Career Development and Staff Focus

1. 12 Career Development and Staff Focus

2. Learning Objectives 12.1 Create a map of a career plan and personal growth path to an EMS leadership position. 12.2 Understand how to develop and participate in a mentoring program. 12.3 Identify activities that enhance professional development.

3. Learning Objectives (Cont.) 12.4 Recognize, select, and participate in staff development opportunities. 12.5 Identify education pathways for career and staff development. 12.6 Identify common experiences needed to be an effective EMS manager or leader.

4. Learning Objectives (Cont.) 12.7 List possible outside activities that enhance professional growth within the organization.

5. The Need for Professional Development • Many people debate the concept of “professional” development • An EMS manager must understand what it is that makes a profession • A profession means the group has an identified body of knowledge and its training is universally recognized

6. The Need for Professional Development (Cont.) • Fire and emergency medical services are facing a significant loss of leadership and experience in the next decade as aging baby boomers retire • Professional development is a necessity when you consider the skills difference between a field paramedic or clinician and a manager

7. The Need for Professional Development (Cont.) • As an EMS manager or leader, you will need to focus not only on developing yourself but also on developing your staff • Studies often show that managers who do not train others to fill their positions are less likely to be promoted

8. The Need for Professional Development (Cont.) • Professional development can be divided into four basic categories: • Technical skills gained from training and certification related to a trade or profession • Managerial skills that include analysis, planning, problem solving, and communications

9. The Need for Professional Development (Cont.) • Ongoing individual-level self-development in the areas of ethics, vision, and leadership • A manager must have experience with different roles, cultures, individuals, and groups

10. Professional Development • The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) • Preparing the Next Generation Initiative • Inspire young and midcareer professionals and help the senior public manager prepare, develop, and motivate the next generation

11. Professional Development (Cont.) • The program goals are: • Supporting the professional and personal development of new and aspiring managers; • Encouraging an ethos of mentoring and coaching at all levels in the local government management profession • Providing opportunities for successful local-government managers to share their expertise in ways that are effective, efficient, and personally rewarding

12. Professional Development (Cont.) • The International Association of Fire Chiefs Officer Development Handbook defines professional development as the planned, progressive life-long process of education, training, self-development, and experience

13. Professional Development (Cont.) • The International Association of Fire Chiefs (ICHIEFS) has a standing committee and ongoing activities focused around five core activities: mapping, measuring, mentoring, motivating, and multiplying

14. Professional Development (Cont.) • Chief fire officer designation (CFOD) • A designation for officers at the administrative level or higher • Evaluates the entire professional development of an individual

15. Professional Development (Cont.) • American Ambulance Association (AAA) • Certified ambulance manager • An internal management-training program through the AAA has an ongoing offering for ambulance industry managers to develop management and leadership skills

16. Professional Development (Cont.) • United States Fire Administration and the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer • Executive fire officer program • This four-year program consisting of four core courses, each two weeks long, also requires applied research projects for each year • EFO has become a standard in the industry, and it is a common requirement for promotional opportunities or hiring of chief officers

17. Professional Development (Cont.) • National Fire Academy • Chief medical officer designation • Designed to apply career-development activities and education similar to the EFO to EMS providers who may or may not be affiliated with fire-based EMS organizations

18. Professional Development (Cont.) • The Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE) • Developed a standardized format for evaluating credentials for EMS chiefs • Professional development contains four elements: • Education, training, experience, and self-development

19. Professional Development (Cont.) • The Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE) • The elements that enable someone to do a job are knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) • There are quantifiable measures recognized in the form of certifications, academic degrees, diplomas, licenses, certificates, transcripts, and continuing- educations credits (CEUs)

20. FIGURE 12.3Professional Development Model for EMS Leadership.

21. The National Highway Safety and Traffic Administration and the Baldridge Criteria • A Leadership Guide to Quality Improvement for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems • An NHTSA publication that provides a useful guide for EMS leaders to use to improve quality within their organizations

22. The National Highway Safety and Traffic Administration and the Baldridge Criteria (Cont.) • The manual provides a guide for integrating continuous quality-improvement (QI) practices into EMS operations to the extent that those practices become an essential and seamless part of normal EMS routines • These developmental stages start with building potential for success by developing an awareness and appreciation that QI is a worthwhile endeavor

23. The National Highway Safety and Traffic Administration and the Baldridge Criteria (Cont.) • The second stage requires expanding the workforce’s knowledge of and capability in QI practices and techniques by providing results and feedback • Finally EMS leadership will need to fully integrate the strategic quality planning process and related quality-improvement actions into the daily EMS operation

24. Malcolm Baldrige and Professional Development • The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award • Given by the president of the United States to businesses—manufacturing and service, small and large—and to education and health-care organizations that apply and are judged to be outstanding in seven areas: • leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human-resource focus; process management; and results

25. Malcolm Baldrige and Professional Development (Cont.) • The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence • Provides a systems perspective for understanding performance management • Reflects validated, leading-edge management practices against which an organization can measure itself

26. Malcolm Baldrige and Professional Development (Cont.) • The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence • With their acceptance nationally and internationally as the model for performance excellence, the criteria represent a common language for communication among organizations for sharing best practices • The criteria are also the basis for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award process

27. Collegiate Education • In the future, to receive paramedic certification you will have had to attend an accredited program • Most accredited programs require the resources of a college or university and result in two-year degree programs

28. Collegiate Education (Cont.) • Core courses have been established for a model EMS management degree similar to those offered by the National Fire Academy, which has established a model core curriculum and degree structure for associate’s and bachelor’s degrees

29. Collegiate Education (Cont.) • A state college or university offers bachelor’s degrees; as early as possible, it is important identify potential bachelor’s-degree and advanced-degree programs that may be required for promotion to a managerial or leadership position

30. Collegiate Education (Cont.) • Choose an institution and a program that will accept all the credits you have earned toward your achieve an associate’s degree • Some colleges and universities do not transfer all the courses

31. Collegiate Education (Cont.) • When one degree transfers in its entirety to another college or university as part of a higher degree, it is called academic articulation • The Degrees at a Distance Program (DDP) is a sponsored by the National Fire Academy that and includes a significant Web-based and online program for emergency service personnel that awards a bachelor’s degree

32. EMS Model Curriculum • A national EMS-management curriculum committee was formed as part of the National Fire Academy’s Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education conference • Four levels were established: • EMS supervisor: A crew chief or leader of a single unit or crew • EMS Manager: Manages more than one crew or supervisor

33. EMS Model Curriculum (Cont.) • EMS chief officer: Oversees more than one manager, is responsible for a major component of an EMS organization, middle manager • EMS executive: Head of the organization or senior staff • To help develop these four levels, a series of core courses were identified • Similarly to many other technical professions, a core group of courses is usually required

34. University Programs • Universities, some state and private colleges offer advanced degrees such as master’s or doctoral degrees • EMS leaders and managers need to study the same degree material that a city or country manager studies

35. University Programs (Cont.) • Upper-level managers need to understand budget, advance quality improvement, political economies, and be able to write and speak well in public

36. FIGURE 12.6Sample EMS Management Degree Sheet.(Reprinted with permission of The George Washington University Medical Center.)

37. Skills Acquisition • A skill • The ability to do something in an effective manner • Focus on the skills related to technology and to the EMS practices that affect your current position • Conceptual skills are those that require general analytical ability, logical thinking, and conceptualization of complex and ambiguous relationships

38. Skills Acquisition (Cont.) • A skill • Interpersonal skills are those skills necessary to make greater contributions to the organization by interpersonal processes and the ability to understand feelings, attitudes, and motives of other from what they say and do • An EMS manager or leader needs to serve as an instructor of some aspect of EMS for career development

39. Skills Acquisition (Cont.) • EMS leaders or managers will have to speak in a public forum • There is no better preparation for public speaking than working at it as a teacher • The more programs an EMS manager is credentialed to teach, the greater the opportunity to refine presentation skills and build credibility

40. Skills Acquisition (Cont.) • Management perspectives require looking at the bottom line of the processes in the organization • Management skills require opportunities to direct, monitor, and control systems, processes, and outcomes

41. Skills Acquisition (Cont.) • Leadership requires looking at the orientation of people • Leadership skills require experience in inspiring, influencing, guiding, and motivating people

42. Skills Acquisition (Cont.) • Interpersonal skills require effective communication, both written and verbal • Managers and leaders must have effective listening skills, good writing skills, and good presentation skills • Problem-solving/decision-making skills are important to any managerial or leadership position

43. FIGURE 12.7List of Skills Needed for EMS Management Positions.

44. Competencies • Acquisition of skills should transition into mastery of those skills, also known as competencies • Competencies are important because agencies write job descriptions and promotional tests to match competencies • Each position requires a different set or level of competencies

45. Entering a New Position • Changing a career position often brings a new set of people to manager, interact with, and follow • It is important to meet with everyone within the first week and tell people your priorities and how best to communicate with you • It is important on these first visits not to tackle problems but instead to put out a personal vision and then listen

46. Entering a New Position (Cont.) • Do an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the position, the organization’s use of this position, and your skills for the position • Rearrange or change the furniture, if possible

47. Entering a New Position (Cont.) • Personalize the space by adding something that shows who you are and your credentials • A conversation piece is often a nice way to make people feel comfortable when business may be unpleasant

48. The Personal Career Path Plan • Five steps for career planning: • Pre-employment preparation • Prepare for a position by identifying the type of work; the setting; the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to qualify for the position • Competing for and capturing a position • Find a place and a position to apply for and complete the written, physical, and/or problem-solving portions of the entrance test; complete the interview portion of the hiring process and accept an offer of employment

49. The Personal Career Path Plan (Cont.) • Establishing a personal career ladder • Identify the areas of expertise and the positions that result in promotion and opportunity • Defining a personal career path • Career positions • Education and training • Life and career experience • Succession planning • Prepare to exit the position, and ensure that a pool of trained people are available to fill your position

50. Mentoring • The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a mentor as a trusted counselor or guide • A mentor is also an individual, usually older and always more experienced, who helps and guides the development of another individual who is called a protégée