How a Closer Look at the PQAs can Stop you Wondering

I’ve just got back from a couple of days training in Norfolk on ‘Developing Managers to help their staff prepare for the ITOP’. This was the first training of its kind I have done, and I was really pleased that as a Brigade they recognised the value of supporting their staff in this way. Our focus was on the ‘techniques’ of completing the ITOP effectively and also the ‘content’. You can’t have one without the other, but it is possible to develop your skills in both (which will be the topic of our featured article next time). It went really well, and raised a lot of interesting questions. One of the key concerns was how managers can explain the relevance of the ITOP and ADC to their team.

So, how is the ITOP process relevant to whether a Firefighter would make a good crew manager?

A useful way of looking at this is to make a list of actions and behaviours you would like to see more of in the workplace. If you are a manager these will be the things which, if your team did more of, would make your life a whole lot easier. If you are a Firefighter, these may be things which you would secretly like your colleagues to do a bit more of. Every list will be a bit different, but will often include some of the following:

• Come up with more suggestions to fix problems

• Be more prepared to listen to other’s point of view

• Willing to consider doing something differently

• Deal with problems instead of leaving them for someone else to do
  not take things so personally

What would your list be?

Whatever your list is, there will be some cross over between these and the PQAs (not sure what a PQA is? Click here to find out- this is stuff you need to know!) It’s hard sometimes to see it, especially when the PQAs can seem like a list of words in a long document which don’t seem to have much relevance to the day to day roles of a Firefighter. But if we take our list above, we can start to see how the PQAs link in to the workplace. For instance:

• Coming up with suggestions to fix problems- this action links into looking for solutions, relevant to the PQA ‘Problem Solving’

• Listening to other’s point of view- this behaviour is relevant to the PQA ‘Effective Communication’.

  

• Being more open minded when something has to be done differently- this attitude ties in with being able to see new possibilities and being ‘Open to Change’.

• Dealing with problems instead of leaving them for someone else- is part of being practice and ‘Problem Solving’

• The ability to control your emotions and not let things get to you is an element of the PQA ‘Confidence and Resilience’

As I said, the answers are there if you look. We had some fantastic suggestions from the managers in Norfolk about how to run practical session to help the team see the PQAs in action- from a blindfolded task to highlight verbal and non-verbal communication styles, to watching episodes of Big Brother to see which of the PQAs the house mates are (and more commonly are not) meeting! (Look out for Commitment to Diversity & Integrity, Working with Others, Confidence & Resilience in particular!)