servant leader improves the lives of emergency responders. In Command of Guardians shows the reader how the qualities associated with the philosophy serves the community of responders. Naturally cultivating servant leadership qualities positively influences one’s ability to foster the community. This relates back to what Greenleaf (1970) called your natural desire to serve.

Defining the Guardian

Throughout human history there have been those willing to step forward to shield the group (Hart and Sussman 2005). Brave persons called to a role to protect and serve others. It began in tribes where certain individuals became the watchman standing guard on the hill (Hart and Sussman 2005). These individuals transcended the average citizenry to become the guardians of the people, at times willing to sacrifice self for the community. The guardians have always been there—they stand outside the lines and respond in times of need (Hart and Sussman 2005).

Today, the guardians are those who take the oath of service as professional emergency responders, commonly referred to as firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians, and rescue personnel. These are the modern guardians, ordinary individuals with a desire to serve, willing to step forward to serve others in extraordinary times of need. The guardian role has evolved over time and will continue to evolve; however, what remains is the desire of the few to protect and defend the many.

Leading the Alpha

The emergency services profession attracts individuals that are commonly described as alphas. They are usually mentally strong, courageous, and physically fit individuals. Thus, there is a culture that exists within the community of responders that is inherently tough and prideful in its self-reliance. As an emergency services leader, you came up through this culture. It is a part of who you are. It is possible that if others were asked to define you, they most likely would describe you as an alpha, possibly an