Keavney & Streger

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EMS Dashboard Confessional, January 2019

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This month’s EMS Dashboard Confessional comes from a supervisor in a third-service EMS department.

I was the on-duty supervisor for our EMS agency with the headache of crew assignments and assuring the system was functioning. I was also given the “blessing” of sorts of having the dedicated supervisors vehicle at my disposal.

The shift was nothing special but what happened next will always stay with me – the Director came downstairs to the supervisors office and asked me for a ride to one of our local hospitals for a pre-planned meeting. As we pulled out of the building, he looked down, cursed and then said “ok, turn on the lights and sirens, I am running late.” I said no, knowing full well that this would anger him but also knowing that of anything occurred on the way to the meeting, he would rapidly disavow knowledge of asking me to turn on the emergency warning devices. He looked at me and said “fine, I will remember this”

This experience taught me a few things – not the least of which was that we, as leaders, need to assure our behavior is above reproach and always in line with our policies and procedures. How would if have looked to any of our crews had they seen this? Any time a leader takes a “do as I say, not as I do” attitude, it does not bode well for them.

Michelle Kobayashi, Administrative Director of EMS at Hackensack University Medical Center comments, “This is a challenging situation with a few issues to consider.  First, there is the power dynamic.  As a subordinate, there are risks to disobeying a higher ranking leader.  Second, there is a safety consideration.  Red lights and sirens increase risk for the responder and the community.  Third, there are the optics and message being sent to the staff.  Would the director tolerate this behavior for a staff member late picking up a non-emergent discharge?  The biggest fear in this situation, other than getting into an accident, is retaliation by the director at some future date.  ‘I will remember this.’  Does that mean no promotion? Denied days off?  That comment alone likely damaged the relationship with the director and undermined trust going forward.”
“Ultimately, I applaud you for making a good decision and standing up for your values,” Michelle continues. “Whether you knew it at the time or not, you were behavior modeling in a positive way for the staff by maintaining established policies and procedures.  Once leaders ‘bend’ the rules without valid cause, it sends a message to the staff that it’s ok for them to do it, too. This is also behavior modeling, but with a negative impact.  Overlooking these ‘bends’ promotes more bending until the preceptor tells the new employee, ‘I know the policy says this, but nobody does it that way.'”  
Think about your core values.  Know what they are.  See how well they align with your organization and know if there’s any dissonance so you can prepare for when your values conflict with your boss’ values, or the organization’s values.  Know where you’re willing to compromise and where you’re not.  

Interested in Submitting Your Own EMS Dashboard Confessional?

If you would like to submit your own anonymous EMS Dashboard Confessional and help with the ongoing education of people in the EMS field, please find the submission form by clicking here.