Los Angeles City Fire Department: Case Study
Table of Contents
Abstract
The Los Angeles City Fire Department employs over 3,300 people in order to provide quality public service to the residents of Los Angeles. With the recent economic turndown that began in late 2007 and the budget crises within the City of Los Angeles, an Early Retirement Incentive Program (“ERIP”) was introduced and approved by the City Council and Mayor on October 30, 2009. The purpose of this program was to reduce annual ongoing City payroll costs by providing incentives for eligible Los Angeles City Employment Retirement System (“LACERS”) members to retire with benefit enhancements and or separation pay incentives. These increased incentives resulted in a phenomenon of increased retirements …show more content…
and rapidly changed work environments within the Fire Department.
The problem that the Fire Department incurred was the fact that they did not have a formal succession plan for the upcoming retirements of individuals that held key positions. This lack of a succession plan prevented them from ensuring organizational excellence and the continuity of leadership within the city. Failing to develop internal people for these key leadership roles eventually affected the quality of service given to the residents of Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles City Fire Department has now recognized the importance of succession planning and has agreed to implement a system with applicable components that identify critical operational functions, key organizational roles, and capable employees to ensure there are qualified individuals prepared to “. The proposed succession plan will address the needs of the organization by providing a formal program that develops and enhances the future potential of personnel. This plan includes implementation of cross-training programs, recruitment and retention strategies, coaching and mentoring, action learning projects, shadowing, and formal development.
Organizational Context
Similar to the way many things start, Los Angeles was a sleepy little pueblo in the 1880s, with agriculture as its primary industry. The use of firemen to protect buildings and citizens was just beginning. The Los Angeles Fire Department went from an all-volunteer to a career, paid department on February 1, 1886. In those days, the city would go for days, or even weeks, without a fire. (lafdmuseum.org)
Today Los Angeles is the second largest city in the country and LAFD reflects the expanding and diverse community. LAFD 's employs close to 4,000 uniformed fire personnel protect life, property and the environment. The services provided include fire prevention, firefighting, emergency medical care, technical rescue, hazardous materials mitigation, disaster response, public education and community service. An equally committed non-sworn cadre of 353 professional support personnel provide technical and administrative expertise in their corresponding pursuit of the department 's mission. A total of 1,104 uniformed firefighters (including 242 serving as Firefighter/Paramedics), are always on duty at fire department facilities citywide, including 106 neighborhood fire stations strategically located across the Department 's 471 square-mile jurisdiction. (Lafd.org)
The LAFD is headed by a Chief Engineer and General Manager (Fire Chief) and operates through five major bureaus: Bureau of Emergency Services, Bureau of Fire Prevention and Public Safety, Bureau of Support Services, Bureau of Training and Risk Management and Bureau of Administrative Services (audit by City Controller, Chick).
The LAFD, is run like a paramilitary organization in which the majority of their communication is handled through “chain of command” from the Fire Chief or Bureau Chiefs down through division and battalion levels, and then ultimately through a Captain to firefighters at a neighborhood fire station. (Audit by City Controller, Chick)
Environment in which the Organization Operates
Task Environment
Customers – Los Angeles is not only the largest city in the state of California, but is the second of the largest metro cities in the world, and it’s also complex, with harbors, airports, high rise buildings, brush filled canyons, and more. (lafdmuseum.org) “The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) is a full-spectrum life safety agency protecting more than four million people who live, work and play in America 's second largest city”. (lafd.org) According to a 2005 audit performed by the City Controller, LAFD dispatches nearly 350,000 emergency calls annually, which include approximately 40,500 fire calls, 20,000 rescue calls, 3,700 hazardous materials calls, and nearly 285,000 emergency medical calls. Moreover, the Department investigates more than 5,700 arson cases. (Audit by City Controller, Chick)
Regulatory Group – The Fire Commission is the regulatory group of the Los Angeles Fire Department, which is overseen by a five-person civilian board and appointed by the Mayor and affirmed by the City Council. This diverse and qualified group establishes goals and provides direction to the Department through the Fire Chief. (Lafd.org)
General Environment
Economic environment – With the recent economic turndown that began in late 2007 and the budget crises within the City of Los Angeles, the most recent trends in public sectors have been to downsize and be more efficient with fewer resources. In a recent article from Los Angeles Times it states there was an $89 million cut between 2009 and 2012 for the department, which decreased its resources and amounted to the loss of more than 318 firefighters. (Reston) Loss in personnel, hiring freezes and a weak economy plays a major role on how the fire department works to provide its best service to the community. Moreover, the large number of firefighters that have or are planning to retire has brought more challenges to the fire department.
Social/cultural environment - The Los Angeles Fire Department continues to embrace a working environment open to individuals of different races, sexes, ages, backgrounds, beliefs, traditions and more, given the significantly diverse community that surrounds them, ranging from wealthy to poor, young to old and several different races and sexes. Social evolution has brought us to the world we live now. And though it is not always easy, it should be reasonable that a workplace should reflect our community, ensuring trust and respect or all individuals.
Political environment – As a department within the City of Los Angeles, the LAFD and its Commissioners report to the City Council and Mayor of Los Angeles. In recent years they have mainly been involved in politics due to budget issues, since mandatory budget cuts have impacted the department’s service, resources and personnel. LAFD has struggled to make the Mayor and City Council understand that these cuts put a significant amount of strain on the department and its efforts to accomplish their mission. In 2009, then-Chief Barry warned City Council that the proposed plan “will equate to longer response times to both medical emergencies and fires”. (Beutner) As we get closer to the election of a new City Mayor, candidates just continue to point fingers at each other when it comes time to explain the situation that the Fire Department is currently in due to budget cuts.
Legal environment – Many legal issues can arise for the LAFD, because they are dealing with human lives and property. For years the LAFD has been criticized due their response times and lately this has been a major problem due to loss in personnel and other resources. Tragedies are more likely to happen when fire stations are understaffed or when the right equipment is not available. If a proper succession plan was in place at LAFD, there would not have been a vacuum of leadership and the department would have better addressed these issues.
Technological environment – In the last few years, technology has shown that there are always new and improve ways of completing a job or task, or simply helping with day-to-day things. As a department that provides a number of services to its community it is critical that LAFD continues to keep all equipment and services up to date. The budget cut has had an impact in the improvements and this can only lead to bigger issues if it is not addressed. “According to the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association, half the 76,000 fire trucks in use across the country are at least 15 years old, but half the industry’s 2009 sales have been cut by cash-strapped municipalities. This postponement of apparatus replacement will undoubtedly surface in the form of future breakdowns and related specialized equipment reliability issues” (Waters) Succession planning is key in this environment, because you need to have a key group of people with the same goals and the ability to sustain and continue a Capital Improvement Program even in the event an member retires.
Organization’s Mission/Vision and Goals
The organizational goals of the Los Angeles City Fire Department coincide with its core values.
The LAFD’s Core values are: Service that meets the needs of the public; Professionalism where members conduct themselves in a manner befitting to the oath they swore; Integrity that governs behavior and off the job; Respect that treats others the way they would desire themselves to be treated; Innovation that inspires employees to take risks that improve the organization and advance the profession; and Trust to always prepare to ensure safety, effectiveness and a good reputation. These core values are appropriate because the citizens of Los Angeles rely on the LAFD for emergency services that save lives and protect property in dangerous situations. Without the LAFD, the city would have to rely on county resources that would result in prolonged wait times, and the possibility of the loss of life and damage to …show more content…
property.
Organization’s Strategy
The Los Angeles City Fire Department believes that it owes the residents of Los Angeles and the members of the LAFD, “The highest quality of service possible, characterized by responsiveness, integrity and professionalism and will continually strive for improvement; a full commitment and dedication that will always look beyond the traditional scope of individual positions to promote teamwork and organizational effectiveness. The department ensure a working environment characterized by trust and respect for individuals, fostering open and honest communication at all levels and will always strive for personal and professional growth; continually seeking new knowledge and greater challenges in order to strive to remain at the leading edge of it’s profession.” (Administrator) The Los Angeles Fire Department faces many challenges, retiring personnel, outdated equipment, and fewer recruits. Due to the economic down turn, the Department has suffered cut backs in replacing equipment and recruiting new personnel to replace those that have left do to early retirement. This may be a factor in response times, which can lead to legal issues. The lack of upgraded equipment and experienced personnel hinders the organization to function to its full capacity. Without proper equipment and enough qualified employees, and a department succession plan in place, it has become difficult for the department to continue to provide the level of service that was provided in previous years. Without replacement of the leaders and firefighters that have retired, it will only become more difficult for the department in the years to come
Organizational Structure The Los Angeles Fire Department is controlled and overseen through the Los Angeles Fire Commission. The Fire Commission is comprised of a five person civilian board that is appointed by the Mayor of Los Angeles and is confirmed by the City Council. This commission establishes the goals and dictates the direction of the department through board actions and commission meetings that are held the first and third Tuesday of each month. The Fire Chief then implements all action and direction approved by the Fire Commission. The Fire Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department serves as the General Manager for the agency. The fire chief is responsible for a total of 3,586 uniformed fire personnel stationed at 106 Fire Stations throughout the City of Los Angeles. The Fire Chief is also responsible for implementing the departments’ core functions of Fire Suppression, Community Preparedness, Emergency Medical Services, Fire Prevention and Homeland Security. This is usually done via his chain of command through his two Chief Deputies that oversee the Emergency Operations Division, and the Administrative Operations Division. The current fire Chief Brian Cummings is a 32-year veteran that started with the department in 1980. He prompted throughout the department, and reached the position of Assistant Fire Chief in December 2010. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed Brian Cummings to Fire Chief on September 7th, 2011. Due to the early retirement program, many captains in the chain of command have retired resulting in many emergency appointments by lower level staff members that are struggling to fill void. A proper succession plan is need to prevent this in the future.
Control Features Used by the Organization The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) employs over 3,400 people, both sworn and civilian that are structured by a chain of command type structure.
A Board of Fire Commissioners that are appointed by the Mayor of Los Angeles and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council oversees the LAFD. This civilian oversight allows for objective and unbiased oversight of the LAFD. The first control features used by the LAFD are: written rules, regulations, policies, executive orders, directives operation’s manuals, departmental bulletins and standard operating procedures. These are available in written form and are available to all members at all work locations and via the Internet. All members are required, as part of employment with the LAFD, to become familiar with all rules, regulations, policies and
procedures. First line supervisors (Captains) employ an open door policy in which supervisors’ doors are open to employees who wish to discuss concerns and complaints. In the event that discipline is warranted, a supervisor can chose to employ a verbal counseling session and written notice to improve, without further action. If a violation of policies or regulations warrants further action, said complaint is filed in the LAFD Compliant Tracking System (CTS). The complaint is sent up the chain of command (Battalion Chief, Assistant Chief, Deputy Chief respectively) and forwarded to the LAFD Professional Standards Division (PSD), created in January of 2008 (before then, the LAFD had no formal tracking system for complaints and discipline). PSD then determines the validity of the complaint and determines the severity of the discipline if necessary.
Organizational Culture
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) has a proud and rich tradition that dates back to the turn of the century. Over its 120 plus year history, many traditions and rituals have been passed down through generations of firefighters. The most time honored ritual LAFD members observe is after the successful completion a rookie firefighter’s probationary year. Upon completion of the probationary year, a probationary firefighter cooks dinner for the firehouse, and is presented his helmet shield in front of his family and peers, and is given the opportunity to give a speech. The helmet shield serves as a symbol of the successful completion of a member’s probationary year (rookies do not have a shield on their helmets during probation). When a member completes 5 years of full time service as a firefighter, he or she becomes a vested member in the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension Program; this milestone is observed by a dinner cooked by the newly vested member. Whenever a member promotes to any rank above firefighter, the member cooks a dinner for his family and peers. Retirement dinners are also an important ritual that recognizes a member’s faithful service to the City of Los Angeles. The importance of quality time around a dinner table emphasizes the culture of family and brotherhood the LAFD embraces. As it was mentioned earlier, the shield a firefighter displays on his helmet is one of the most valued symbols of accomplishment observed by the LAFD. Equally as important is the badge a members wears on their person until they retire. Upon retirement, a member has their badge returned to them encased in acrylic, as a reminder of the heroism they displayed throughout their career. Additionally, when member retires, they are returned to them their personal record book (PRB); a journal of assignments held over the years, fire trucks a member was qualified to operate and technical certifications obtained. A member’s PRB symbolizes how hard an individual has worked throughout their years of service.
Leadership
The leadership of an organization often establishes the values and goals of the organization as well as ensures its identity is protected. In all Fire departments across the county leadership is very important and significant to each department, city and county. The Fire Department has an established and ridged leader hierarchy. It has been the same for many years. Often some of the ranking officers are not on site at the individual firehouse. This can often be an issue. Our paper focuses on the fact the LA Fire Department does not have a succession plan. Many of the ranks do not offer training or even a manual on how to do the job. Our textbook MGMT lists the “Top Ten Mistakes Managers Make.” In that list, number six is “Over managing: unable to delegate or build a team,” and number eight is “Unable to Think Strategically.” (Williams pg 16) These two mistakes are part of what the Leadership of the Fire Department lacks. They are not mistakes directly but the over idea contributes to the issues with the Fire Department.
Being unable to build a team coincides with not being able to build a team to succeed the current the leader in the department. Without a leadership team to take over, there will be internal and external issues. The fire department must come up with a strategic plan. The lack of proactive ideas and strategy will, without a doubt be the downfall of leadership with the LA Fire Department. In a typical fire department structure, each station has a Captain and a Lieutenant. If the Station Captain is off duty then the Lieutenant will often move up and take his place. He is an “Acting Captain” for the day. In some cases, a non-officer, such as a driver would move up to “Acting Lt.” if that officer is either off or working in another capacity. The Lieutenant is usually the officer over a single company. Depending upon the city he or she may be on an engine, truck, rescue company or whatever. There might be more than one assigned to a station. “Some cities will not have lieutenants but will go from driver to captain in their rank structure.” (Calfee) The Captain commands a single company but also is the ranking officer at a station that may have several companies. He may have one or more lieutenants working at the station with him. “This officer is often the initial command at emergencies and can be called upon to fill in for the Battalion Chief during his or her absence. A captain may also be over a special section or function.” (Calfee) Underneath the rankings of Captain and Lieutenant there are the Firefighters. They are considered the basic workers. There are usually 1 -3 in most companies. "Firefighter is the generic term for all members of a fire department, but it is also a rank within the organization”(Calfee) Each Station has a driver, also known as “Engineer.” In most departments this is the person who drives the vehicle and operates the pump or aerial. He is a specialist who knows everything about that piece of apparatus. A Senior Captain is a somewhat rare rank designation. Some departments may have no Lieutenants, but instead have the ranks of "Captain" and "Senior Captain". A Battalion Chief is an Operational supervisor over several companies. Often the highest-ranking officer on duty on a 24 hours basis. A District Chief is an operational supervisor over several battalions. Depending upon the city, this person could also be over a special group such as Training or Communications. This person could be the same as a Battalion Chief but just a different name. (For example, Houston FD has the Ranks of: FF, Driver/Engineer, Captain, Senior Captain, District Chief, etc.)
SWOT Analysis Bryson says, “Key decision makers need a reasonably structured process to help them identify and resolve the most important issues their organizations face” (Bryson, 1995, p. 78). For the Los Angeles City Fire Department, this would be dealing with the upcoming retirement crises and requires a succession plan. Rothwell (2001) describes succession planning as a “deliberate and systematic effort by an organization to ensure leadership continuity in key positions, retain and develop intellectual and knowledge capital for the future and encourage individual advancement”. This is the Fire Department’s precise aim. Bryson (2004) suggests a 10-step strategy change cycle to strengthen and sustain an organization. Step 1 is the initial agreement and initiates the process by committing to strategic planning; Step 2 is Identifying and Clarifying the Organizational Mandates; Step 3 is Identifying Organizational Mission and Values; Step 4 is Conducting Environmental Assessments which includes the assessment of internal and external environments and conducting a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis; Step 5 is Identifying Strategic Issues and is considered the interplay of SWOT; Step 6 is Identifying Organizational Strategies by formulating strategies to manage the issues; Step 7 is Strategy and Plan Review and Adoption that includes identifying support and obtaining resource commitment; Step 8 is Establishing an Effective Organizational Vision for the Future that enables it to perform more effectively; Step 9 is Plan Implementation; and Step 10 is Strategy and Planning Process Reassessment where continuous follow-through and follow-up is done to ensure public value is created, organizational goals and stakeholder satisfaction is met.
The Bryson’s (2004) 10-step Strategic Change Cycle in the literature review provided the framework for the Los Angeles City Fire Department succession planning program. The cycle will help solidify and ensure that a flow of potential leaders will attain the experience, knowledge and skills necessary to compete for vacancies in critical roles in the Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles Fire Department engaged in Bryson’s 10-step process, the findings are detailed by step sequence below.
Step 1: Initial Agreement The Los Angeles City Fire Department agreed to develop a succession plan to address the growing phenomena of early retirement and the failure to develop internal people for these key leadership roles. While strategic planning is typically done by the chief excutive and a handful of top leaders of an organization, the Fire Chief has decided to take a more participative approach that keeps with the Department’s inclusive culture. The planning process will provide an opportunity for all members to participate. Seventeen Department members have been trained as facilitators and will conduct one hour interviews with members who volunteer to be a part of the conversation about the Department’s future.
The theme of the planning process is “Envision Our LAFD” and is designed to identify and understand the distintive values, practices, skills and talents that create the organizational vitality and enable the Department to be its best. In addition to hearing from Department members, the Fire Chief has invited non-Department employees to participate such as Fire Commissioners, the Mayor, the City Council, Mayoral and Council staff, healthcare providers, Department partners, volunteers, General managers of other city departments, and members of the public. Twenty-two members of the Strategic Planning Leadership Team, seventeen Facilitators, along with the Fire Chief will lead this effort of developing a detailed, tactical and operational succession strategy for retired employees within six months. This six months includes Facilitator and Leadership Team Training; Conversations with volunteers that discuss adding value to customers’ experiences, engaging in positive change efforts, participating in an exceptional team and establishing the Department’s core values as organizational norms; Facilitator Debrief and Summit Design where Facilitators meet to make sense of the data received and identify some preliminary themes and strengths and discuss the findings with the Fire Chief; the formal “Envision Our LAFD” Summit, and Strategy Development. The strategic planning team believes that the proposed plan will develop Los Angeles City Fire Department’s continuing commitment towards achieving its mission and vision.
Step 2: Identifying and Clarifying the Organizational Mandates
According to Bryson, mandates, mission and values indicate the public vlaue the organization will create (Bryson, 2004). He also notes that public organizations are externally justified and that public organizations must find ways to show that their operations do indeed create public value. Failure to do so can risk losing legitimacy or justification for their existence (p. 94). In order to assure this, the Fire Chief and the Strategic Planning Committee made sure that the City Council and public was aware the newfound strategy is being built around its exisiting mission, values, and Operating Principles and that no existing components were being replaced. He emphasized that the strategy was being built on the foundation of what already exists. Due to the city’s financial crises, all interviews are conducted during normal work hours and no additional time is assigned for the project. In addition, given the current staffing levels, recognizing resource constraints and in order to not impact services, the strategic planning will consist of conversations with a representative sample of Department sworn and civilian members. This will maintain mandatory service levels.
Step 3: Identifying Organizational Mission and Values One of the primary reason for creating a strategic plan is to establish a common understanding of an organization’s work. The most succinct reflection of this shared understanding lies in the organization’s mission and vision statements. The “six critical questions” to clarifying this includes: Who are we as an organization, What are the basic social or political needs we exist to address, What do we do to recognize or anticipate those needs, How should we respond to our key stakeholders, What is our philosophy and core values, and What makes us distinctive and unique? LAFD’s mission is “to preserve life and property, promote public safety and foster economic growth through leadership, management and actions, as an all risk life safety response provider”. In addition, the Department feels it owes the residents of Los Angeles and itself “the highest quality of service possible characterized by responsiveness, integrity and professionalism and will continually strive for improvement; a full commitment and dedication that will always look beyond the traditional scope of individual positions to promote teamwork and organizational effectiveness. The department ensures a working environment characterized by trust and respect for individuals, fostering open and honest communication at all levels and will always strive for personal and professional growth; continually seeking new knowledge and greater challenges in order to strive to remain at the leading edge of its profession. In order to remain at the leading edge, it is pertinent to create this succession plan.
Step 4: Conducting Environmental Assessments Conducting environmental assessments involves three components- assessing the external environment, the internal environment, and conducting a SWOT analysis. Doing so, made it even clearer of the necessity and implementation of a succession plan. Los Angeles is the largest city in California and has a population of almost 4 million people. The Fire Department is responsible for serving this population. As the complexities of emergencies have evolved and the number of emergency responses has increased, so has the need of an effective and more sophisticated organization. The program is under constant pressure to train, improve, and provide flawless service to the community. On average, the Los Angeles Fire Department responds to over 1,000 emergency calls on a daily. The Department is composed of approximately 3,300 members, sworn and civilian.
When doing a stakeholder’s analysis, the Los Angeles Fire Department maintained that the residents of Los Angeles are their fundamental and most important stakeholders. They also recognized the State of California, the City Council, Mayor departmental employees, unions, Fire Commission, and management as key internal stakeholders. SWOT analysis identified that within the last 5 years, the Los Angeles Fire Department lost several senior level officers, departmental employees, and a fire chief due to retirement. There was also an $89 million budget cut between 2009 and 2012 which limited resources and amounted in the loss of 318 firefighters. Because there lacked a succession plan, many of these vacancies were filled with candidates that did not meet the experience outlined in the job description and had a significant impact on the public. Due to budgetary constraints, many of the vacancies remain unfilled. The fire department is also set to lose another 227 employees within the next year that individually have over 30 years of experience, this can be considered a global aging crisis being that these employees are mostly between the ages of 55-59. The departure of these employees will represent another significant loss of experience, institutional knowledge, and leadership.
These findings illustrates the significance of implementing a succession plan to meet the prevailing and future needs for leadership continuity and employee development to ensure continued effective and efficient performance of the fire department. It also illustrates the significance in formulating a strategy to manage the issue of LAFD operating at a 76% staff level.
Even though the retirement of these employees provide the opportunity to reduce annual ongoing City payroll costs, if we don’t develop lower management employees to fill key vacancies within the department, the weaknesses and threats will far outweigh the strengths and opportunities.
Step 5: Identifying Strategic Issues Step 5 involves framing the strategic issues that directly impact the organization and are the heart of the strategic planning process. When framing, the organization must focus on what’s really important and should focus on issues and not answers in order to avoid premature solutions to problems. The Los Angeles City Fire Department identified the following issues: 1) How can the LAFD maintain their exemplary level of service while operating with a 76% staff level? 2) How does the organization project the key staffing requirement? 3) How does the organization identify potential employees that may be qualified candidates? 4) How does the organization prepare candidates for key positions? 5) How does the organization prevent disruption and uncertainty within the department upon retirement of members in key departmental positions? These issues directly impact the mandates and departmental mission and vision. Failure to implement a plan to address these strategic issues will jeapordize the entire operation of the Los Angeles City Fire Department. The issues are operational and strategic that will affect the service of the department and requires immediate action.
Step 6: Formulating Strategies to Manage the Issues The following strategies have been formulated in order manage the aforementioned issues of the department. The first component of the succession plan is to project the staffing requirements which will eliminate the issue of operating with a 76% staff level as well as deal with the issue of projecting the key staffing requirement. This can be achieved by reviewing job positions and job descriptions for strategic leadership positions in the organization, as well as lower level positions. By doing this, you can determine which positions can be consolidated, absorbed or eliminated which will allow the organization to downsize and be more efficient with fewer resources. It will also determine which positions are a vital function of the Fire Department and need to be prepared for in the event of retirement or other loss of personnel. The second component is to identify individuals who are prepared to move quickly into key positions. In order to address this component, it is essential to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities of employees within the department. This can be done by implementing the third component of the succession plan, which is preparing candidates through training and career development. This can be achieved by adding career development program elements to exisiting training opportunities that support cultivation. A variety of cross-training, coaching and mentoring, shadowing and other opportunites can aid in preparing individuals. As an employee develops, a record of progress should be retained with review from various levels within the company.
The fourth and final component is the selection of employees from updated pools of qualified candidates. Having an identified pool of qualified candidates ready to move into key positions prevents disruption and uncertainty within an organization. In order to maintain the Fire Department’s mission to provide “the highest quality of service possible characterized by responsiveness, integrity and professionalism”, it is important to plan for consistent succession. By assessing the potential for vacancies, assessing the readiness of current staff to assume these positions, developing strategies to address the needs of the employees and the organization, and mentoring, training and developing leadership and management skills, the Los Angeles City Fire Department is confident that they can serve the community in a manner consistent with its mission and core values.
Step 7: Review and Adopt a Strategic Plan
Step 7 involves reviewing and adopting the strategic plan by identifying support, obtaining resource commitments, and assigning a small team to implement the plan. The Los Angeles Fire Department considered this step throughout implementation of “Envision Our LAFD”. The word “envision” indicates that the process begins by having people create a picture of what they want the Department to look like as it works toward achieving its mission and vision. A strategy was developed that supported this collective picture. The word “our” is meant to emphasize that the Department can not achieve its mission and vision alone, which is why the support of those the department serves and those who partner with the Fire Department are needed. It also highlights that the people who have a stake in public safety are heard. By taking a more participative approach and allowing members of the Fire Department, as well as stakeholders including members of the public, the unions, the Mayor and Mayoral staff, City Council, among others to be involved in the process already identified and gained support. Because the City Council ultimately votes on budget, spending and implementation of rules and having them involved in the process almost guarantees support.
Overall, the strategic plan was supported by the members of the department, members of the public, and everyone involved. There was a concern of budget and resource constraints, but we ensured that all training and development will be done during regular employee hours and there will be no accrual of overtime and no affect on service to the public. We also reaffirmed that the strategic plan will also be built around its existing mission, values and operating principles and will be built on the foundation of these existing components. Step 8: Establish an Effective Organizational Vision for the Future An effective strategy is one that enables the organization to perform more effectively in the future than it is today. It should demonstrate both increasing effectiveness and efficiency and should respond more completely to meet the legitimate demands placed on it by stakeholders. This plan should also be viable and resilient. “Envision our LAFD” was designed to identify and understand the distinctive values, practices, skills and talents that together create organizational vitality and enable the Department to be at its best. By ensuring there are qualified individuals prepared to step into positions as vacancies arise will help achieve the Department’s mission and goals. Identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, the department was able to perform more effectively and efficiently. The Los Angeles Fire Department strives to provide the highest quality services to the community while committing to its core values of responsiveness, integrity and professionalism.
Step 9: Implementing the Strategic Plan
The purpose of step 9 in John M. Bryson’s “Strategic Planning for public and nonprofit organizations” (Bryson, 1995) is to create an action plan for everyone involved within the organization. The individual responsible should create schedules, set specific objectives for members, communicate milestones, review resource requirements, monitor the progress, correct any relevant issues, and hold those accountable for their role in the organization. (Bryson, 1995) Step 9 should be used to develop an action plan that all members of the organization follows.
The Los Angeles Fire Department surveyed the competency of staff, their interests and abilities. The department engaged in direct implementation while incorporating existing changes. Cross-training and other development training schedules were created and objectives were set. This created public value, achieved organizational goals, and increased stakeholder satisfaction.
Step 10: Reassess Strategies and the Strategic Planning Process
Step 10 is a review of all previous steps. The organization should determine successes, failures and reevalute what changes need to occur during this step. Step 10 can also be seen as routine maintenance for the organization; determining what previous strategies should be.terminated. This is an excellent opportunity for an organization to revamp their policies and update their strategies for future successes (Bryson, 1995).
Plan implementations can often uncover new issues. This can result in termination of a proposed strategy or the need to revamp it. This process ultimately needs to be done continually to ensure the needs of the department are met. Strategic planning is a continual process that needs to be implemented in order to adapt to the everchanging needs of the organization. A plan’s adaptability is key for its ongoing management and organizational success (Bryson, 2004).
Recommendations
The first component of the succession plan is to project the staffing requirements which will eliminate the issue of operating with a 76% staff level as well as deal with the issue of projecting the key staffing requirement. This can be achieved by reviewing job positions and job descriptions for strategic leadership positions in the organization, as well as lower level positions. By doing this, you can determine which positions can be consolidated, absorbed or eliminated which will allow the organization to downsize and be more efficient with fewer resources. It will also determine which positions are a vital function of the Fire Department and need to be prepared for in the event of retirement or other loss of personnel. The second component is to identify individuals who are prepared to move quickly into key positions. In order to address this component, it is essential to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities of employees within the department. This can be done by implementing the third component of the succession plan, which is preparing candidates through training and career development. This can be achieved by adding career development program elements to exisiting training opportunities that support cultivation. A variety of cross-training, coaching and mentoring, shadowing and other opportunites can aid in preparing individuals. As an employee develops, a record of progress should be retained with review from various levels within the company.
The fourth and final component is the selection of employees from updated pools of qualified candidates. Having an identified pool of qualified candidates ready to move into key positions prevents disruption and uncertainty within an organization. In order to maintain the Fire Department’s mission to provide “the highest quality of service possible characterized by responsiveness, integrity and professionalism”, it is important to plan for consistent succession. By assessing the potential for vacancies, assessing the readiness of current staff to assume these positions, developing strategies to address the needs of the employees and the organization, and mentoring, training and developing leadership and management skills, the Los Angeles City Fire Department is confident that they can serve the community in a manner consistent with its mission and core values.
Works Cited
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Bryson, John M., and Farnum K. Alston. Creating and Implementing Your Strategic. Plan: A Workbook for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995. Print.
Bryson, John M. Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. Print.
Calfee, Mica “Fire Service Organization” 2011 www.fireserviceinfo.com
Chick, Laura N. "Audit: Review of LAFD Management Practices." Letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Atty Rockard Delgadillo, Los Angeles City Council. 26 Jan. 2006. N.p., n.d. Web.
Cummings, Brian L. "Envision Our LAFD." Letter to Board of Fire Commissioners. 17 Jan. 2012. MS. United States, Los Angeles, CA.
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"LAFD History." lafd.org. LAFD, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. . Administrator, . "Vision Statement, Mission Statement, Core Values and Operating Principles." lafdweb.lafd. Los Angeles Fire Commission, 28 2007. Web. 25 Apr. 2012.
Reston, Maeve April. "L.A. Mayor 's Race: Greuel Slams Firefighter Deployment Plan." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2013. Web. 7 May 2013.
Rothwell, W.J. (2001). Effective Succession Planning: Ensure Leadership Continuity and Building Talent From Within. (Third Edition). New York: AMACOM.
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Abstract
The Los Angeles City Fire Department employs over 3,300 people in order to provide quality public service to the residents of Los Angeles. With the recent economic turndown that began in late 2007 and the budget crises within the City of Los Angeles, an Early Retirement Incentive Program (“ERIP”) was introduced and approved by the City Council and Mayor on October 30, 2009. The purpose of this program was to reduce annual ongoing City payroll costs by providing incentives for eligible Los Angeles City Employment Retirement System (“LACERS”) members to retire with benefit enhancements and or separation pay incentives. These increased incentives resulted in a phenomenon of increased retirements …show more content…
and rapidly changed work environments within the Fire Department.
The problem that the Fire Department incurred was the fact that they did not have a formal succession plan for the upcoming retirements of individuals that held key positions. This lack of a succession plan prevented them from ensuring organizational excellence and the continuity of leadership within the city. Failing to develop internal people for these key leadership roles eventually affected the quality of service given to the residents of Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles City Fire Department has now recognized the importance of succession planning and has agreed to implement a system with applicable components that identify critical operational functions, key organizational roles, and capable employees to ensure there are qualified individuals prepared to “. The proposed succession plan will address the needs of the organization by providing a formal program that develops and enhances the future potential of personnel. This plan includes implementation of cross-training programs, recruitment and retention strategies, coaching and mentoring, action learning projects, shadowing, and formal development.
Organizational Context
Similar to the way many things start, Los Angeles was a sleepy little pueblo in the 1880s, with agriculture as its primary industry. The use of firemen to protect buildings and citizens was just beginning. The Los Angeles Fire Department went from an all-volunteer to a career, paid department on February 1, 1886. In those days, the city would go for days, or even weeks, without a fire. (lafdmuseum.org)
Today Los Angeles is the second largest city in the country and LAFD reflects the expanding and diverse community. LAFD 's employs close to 4,000 uniformed fire personnel protect life, property and the environment. The services provided include fire prevention, firefighting, emergency medical care, technical rescue, hazardous materials mitigation, disaster response, public education and community service. An equally committed non-sworn cadre of 353 professional support personnel provide technical and administrative expertise in their corresponding pursuit of the department 's mission. A total of 1,104 uniformed firefighters (including 242 serving as Firefighter/Paramedics), are always on duty at fire department facilities citywide, including 106 neighborhood fire stations strategically located across the Department 's 471 square-mile jurisdiction. (Lafd.org)
The LAFD is headed by a Chief Engineer and General Manager (Fire Chief) and operates through five major bureaus: Bureau of Emergency Services, Bureau of Fire Prevention and Public Safety, Bureau of Support Services, Bureau of Training and Risk Management and Bureau of Administrative Services (audit by City Controller, Chick).
The LAFD, is run like a paramilitary organization in which the majority of their communication is handled through “chain of command” from the Fire Chief or Bureau Chiefs down through division and battalion levels, and then ultimately through a Captain to firefighters at a neighborhood fire station. (Audit by City Controller, Chick)
Environment in which the Organization Operates
Task Environment
Customers – Los Angeles is not only the largest city in the state of California, but is the second of the largest metro cities in the world, and it’s also complex, with harbors, airports, high rise buildings, brush filled canyons, and more. (lafdmuseum.org) “The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) is a full-spectrum life safety agency protecting more than four million people who live, work and play in America 's second largest city”. (lafd.org) According to a 2005 audit performed by the City Controller, LAFD dispatches nearly 350,000 emergency calls annually, which include approximately 40,500 fire calls, 20,000 rescue calls, 3,700 hazardous materials calls, and nearly 285,000 emergency medical calls. Moreover, the Department investigates more than 5,700 arson cases. (Audit by City Controller, Chick)
Regulatory Group – The Fire Commission is the regulatory group of the Los Angeles Fire Department, which is overseen by a five-person civilian board and appointed by the Mayor and affirmed by the City Council. This diverse and qualified group establishes goals and provides direction to the Department through the Fire Chief. (Lafd.org)
General Environment
Economic environment – With the recent economic turndown that began in late 2007 and the budget crises within the City of Los Angeles, the most recent trends in public sectors have been to downsize and be more efficient with fewer resources. In a recent article from Los Angeles Times it states there was an $89 million cut between 2009 and 2012 for the department, which decreased its resources and amounted to the loss of more than 318 firefighters. (Reston) Loss in personnel, hiring freezes and a weak economy plays a major role on how the fire department works to provide its best service to the community. Moreover, the large number of firefighters that have or are planning to retire has brought more challenges to the fire department.
Social/cultural environment - The Los Angeles Fire Department continues to embrace a working environment open to individuals of different races, sexes, ages, backgrounds, beliefs, traditions and more, given the significantly diverse community that surrounds them, ranging from wealthy to poor, young to old and several different races and sexes. Social evolution has brought us to the world we live now. And though it is not always easy, it should be reasonable that a workplace should reflect our community, ensuring trust and respect or all individuals.
Political environment – As a department within the City of Los Angeles, the LAFD and its Commissioners report to the City Council and Mayor of Los Angeles. In recent years they have mainly been involved in politics due to budget issues, since mandatory budget cuts have impacted the department’s service, resources and personnel. LAFD has struggled to make the Mayor and City Council understand that these cuts put a significant amount of strain on the department and its efforts to accomplish their mission. In 2009, then-Chief Barry warned City Council that the proposed plan “will equate to longer response times to both medical emergencies and fires”. (Beutner) As we get closer to the election of a new City Mayor, candidates just continue to point fingers at each other when it comes time to explain the situation that the Fire Department is currently in due to budget cuts.
Legal environment – Many legal issues can arise for the LAFD, because they are dealing with human lives and property. For years the LAFD has been criticized due their response times and lately this has been a major problem due to loss in personnel and other resources. Tragedies are more likely to happen when fire stations are understaffed or when the right equipment is not available. If a proper succession plan was in place at LAFD, there would not have been a vacuum of leadership and the department would have better addressed these issues.
Technological environment – In the last few years, technology has shown that there are always new and improve ways of completing a job or task, or simply helping with day-to-day things. As a department that provides a number of services to its community it is critical that LAFD continues to keep all equipment and services up to date. The budget cut has had an impact in the improvements and this can only lead to bigger issues if it is not addressed. “According to the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association, half the 76,000 fire trucks in use across the country are at least 15 years old, but half the industry’s 2009 sales have been cut by cash-strapped municipalities. This postponement of apparatus replacement will undoubtedly surface in the form of future breakdowns and related specialized equipment reliability issues” (Waters) Succession planning is key in this environment, because you need to have a key group of people with the same goals and the ability to sustain and continue a Capital Improvement Program even in the event an member retires.
Organization’s Mission/Vision and Goals
The organizational goals of the Los Angeles City Fire Department coincide with its core values.
The LAFD’s Core values are: Service that meets the needs of the public; Professionalism where members conduct themselves in a manner befitting to the oath they swore; Integrity that governs behavior and off the job; Respect that treats others the way they would desire themselves to be treated; Innovation that inspires employees to take risks that improve the organization and advance the profession; and Trust to always prepare to ensure safety, effectiveness and a good reputation. These core values are appropriate because the citizens of Los Angeles rely on the LAFD for emergency services that save lives and protect property in dangerous situations. Without the LAFD, the city would have to rely on county resources that would result in prolonged wait times, and the possibility of the loss of life and damage to …show more content…
property.
Organization’s Strategy
The Los Angeles City Fire Department believes that it owes the residents of Los Angeles and the members of the LAFD, “The highest quality of service possible, characterized by responsiveness, integrity and professionalism and will continually strive for improvement; a full commitment and dedication that will always look beyond the traditional scope of individual positions to promote teamwork and organizational effectiveness. The department ensure a working environment characterized by trust and respect for individuals, fostering open and honest communication at all levels and will always strive for personal and professional growth; continually seeking new knowledge and greater challenges in order to strive to remain at the leading edge of it’s profession.” (Administrator) The Los Angeles Fire Department faces many challenges, retiring personnel, outdated equipment, and fewer recruits. Due to the economic down turn, the Department has suffered cut backs in replacing equipment and recruiting new personnel to replace those that have left do to early retirement. This may be a factor in response times, which can lead to legal issues. The lack of upgraded equipment and experienced personnel hinders the organization to function to its full capacity. Without proper equipment and enough qualified employees, and a department succession plan in place, it has become difficult for the department to continue to provide the level of service that was provided in previous years. Without replacement of the leaders and firefighters that have retired, it will only become more difficult for the department in the years to come
Organizational Structure The Los Angeles Fire Department is controlled and overseen through the Los Angeles Fire Commission. The Fire Commission is comprised of a five person civilian board that is appointed by the Mayor of Los Angeles and is confirmed by the City Council. This commission establishes the goals and dictates the direction of the department through board actions and commission meetings that are held the first and third Tuesday of each month. The Fire Chief then implements all action and direction approved by the Fire Commission. The Fire Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department serves as the General Manager for the agency. The fire chief is responsible for a total of 3,586 uniformed fire personnel stationed at 106 Fire Stations throughout the City of Los Angeles. The Fire Chief is also responsible for implementing the departments’ core functions of Fire Suppression, Community Preparedness, Emergency Medical Services, Fire Prevention and Homeland Security. This is usually done via his chain of command through his two Chief Deputies that oversee the Emergency Operations Division, and the Administrative Operations Division. The current fire Chief Brian Cummings is a 32-year veteran that started with the department in 1980. He prompted throughout the department, and reached the position of Assistant Fire Chief in December 2010. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed Brian Cummings to Fire Chief on September 7th, 2011. Due to the early retirement program, many captains in the chain of command have retired resulting in many emergency appointments by lower level staff members that are struggling to fill void. A proper succession plan is need to prevent this in the future.
Control Features Used by the Organization The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) employs over 3,400 people, both sworn and civilian that are structured by a chain of command type structure.
A Board of Fire Commissioners that are appointed by the Mayor of Los Angeles and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council oversees the LAFD. This civilian oversight allows for objective and unbiased oversight of the LAFD. The first control features used by the LAFD are: written rules, regulations, policies, executive orders, directives operation’s manuals, departmental bulletins and standard operating procedures. These are available in written form and are available to all members at all work locations and via the Internet. All members are required, as part of employment with the LAFD, to become familiar with all rules, regulations, policies and
procedures. First line supervisors (Captains) employ an open door policy in which supervisors’ doors are open to employees who wish to discuss concerns and complaints. In the event that discipline is warranted, a supervisor can chose to employ a verbal counseling session and written notice to improve, without further action. If a violation of policies or regulations warrants further action, said complaint is filed in the LAFD Compliant Tracking System (CTS). The complaint is sent up the chain of command (Battalion Chief, Assistant Chief, Deputy Chief respectively) and forwarded to the LAFD Professional Standards Division (PSD), created in January of 2008 (before then, the LAFD had no formal tracking system for complaints and discipline). PSD then determines the validity of the complaint and determines the severity of the discipline if necessary.
Organizational Culture
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) has a proud and rich tradition that dates back to the turn of the century. Over its 120 plus year history, many traditions and rituals have been passed down through generations of firefighters. The most time honored ritual LAFD members observe is after the successful completion a rookie firefighter’s probationary year. Upon completion of the probationary year, a probationary firefighter cooks dinner for the firehouse, and is presented his helmet shield in front of his family and peers, and is given the opportunity to give a speech. The helmet shield serves as a symbol of the successful completion of a member’s probationary year (rookies do not have a shield on their helmets during probation). When a member completes 5 years of full time service as a firefighter, he or she becomes a vested member in the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension Program; this milestone is observed by a dinner cooked by the newly vested member. Whenever a member promotes to any rank above firefighter, the member cooks a dinner for his family and peers. Retirement dinners are also an important ritual that recognizes a member’s faithful service to the City of Los Angeles. The importance of quality time around a dinner table emphasizes the culture of family and brotherhood the LAFD embraces. As it was mentioned earlier, the shield a firefighter displays on his helmet is one of the most valued symbols of accomplishment observed by the LAFD. Equally as important is the badge a members wears on their person until they retire. Upon retirement, a member has their badge returned to them encased in acrylic, as a reminder of the heroism they displayed throughout their career. Additionally, when member retires, they are returned to them their personal record book (PRB); a journal of assignments held over the years, fire trucks a member was qualified to operate and technical certifications obtained. A member’s PRB symbolizes how hard an individual has worked throughout their years of service.
Leadership
The leadership of an organization often establishes the values and goals of the organization as well as ensures its identity is protected. In all Fire departments across the county leadership is very important and significant to each department, city and county. The Fire Department has an established and ridged leader hierarchy. It has been the same for many years. Often some of the ranking officers are not on site at the individual firehouse. This can often be an issue. Our paper focuses on the fact the LA Fire Department does not have a succession plan. Many of the ranks do not offer training or even a manual on how to do the job. Our textbook MGMT lists the “Top Ten Mistakes Managers Make.” In that list, number six is “Over managing: unable to delegate or build a team,” and number eight is “Unable to Think Strategically.” (Williams pg 16) These two mistakes are part of what the Leadership of the Fire Department lacks. They are not mistakes directly but the over idea contributes to the issues with the Fire Department.
Being unable to build a team coincides with not being able to build a team to succeed the current the leader in the department. Without a leadership team to take over, there will be internal and external issues. The fire department must come up with a strategic plan. The lack of proactive ideas and strategy will, without a doubt be the downfall of leadership with the LA Fire Department. In a typical fire department structure, each station has a Captain and a Lieutenant. If the Station Captain is off duty then the Lieutenant will often move up and take his place. He is an “Acting Captain” for the day. In some cases, a non-officer, such as a driver would move up to “Acting Lt.” if that officer is either off or working in another capacity. The Lieutenant is usually the officer over a single company. Depending upon the city he or she may be on an engine, truck, rescue company or whatever. There might be more than one assigned to a station. “Some cities will not have lieutenants but will go from driver to captain in their rank structure.” (Calfee) The Captain commands a single company but also is the ranking officer at a station that may have several companies. He may have one or more lieutenants working at the station with him. “This officer is often the initial command at emergencies and can be called upon to fill in for the Battalion Chief during his or her absence. A captain may also be over a special section or function.” (Calfee) Underneath the rankings of Captain and Lieutenant there are the Firefighters. They are considered the basic workers. There are usually 1 -3 in most companies. "Firefighter is the generic term for all members of a fire department, but it is also a rank within the organization”(Calfee) Each Station has a driver, also known as “Engineer.” In most departments this is the person who drives the vehicle and operates the pump or aerial. He is a specialist who knows everything about that piece of apparatus. A Senior Captain is a somewhat rare rank designation. Some departments may have no Lieutenants, but instead have the ranks of "Captain" and "Senior Captain". A Battalion Chief is an Operational supervisor over several companies. Often the highest-ranking officer on duty on a 24 hours basis. A District Chief is an operational supervisor over several battalions. Depending upon the city, this person could also be over a special group such as Training or Communications. This person could be the same as a Battalion Chief but just a different name. (For example, Houston FD has the Ranks of: FF, Driver/Engineer, Captain, Senior Captain, District Chief, etc.)
SWOT Analysis Bryson says, “Key decision makers need a reasonably structured process to help them identify and resolve the most important issues their organizations face” (Bryson, 1995, p. 78). For the Los Angeles City Fire Department, this would be dealing with the upcoming retirement crises and requires a succession plan. Rothwell (2001) describes succession planning as a “deliberate and systematic effort by an organization to ensure leadership continuity in key positions, retain and develop intellectual and knowledge capital for the future and encourage individual advancement”. This is the Fire Department’s precise aim. Bryson (2004) suggests a 10-step strategy change cycle to strengthen and sustain an organization. Step 1 is the initial agreement and initiates the process by committing to strategic planning; Step 2 is Identifying and Clarifying the Organizational Mandates; Step 3 is Identifying Organizational Mission and Values; Step 4 is Conducting Environmental Assessments which includes the assessment of internal and external environments and conducting a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis; Step 5 is Identifying Strategic Issues and is considered the interplay of SWOT; Step 6 is Identifying Organizational Strategies by formulating strategies to manage the issues; Step 7 is Strategy and Plan Review and Adoption that includes identifying support and obtaining resource commitment; Step 8 is Establishing an Effective Organizational Vision for the Future that enables it to perform more effectively; Step 9 is Plan Implementation; and Step 10 is Strategy and Planning Process Reassessment where continuous follow-through and follow-up is done to ensure public value is created, organizational goals and stakeholder satisfaction is met.
The Bryson’s (2004) 10-step Strategic Change Cycle in the literature review provided the framework for the Los Angeles City Fire Department succession planning program. The cycle will help solidify and ensure that a flow of potential leaders will attain the experience, knowledge and skills necessary to compete for vacancies in critical roles in the Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles Fire Department engaged in Bryson’s 10-step process, the findings are detailed by step sequence below.
Step 1: Initial Agreement The Los Angeles City Fire Department agreed to develop a succession plan to address the growing phenomena of early retirement and the failure to develop internal people for these key leadership roles. While strategic planning is typically done by the chief excutive and a handful of top leaders of an organization, the Fire Chief has decided to take a more participative approach that keeps with the Department’s inclusive culture. The planning process will provide an opportunity for all members to participate. Seventeen Department members have been trained as facilitators and will conduct one hour interviews with members who volunteer to be a part of the conversation about the Department’s future.
The theme of the planning process is “Envision Our LAFD” and is designed to identify and understand the distintive values, practices, skills and talents that create the organizational vitality and enable the Department to be its best. In addition to hearing from Department members, the Fire Chief has invited non-Department employees to participate such as Fire Commissioners, the Mayor, the City Council, Mayoral and Council staff, healthcare providers, Department partners, volunteers, General managers of other city departments, and members of the public. Twenty-two members of the Strategic Planning Leadership Team, seventeen Facilitators, along with the Fire Chief will lead this effort of developing a detailed, tactical and operational succession strategy for retired employees within six months. This six months includes Facilitator and Leadership Team Training; Conversations with volunteers that discuss adding value to customers’ experiences, engaging in positive change efforts, participating in an exceptional team and establishing the Department’s core values as organizational norms; Facilitator Debrief and Summit Design where Facilitators meet to make sense of the data received and identify some preliminary themes and strengths and discuss the findings with the Fire Chief; the formal “Envision Our LAFD” Summit, and Strategy Development. The strategic planning team believes that the proposed plan will develop Los Angeles City Fire Department’s continuing commitment towards achieving its mission and vision.
Step 2: Identifying and Clarifying the Organizational Mandates
According to Bryson, mandates, mission and values indicate the public vlaue the organization will create (Bryson, 2004). He also notes that public organizations are externally justified and that public organizations must find ways to show that their operations do indeed create public value. Failure to do so can risk losing legitimacy or justification for their existence (p. 94). In order to assure this, the Fire Chief and the Strategic Planning Committee made sure that the City Council and public was aware the newfound strategy is being built around its exisiting mission, values, and Operating Principles and that no existing components were being replaced. He emphasized that the strategy was being built on the foundation of what already exists. Due to the city’s financial crises, all interviews are conducted during normal work hours and no additional time is assigned for the project. In addition, given the current staffing levels, recognizing resource constraints and in order to not impact services, the strategic planning will consist of conversations with a representative sample of Department sworn and civilian members. This will maintain mandatory service levels.
Step 3: Identifying Organizational Mission and Values One of the primary reason for creating a strategic plan is to establish a common understanding of an organization’s work. The most succinct reflection of this shared understanding lies in the organization’s mission and vision statements. The “six critical questions” to clarifying this includes: Who are we as an organization, What are the basic social or political needs we exist to address, What do we do to recognize or anticipate those needs, How should we respond to our key stakeholders, What is our philosophy and core values, and What makes us distinctive and unique? LAFD’s mission is “to preserve life and property, promote public safety and foster economic growth through leadership, management and actions, as an all risk life safety response provider”. In addition, the Department feels it owes the residents of Los Angeles and itself “the highest quality of service possible characterized by responsiveness, integrity and professionalism and will continually strive for improvement; a full commitment and dedication that will always look beyond the traditional scope of individual positions to promote teamwork and organizational effectiveness. The department ensures a working environment characterized by trust and respect for individuals, fostering open and honest communication at all levels and will always strive for personal and professional growth; continually seeking new knowledge and greater challenges in order to strive to remain at the leading edge of its profession. In order to remain at the leading edge, it is pertinent to create this succession plan.
Step 4: Conducting Environmental Assessments Conducting environmental assessments involves three components- assessing the external environment, the internal environment, and conducting a SWOT analysis. Doing so, made it even clearer of the necessity and implementation of a succession plan. Los Angeles is the largest city in California and has a population of almost 4 million people. The Fire Department is responsible for serving this population. As the complexities of emergencies have evolved and the number of emergency responses has increased, so has the need of an effective and more sophisticated organization. The program is under constant pressure to train, improve, and provide flawless service to the community. On average, the Los Angeles Fire Department responds to over 1,000 emergency calls on a daily. The Department is composed of approximately 3,300 members, sworn and civilian.
When doing a stakeholder’s analysis, the Los Angeles Fire Department maintained that the residents of Los Angeles are their fundamental and most important stakeholders. They also recognized the State of California, the City Council, Mayor departmental employees, unions, Fire Commission, and management as key internal stakeholders. SWOT analysis identified that within the last 5 years, the Los Angeles Fire Department lost several senior level officers, departmental employees, and a fire chief due to retirement. There was also an $89 million budget cut between 2009 and 2012 which limited resources and amounted in the loss of 318 firefighters. Because there lacked a succession plan, many of these vacancies were filled with candidates that did not meet the experience outlined in the job description and had a significant impact on the public. Due to budgetary constraints, many of the vacancies remain unfilled. The fire department is also set to lose another 227 employees within the next year that individually have over 30 years of experience, this can be considered a global aging crisis being that these employees are mostly between the ages of 55-59. The departure of these employees will represent another significant loss of experience, institutional knowledge, and leadership.
These findings illustrates the significance of implementing a succession plan to meet the prevailing and future needs for leadership continuity and employee development to ensure continued effective and efficient performance of the fire department. It also illustrates the significance in formulating a strategy to manage the issue of LAFD operating at a 76% staff level.
Even though the retirement of these employees provide the opportunity to reduce annual ongoing City payroll costs, if we don’t develop lower management employees to fill key vacancies within the department, the weaknesses and threats will far outweigh the strengths and opportunities.
Step 5: Identifying Strategic Issues Step 5 involves framing the strategic issues that directly impact the organization and are the heart of the strategic planning process. When framing, the organization must focus on what’s really important and should focus on issues and not answers in order to avoid premature solutions to problems. The Los Angeles City Fire Department identified the following issues: 1) How can the LAFD maintain their exemplary level of service while operating with a 76% staff level? 2) How does the organization project the key staffing requirement? 3) How does the organization identify potential employees that may be qualified candidates? 4) How does the organization prepare candidates for key positions? 5) How does the organization prevent disruption and uncertainty within the department upon retirement of members in key departmental positions? These issues directly impact the mandates and departmental mission and vision. Failure to implement a plan to address these strategic issues will jeapordize the entire operation of the Los Angeles City Fire Department. The issues are operational and strategic that will affect the service of the department and requires immediate action.
Step 6: Formulating Strategies to Manage the Issues The following strategies have been formulated in order manage the aforementioned issues of the department. The first component of the succession plan is to project the staffing requirements which will eliminate the issue of operating with a 76% staff level as well as deal with the issue of projecting the key staffing requirement. This can be achieved by reviewing job positions and job descriptions for strategic leadership positions in the organization, as well as lower level positions. By doing this, you can determine which positions can be consolidated, absorbed or eliminated which will allow the organization to downsize and be more efficient with fewer resources. It will also determine which positions are a vital function of the Fire Department and need to be prepared for in the event of retirement or other loss of personnel. The second component is to identify individuals who are prepared to move quickly into key positions. In order to address this component, it is essential to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities of employees within the department. This can be done by implementing the third component of the succession plan, which is preparing candidates through training and career development. This can be achieved by adding career development program elements to exisiting training opportunities that support cultivation. A variety of cross-training, coaching and mentoring, shadowing and other opportunites can aid in preparing individuals. As an employee develops, a record of progress should be retained with review from various levels within the company.
The fourth and final component is the selection of employees from updated pools of qualified candidates. Having an identified pool of qualified candidates ready to move into key positions prevents disruption and uncertainty within an organization. In order to maintain the Fire Department’s mission to provide “the highest quality of service possible characterized by responsiveness, integrity and professionalism”, it is important to plan for consistent succession. By assessing the potential for vacancies, assessing the readiness of current staff to assume these positions, developing strategies to address the needs of the employees and the organization, and mentoring, training and developing leadership and management skills, the Los Angeles City Fire Department is confident that they can serve the community in a manner consistent with its mission and core values.
Step 7: Review and Adopt a Strategic Plan
Step 7 involves reviewing and adopting the strategic plan by identifying support, obtaining resource commitments, and assigning a small team to implement the plan. The Los Angeles Fire Department considered this step throughout implementation of “Envision Our LAFD”. The word “envision” indicates that the process begins by having people create a picture of what they want the Department to look like as it works toward achieving its mission and vision. A strategy was developed that supported this collective picture. The word “our” is meant to emphasize that the Department can not achieve its mission and vision alone, which is why the support of those the department serves and those who partner with the Fire Department are needed. It also highlights that the people who have a stake in public safety are heard. By taking a more participative approach and allowing members of the Fire Department, as well as stakeholders including members of the public, the unions, the Mayor and Mayoral staff, City Council, among others to be involved in the process already identified and gained support. Because the City Council ultimately votes on budget, spending and implementation of rules and having them involved in the process almost guarantees support.
Overall, the strategic plan was supported by the members of the department, members of the public, and everyone involved. There was a concern of budget and resource constraints, but we ensured that all training and development will be done during regular employee hours and there will be no accrual of overtime and no affect on service to the public. We also reaffirmed that the strategic plan will also be built around its existing mission, values and operating principles and will be built on the foundation of these existing components. Step 8: Establish an Effective Organizational Vision for the Future An effective strategy is one that enables the organization to perform more effectively in the future than it is today. It should demonstrate both increasing effectiveness and efficiency and should respond more completely to meet the legitimate demands placed on it by stakeholders. This plan should also be viable and resilient. “Envision our LAFD” was designed to identify and understand the distinctive values, practices, skills and talents that together create organizational vitality and enable the Department to be at its best. By ensuring there are qualified individuals prepared to step into positions as vacancies arise will help achieve the Department’s mission and goals. Identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, the department was able to perform more effectively and efficiently. The Los Angeles Fire Department strives to provide the highest quality services to the community while committing to its core values of responsiveness, integrity and professionalism.
Step 9: Implementing the Strategic Plan
The purpose of step 9 in John M. Bryson’s “Strategic Planning for public and nonprofit organizations” (Bryson, 1995) is to create an action plan for everyone involved within the organization. The individual responsible should create schedules, set specific objectives for members, communicate milestones, review resource requirements, monitor the progress, correct any relevant issues, and hold those accountable for their role in the organization. (Bryson, 1995) Step 9 should be used to develop an action plan that all members of the organization follows.
The Los Angeles Fire Department surveyed the competency of staff, their interests and abilities. The department engaged in direct implementation while incorporating existing changes. Cross-training and other development training schedules were created and objectives were set. This created public value, achieved organizational goals, and increased stakeholder satisfaction.
Step 10: Reassess Strategies and the Strategic Planning Process
Step 10 is a review of all previous steps. The organization should determine successes, failures and reevalute what changes need to occur during this step. Step 10 can also be seen as routine maintenance for the organization; determining what previous strategies should be.terminated. This is an excellent opportunity for an organization to revamp their policies and update their strategies for future successes (Bryson, 1995).
Plan implementations can often uncover new issues. This can result in termination of a proposed strategy or the need to revamp it. This process ultimately needs to be done continually to ensure the needs of the department are met. Strategic planning is a continual process that needs to be implemented in order to adapt to the everchanging needs of the organization. A plan’s adaptability is key for its ongoing management and organizational success (Bryson, 2004).
Recommendations
The first component of the succession plan is to project the staffing requirements which will eliminate the issue of operating with a 76% staff level as well as deal with the issue of projecting the key staffing requirement. This can be achieved by reviewing job positions and job descriptions for strategic leadership positions in the organization, as well as lower level positions. By doing this, you can determine which positions can be consolidated, absorbed or eliminated which will allow the organization to downsize and be more efficient with fewer resources. It will also determine which positions are a vital function of the Fire Department and need to be prepared for in the event of retirement or other loss of personnel. The second component is to identify individuals who are prepared to move quickly into key positions. In order to address this component, it is essential to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities of employees within the department. This can be done by implementing the third component of the succession plan, which is preparing candidates through training and career development. This can be achieved by adding career development program elements to exisiting training opportunities that support cultivation. A variety of cross-training, coaching and mentoring, shadowing and other opportunites can aid in preparing individuals. As an employee develops, a record of progress should be retained with review from various levels within the company.
The fourth and final component is the selection of employees from updated pools of qualified candidates. Having an identified pool of qualified candidates ready to move into key positions prevents disruption and uncertainty within an organization. In order to maintain the Fire Department’s mission to provide “the highest quality of service possible characterized by responsiveness, integrity and professionalism”, it is important to plan for consistent succession. By assessing the potential for vacancies, assessing the readiness of current staff to assume these positions, developing strategies to address the needs of the employees and the organization, and mentoring, training and developing leadership and management skills, the Los Angeles City Fire Department is confident that they can serve the community in a manner consistent with its mission and core values.
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