Leadership Lessons With Battalion Chief John Salka

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For more than 30 years, John Salka has been with the City of New York Fire Department (FDNY), and is currently a Battalion Chief in the 18th Battalion in the Bronx.

Chief Salka has instructed in numerous capacities at the FDNY Training Academy and is a nationally recognized instructor and lecturer. He is the author of "First In, Last Out - Leadership Lessons From the New York Fire Department". Salka also writes for both Firehouse Magazine and Fire Engineering.

Through his company, Fire Command Training, Chief Salka conducts lectures, seminars, workshops and hands-on training. One of those lectures is "First In, Last Out; Leadership Lessons from the Fireground", which deals with leadership in any field and how it affects everything that people do.

According to Chief Salka, there are eight essential elements of effective leadership. All of them begin with "In".

Integrity:

Firefighters must have integrity, according to Salka.

"It's so important to be honest," he said, adding that firefighters should work hard. "What the public expects from us," Salka said.

Initiative:

Displaying initiative is another element that leaders need to possess.

"Initiative is getting the ball rolling. Initiative is taking the first step saying let's get going, let's stretch our hose line, let's get in there and make a search," Salka explained.

Innovation: 

Leaders must be innovative and be able to think outside the box.

"Sometimes we'll be dispatched to a report of a car fire and we'll get there and it's a house fire. Suddenly we have to shift gears," Salka said.

"So innovation is important because it's how you shuffle the deck and how you react to changing conditions in the middle of what could be a very dangerous fire operation," according to Salka.

Insight:

This is another important element, according to Salka. "Understanding what your fire company or your fire department is all about."

Interest:

Leaders have to be interested in their job and stay interested. According to Salka, firefighters should always be striving to learn more about their job.

"When you're home reading the newspaper off duty and another town next door has had a fire, that should be of interest to you," Salka said. "You can learn a lesson from a fire you didn't even go to just by reading a story about it in a magazine or in a newspaper or listening to a report on the news." 

Inspiration:

Leaders have to be able to provide inspiration to those they lead. Salka calls it heart.

"One of the phrases that we use on the FDNY is 'now that you're on the job, get into the job.' Meaning now that you're here, now that you've passed the test and you work here, now put some effort into it. Now put your heart into it. Now really give it your all."

Intensity:

Intensity is an important element of the fire service. "I call intensity miles per hour," Salka explains. "The quantity of the effort that you put in."

Firefighters can go from zero to sixty in a matter of minutes, according to Salka.

"Sometimes we're in relatively inactive periods and then 20 minutes later you could be at the most serious, most dangerous, most rapidly developing fire that you've ever been to." 

Information:

Being able to dispense information is important for a leader.

"In the fire department technical information is important because all the tools we have operate a certain way. They have certain capabilities and limitations," Salka said.

All of these skills and abilities are important for firefighters to learn. For more information on training or on Chief John Salka visit: www.firecommandtraining.com.


Author:Barbara Brooks - Fire Department Network News