Knowing how to work as part of a team is an essential component of being a firefighter.
Effective teamwork rarely just happens. It is honed and developed using a combination of skills, attitudes, and leadership for it to make a very real and measured impact.
These skills will help you develop a strong team presence whether it’s at the fire ground or as a team developing the training schedule for the department.
Here are 20 tips to help you improve your teamwork skills and help you develop as a better firefighter and team member.
1. As a firefighter you must understand your role in the team.
Understanding your role in a team starts with understanding who you are as a firefighter and team member.
We often think of the team setting is only important on an emergency scene, however I would argue that being a team member at the firehouse and within the department is just as important.
Review your strengths as well as areas you need improvement in. A few ways to accomplish this is to review a recent appraisal, or by self-assessing your own skills. This will help you consider what you can offer. It’s also helpful to analyze what other firefighters bring to a team.
Remember to always prioritize your own role on the team. Doing this will ensure people know what you’re capable of.
2. Develop a team mentality.
Developing a team mentality begins with understanding your role, but this is only the start. Develop and focus on the goals of your team and ensure there is a focus on the bigger picture for the fire department and your community. The you will have a stronger understanding of how you can contribute. For example, if your fire department is considering the mission of staffing ambulance and providing medical transport. Focus on your skills and knowledge to help support this new mission. Maybe that involves going to school to become a paramedic.
Socialize with your fellow firefighters, get to know them. Become comfortable with giving and receiving feedback. Think about how you can help teammates learn and develop the behaviors expected of you to inspire others to do the same.
3. Be flexible.
Very rarely will working in a team go completely according to plan. As a firefighter you learn to cope with change and conflict both in the firehouse and on the emergency scene. These at times will alter the team dynamic and the tasks you’re working on.
View being flexible as a way to increase your skill set, build relationships and help others. Keep yourself organized and plan ahead wherever you can in order to make the need to change course a little less disruptive.
4. Focus on the team’s goals.
Write down your team’s goals as well as your personal goals. Work with each other and your officer to develop the best way you can contribute. Understanding the department goals, your crew goals and your personal goals will help you to align your goals with the bigger picture goals.
Start to think about how a long-term team goal can be broken down into manageable steps. Doing this can help you build a timeline by knowing how long each step might take you as well as what is needed for them to be brought to fruition.
5. Be a good communicator.
Whether you’re introverted or extroverted, speaking up in a team and being able to communicate effectively is important in order to discuss challenges and create team cohesion.
Be participative when discussing team goals and tasks, and respect other’s contributions and ideas, even if they’re not aligned with your own. Clearly communicate, trying to avoid ambiguities which might cause confusion or miscommunication.
6. Show responsibility.
Fostering reliability in the team is a great way to drive responsibility. Your officer will commonly establish the team norms, it’s your role as a team member to follow them and encourage others to do the same.
Understanding the team goals can drive empowerment. Focus on your tasks and do as much as you can to get on with the job at hand, figuring out the best way to get there as long as tasks are completed correctly. This, in turn, will drive trust and collaboration.
7. Be willing to help.
Any team is only as strong as its weakest link. Understanding your role in the team and communicating with other team members to familiarize yourself with what they’re doing and what support they need is essential. Knowing your team will also make it easier for you to ask for help when you need it.
8. Let others help you.
Team members must overcome any reluctance to ask for help. You can achieve this through open communication and understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Those in need of help must recognize those who assist them. Saying thank you goes a long way and will inspire others to offer help, which, in turn, will make others in need a little more confident in reaching out.
9. Avoid department politics and gossip.
Office politics and water cooler gossip are sadly a fact of life in the workplace, but to succeed as a team means to avoid it or minimize the consequences of it whenever possible.
Spend time cultivating yourself. Ensuring that your behavior at work is consistent and positive. Finally, know how and when to be assertive, digging your heels in at appropriate times, when you need to stand up to people playing power politics.
10. Don’t play the blame game.
Team members that spend time blaming each other whenever something goes wrong will inevitably tear themselves and the team apart. The bigger thing to do if you, or someone else, make a mistake is to accept it, learn from it and carry on.
One way to move on from the blame game is for you to contribute to a culture of learning. Both as a team and as an individual, deconstruct what happened and put development plans in place to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen again.
11. Respect your colleagues.
A well-built team will be a collective of very different people, with a variety of different personalities and skills. Inevitably, this will spawn differences and disagreements.
Critical to team success is for you to respect these differences and understanding why they’re beneficial. Take time to get to know your teammates on both a personal and professional level. This will create trust.
12. Appreciate different work styles.
Respecting different work styles leads to the appreciation of these differences and what they can bring to the team. When you get to know the different ways individuals in a team are working, you can focus on your own job and know give you support. You can learn from these various approaches, strengthening your own knowledge and understanding.
13. Celebrate your team successes.
Celebration doesn’t have to be grand gestures from leaders. There are plenty of little things you and your teammates can do together to celebrate team wins.
Sending congratulatory notes through messaging systems like WhatsApp can make a big impact, as can writing handwritten notes to colleagues. This approach will inspire others to do the same.
14. Be committed to the team and the project.
Always keep a close eye on your own tasks as well as the team goals, tracking your own progress and helping others where needed. Keeping focused on your own tasks will enable you to minimize the distractions and unnecessary conflict.
15. Prove you’re reliable.
The strongest teams have a powerful culture of trust, and one of the best ways to sustain this is through being a reliable team player. Reliability begins with keeping yourself organized at work. This can include decluttering, breaking down tasks into steps, establishing priorities and even taking breaks to improve focus.
As an individual, committing to deadlines and following through on promises will demonstrate your dependability, increasing your team’s confidence in what you do.
16. Be optimistic.
Optimistic team members will roll with the punches, painting a positive light on any challenges that come their way, communicating these feelings and engaging others to feel the same. These traits will rub off on others, contributing to team cohesiveness.
Keeping yourself organized, prepared and well-informed on what is happening in your team can enable you to manage your own emotions and approach each day with a positive mindset.
17. Keep the competition friendly.
A healthy bit of competition between teams or team members can bring many benefits, such as an increased sense of purpose, improved motivation and the accomplishment of objectives. Nevertheless, competition can be taken too seriously, leading to conflict, stress and demotivation.
If you have an overly competitive streak, ensure your energies are channeled into things you can influence, like you own tasks and outputs.
18. Meet your deadlines.
Meeting targets and deadlines is a critical part of being a reliable member of the team. Deadline focused team members have an acute understanding of their responsibilities and objectives.
Always keep a close eye on how your teammates are doing. These might be shared responsibilities or moments when what they’re producing may impact someone else’s tasks.
19. Ask for feedback from colleagues.
A high-performing team will be in the habit of honestly and regularly sharing feedback. Team members should be empowered to share challenges with their teammates in a direct and timely manner. This increases trust and boosts performance.
20. Keep each other motivated.
It isn’t just the role of the team leader to keep everyone motivated.
Teams which follow many of the above tips will keep themselves motivated and engaged. The key that bring these elements together is offering continuous and sincere support, trusting each other, and being honest and communicative. These cornerstones will ensure that whatever comes your way, you and your team will remain motivated, engaged and focused on the task at hand.
Final thoughts.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving your teamwork skills. Focusing on your own team working skills relies on an element of self-evaluation, understanding what you might need to focus on and asking others for feedback.
Good luck to you in your Career and in life!