Being a Volunteer
By Jason Zigmont VolunteerFD.org
Too often we talk about being a volunteer without thinking about what it really means. I know for me, and others, I was literally raised in a firehouse, and responded to my first call about a week before I was born. ;) While for some it is in our blood, others may not understand what it is like to be a volunteer, and what it takes.
When I joined, the Chief told me that “Family, church, and work come first”. This statement has stayed with me over the years, and I’ve told it to others. The problem comes when members put the department before what is really important and end up suffering because of it.
Recently a firefighter told me about how his business had suffered due to being at the department too much, and this is a real shame. While we all have it in our blood, sometimes we need to take a step back and look at what is important.
There are always things to be done at the department, and we always feel that if WE don’t do it, no one will. The truth of the matter is that if you pick up the slack, people will just get lazier, and you’ll get busier. The cycle continues until you burn out.
We have all been there. It starts when you are practically living at the department and your life revolves around it. Then your personal life starts to get stressed, and the guys start getting on your nerves. Finally either your personal life explodes, or there is a ‘personality conflict’ with a fellow firefighter… Then you end up avoiding the department for a period of time until the cycle starts all over.
When you look around your department, you will be able to see people in all areas of the cycle. What you will also find is the few ‘dinosaurs’ who have found the middle ground that has allowed them to be 40+ year members. This is an area where it is good to learn from your ‘elders’.
As you could guess, the Chief who gave me the advice in the beginning was a ‘dinosaur’, known as the silver fox… While he and I may not agree on much, his statement still rings true. It is a balancing act that we all need to learn, and teach to our ‘new’ members.
It sounds counterproductive, but it is actually good to teach restraint, and not overextend our volunteers. We need manpower, but if we manage our manpower, and our time, we will get more out of all of our members rather then just the old 80/20 rule. (For those of you unfamiliar with the 80/20 rule, it is simply that 80% of the work is done by 20% of your department.)
Many departments are starting to have ‘requirements’ either in number of calls, drills, or overall participation. I am a big proponent of meeting the state require minimums, but we need to understand that we are ‘volunteer’ organizations, and if you make a member choose between the department and their family, their family will always win.
If it sounds like a balancing act, that is because it is. Members have a responsibility to balance their time, and leaders have a responsibility to respect a member’s time. If you schedule a drill or function, have a list of what is going to be done, when, and finish on time. Two weeks ago I touched on activity versus productivity, and this is exactly the issue. There is nothing worse then asking a member to go out of their way for a drill/fundraiser, just to have them show up and stand around.
As a member, use your time wisely, and respect your family. In some cases, your family takes a greater toll then you do when you volunteer. If you respect your family and their time, they will ‘give’ you more time to go to the FD just to ‘hang’. We may be a brotherhood of firefighters, but we were brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, and loved ones first.