How Did they Know That?

Don't say their name, but I am pretty sure a face will come to mind if I ask "Do you know one of those officers that can immediately tell you a factoid about one of your pieces of equipment (I always liked being told the torque settings on a K-12 when we didn't have the kind of wrench that would indicated that) or a historic bit of information, or possibly a percentage of events that happen during certain incidents - but at an emergency had trouble operating the can door? Sure you do. 

But on the other hand, have you been at a difficult emergency scene and one of your officers or firefighters offers a solution that you would not expect that person to know about?

How about that officer that always seems to have the right answer, maybe even intuition on what to do?

If the person hasn't done the task before themselves, or train on that topic or scenario, how did they know what to do? Most often that knowledge is really coming from the person's informal learning; knowledge gained through the observation of what has worked  and not worked in different situations. And, for the most part the decisions or actions were taken by others - although the recipient gets to learn from them.

In theory, everybody should have that observed knowledge thta they can apply when needed. But it doesn't normally seem to work that way. There are some people that are readily able to "record" information that is readily accessible based on what they see, or what they read, or hear about. There are methods that you as an instructor can use to help with this process.

Join Dave Casey as he discusses "intuition" by looking at the results of a recent US/Canadian survey on the sources of 'leadership' learning. Do we get it from formal education, college education, books, or from each other on the streets? As instructors, let's look at the different methods available and some not-so-common techniques that can help you spread the wealth of experience and knowledge to better prepare your "up and coming" officers, and your current officers.

Teaching and Learning Leadership; Beyond the Textbook

Dave Casey, EFO, MPA, CFO is the Director of Louisiana State University's Fire Emergency Training Institute (Louisiana's State Fire Academy) and is co-owner of Ascend Learning. He previously served as the Superintendent of the Florida State Fire College and was Fire Chief of Clay County (FL). He co-authored Fire Engineering's "The Right Seat" DVD series.

Register for the 2016 ISFSI Fall Instructor Development Conference here.