Are You Ready to Resign?

If the title of this article worries you, you are probably not alone. Most of us are really not ready to resign from our jobs immediately and have not even thought about the prospect.

As an EMS manager, I read a lot of different articles about what’s going on in EMS, as well as other fields, to stay on top of news and trends. Recently there was an interesting article out of the LA area that caught my eye. The article, titled “LAFD Fire Chief Forced to Reapply for Job,” was about a request from the newly-elected Los Angeles Mayor for the top manager from each of the city's 35 agencies and departments to meet with him and make the case to keep their job. You read that right, the appointed Fire Chief, and many others, had to make their case to keep their own job. To some, this may seem very unusual while to others this move may make perfect sense.

This piece got me thinking about how ready, or not, EMS managers are to defend their practices and accomplishments. If you find that offensive, that is not the intent. The intent is for you, as EMS leadership, to take stock of what you are doing in the day-to-day to see whether it is working, and whether you are getting your goals and objectives accomplished and moving your EMS agency forward.  This may be something you are already doing, but there is an additional rub here for all of us government types—we also have to be sure to keep our bosses in the know.

Let’s be clear; we all interview for, and walk into, various positions with all sorts of lofty aspirations to “change the system,” or “do things differently” or “shake things up.” However, usually after a brief honeymoon period, the reality of the day-to-day sets in and we realize that there are obstacles. These can be financial realities, personnel-based limitations, issues with higher-ups, or other areas that keep us from getting things accomplished. Some of these can be overcome with non-traditional thinking or even reorganization of critical personnel, but some may have the potential to stop us in our managerial tracks.

So what can you do about this? And how does one get “ready to resign”?

• Keep track of all of your goals and objectives; think of this as a personal strategic plan. Have you accomplished a large goal such as CAAS accreditation? Cross it off the list and get a press release out. Are you working toward other goals, such as updating an outdated employee manual, working on your agency’s treatment protocols or implementing a regimented and necessary Field Training Officer program? Make sure you know exactly where in the process you stand and what work has been done by both you and direct-reports to advance this goal.
• Make sure you know the players. In every EMS agency, and the broader EMS systems in which we operate, there are people who want to see change, people who don’t want to see change, people who want to see you succeed, people who don’t, people who play to the media, and the list goes on and on. Make sure you know who these people are. You may have to wait for actions to be taken, as opposed to words spoken, but people’s true colors will reveal themselves.  This also goes for understanding the positions that people fill; make sure you know who does what and why, as this may be the thing that keeps you needing to be ready to resign.
• It is your responsibility to make sure that your boss (or bosses, as the case may be) is as well-informed as possible about determinations that they may later be asked about. This could include response times, a change in your response model, an upcoming training class, personnel actions… yes, pretty much anything.
• Be transparent. We live in a Twitter, Facebook and YouTube-filled reality of a work world and our actions, as well as the actions of our employees, have the potential to become “front page” news in moments.  Assure now that you have policies in place for eventualities and that, if need be, you take appropriate measures when someone does something that doesn’t represent your agency in the best light; and, as mentioned above, make sure your boss is well aware. 

Conclusion

Managing EMS systems isn’t easy – aside from compliance and training issues of all sorts, we have to focus on myriad personnel issues and the constant budgeting difficulties.   

One of the more interesting footnotes to the scenario that opened this article is that the Mayor did in fact accept the “resignation” of the Fire Chief, and was quoted as saying that he “is not satisfied that the Los Angeles Fire Department has done enough to improve response times or employ new technology.” 

It needs to be said that there are times when your boss simply wants new blood or a change in leadership, but in reviewing the various elements of this article, EMS managers should find themselves more “ready to resign,” should the circumstances dictate it.  Let’s hope they don’t. 

Raphael M. Barishansky, MPH, is director of EMS for the Connecticut Department of Public Health. A frequent contributor to and editorial advisory board member for EMS World, he can be reached at rbarishansky@gmail.com.