Compliance with protocol is essential across all fields of law enforcement, and it’s especially crucial to firefighters. Firefighting policies often outline safety procedures, conduct requirements, and professional ethics that should guide every day on the job. Despite its importance, many firefighters are resistant to compliance training. Luckily, there are several strategies a department can employ to stamp out this resistance and get everybody on board with compliance. Remember that the more enjoyable training is, the more effective it will be. Read on to learn how to invigorate your compliance meetings and make policies more memorable in the process.
Frame Policies Positively
It’s been suggested that some firefighters are resistant to compliance meetings because they often happen in response to a violation. This can foster a negative association and make meetings feel like a punishment. Rather than associate policies with something negative, a department should frame them as a positive. Take the time to highlight best practices and recognize good behavior instead of always playing defense. This can change the tone of your meetings and make staff more receptive to the message.
Avoid Rote Memorization
Some meetings focus on studying the department’s policies and then engaging in content quizzes. This can help firefighters remember important information in the short term, but many learning experts now realize that rote memorization doesn’t actually help anybody learn. In fact, it can inhibit learning by reducing concepts to words and diminishing the original idea. Instead of requesting recitation, then, you should ask meaningful questions to prompt reflection on important policies. This can help firefighters remember them, and more importantly, internalize their meaning.
Encourage Questions
Some compliance meetings have an air of seriousness that might dissuade attendees from asking questions. In order to dispel any such impression, you should make it clear to your staff that questions are always welcome. Questions prompt a natural dialogue that reinforces genuine learning for the inquirer and everybody else who is listening, too. If a question can be easily answered by reviewing a policy, encourage the asker to look at the policy in question and find the answer for themselves.
Make Review Regular
No matter how well your compliance meeting may go, its effects are likely to be short-lasting if you don’t regularly follow up with your staff. You should never treat a policy review as a one-and-done ordeal. Instead, you should invest in your firefighters’ understanding of important policies by making review a routine part of their daily tasks. How can you do this? You can ask your team to review a single policy at roll call for every shift. Integrating this into their day-to-day tasks improves absorption of the information and it reinforces the importance of policies, too.
About Provident Fire Plus
At Provident Fire Plus, we offer custom-tailored packages to best protect firefighters and volunteer firefighters. We understand the risks that emergency response teams are subjected to on a daily basis, and have worked to serve these dedicated professionals for over 87 years. For more information about our products and policies, we invite you to contact our experts today at (855) 201-8880.