Volunteer Firefighting: The use of applied psychology that teaches the value of goal setting and self-talk (Business and Public Service).

Firefighting is an important part of our society and it hasn't received the national attention and support it needs. We can learn by studying and looking at this service type why not only firefighting is struggling to recruit new members but also why some of the other services experience similar issues (The military, policing, EMT, etc.). finding solutions can be fostered through the use of applied psychology and how that can be used to improve performance among current firefighters. The Nature of Firefighting is Changing.

Young people are very much concerned with global warming and other environmental issues that would be a good catalyst for interest. Likewise, there is a higher percentage of people who want to support their communities and utilized other skills to do something meaningful with their time and lives. Not to mention other untapped resources from the business world and the lessons we can learn through the study of this population and how that might apply to organizational development. 

From the study below you will begin to see some of the psychological processes firefighters are using in training and actualized performance as tactical athletes. What can ascertain on a broad sense from the study below is that goal setting and mental preparation is important in realized outcomes (Same for firefighters and employees). 

When we study organizations outside of business such as firefighting we can sometimes take lessons from those who must performance in their roles to save theirs and others lives so we can put that to good use not only in the first responder world but perhaps also in the business world as well. 

The Psychology of Firefighting: 

A study conducted in Milwaukee N=109 studied the Big 5 Personality Theory on Saucier’s 40-item Mini Markers scale on the psychological mechanisms of live performance tactical firefighter athletes.  Because injury rates are around 17.7% there is a need to understand psychological performance that leads to outcomes and reduce injury. You can read the a The Psychology of Firefighting

-Of the basic skills, firefighters’ reported using goal setting most frequently and relaxation least frequently in both practice and performance.

-Firefighters’ reported highest scores for their ability to use emotional control and lowest scores for their ability to use automaticity in both practice and performance

-Firefighters in the current study reported using self-talk more during practice than during performance (As a note one must wonder if high stress situations rely on prior embedded learning of action and instinct.)

National Firefighting Stats:

NFPA provided some great information and resources on firefighting. HERE. You can also review their report HERE.  There is a great need to support local fire departments. Businesses could have a large scale impact on that in a way that gives employees the life-work balance they need to stay engaged (quoted below).

-NFPA estimates there were an estimated 1,041,200 career and volunteer firefighters in the United States in 2020. Of the total number of firefighters 364,300 (35%) were career firefighters and 676,900 (65%) were volunteer firefighters.

-In 2020, 89,600 firefighters were female (9%). Of the career firefighters, 17,200 were female. There were also 72,400 volunteer firefighters who were female.

-Fifty percent of firefighters are between 30 and 49 years old.

-There were 29,452 fire departments in the United States in 2020. Of these, 18% were all career or mostly career departments and protected 70% of the US population.

-Nationwide 37% of fire departments provided no emergency medical services, 46% provided basic life support (BLS), and 17% provided advanced life support (ALS).

A Few Ideas on Business and Firefighting Could CoCreate

Unexplored outlets that reduce silos between businesses and community. While some might be great and some not practical it is usually the exploration of ideas that lead to new ideas. 

-Encouraging people to be involved in their community through firefighting and other activities could have a positive influence not only on moral but also on leadership training and human capital development as knowledge bleeds from one organization and industry to the next.

-Businesses that support and sponsor firefighting organizations may gain un realized public relations/brand benefits. For example, our fire department has an immediate need for $10K in air bottles and $5K in locks.

-Donating to firefighting not only is tax deductible but could reduce insurance costs for companies and locations.

-Business knowledge could have a major impact on firefighting effectiveness as processes and capacity increases.

-Executives could donate some time to solving community problems with their higher systems, social connections, and evidence based strategic decision making.

-Employees who feel they are spending some of their time doing worthwhile activities like firefighting may have more satisfaction with their jobs. i.e. employee fundraising, administration or active firefighting, social media/marketing, as donations of time.

-Offering free tuition and company sponsored tuition to volunteer firefighters that log a certain amount of hours.

-Sponsoring research on firefighting improves those departments, saves lives and show positive corporate citizenship with actualized outcomes. i.e. industry-university-fire department research.

-Utilize fire departments as constructive outlets for company employees but also a source for recruitment of new motivated employees. The expectation that those who volunteer have certain characteristics that make them highly desirable by companies.

-University could utilize fire departments for training, education, and course work (i.e. management or marketing case studies or class projects.)

-We have a youth disconnection problem and this could be one way of training them, engaging with them, and socializing them for greater local/national human capital outcomes.

-Partnering with local firefighting departments to develop evacuation plans, inspect properties, check fire safety/first aid equipment, health/first aid knowledge, egress signs, etc...

-Perhaps a tax benefit for companies that actively support, fund, and recruit for/from fire departments. As our national budget is likely to see some adjustments it is one way to encourage community based funding that takes the burden off of the national government.

Is the above called brain storming or brain writing? Maybe you can think of a few of your own

Empathy and Leadership: Multiple Tools that Lead to Organizational Improvement

In the business world we often think of the tough nosed boss that takes no excuses and hits the nail on the hammer until they get the results they want. This often leads to higher levels of turnover and toxic behaviors that can decrease the overall performance of the organization. Low empathy environments encourage quite quitting and toxic short gains while higher empathy can create adaptive teams and stronger  long term group outcomes. Empathy can have serious impacts on business and its long term financial and market impact value through developing people to their highest performance zone.

Consider some of the benefits of empathy....

Empathy in leadership leads to increased efficiency (88%), creativity (87%), job satisfaction (87%), idea sharing (86%), innovation (85%) company revenue (83%)." Employee Empathy Expectation and Leadership.

It is possible to hold people to results while doing so in an empathetic way. There are multiple paths to improving performance through understanding others emotional states and underlining mechanics. If you understand you can encourage and overcome and if you do not understand you are stuck with one tool. You are forced to use this tool no matter if it is effective or not (Unempathetic leaders struggle to see, understand and utilize alternative tools. We sometimes see this in some leaders who can't switch approaches when outcomes are lack luster.). 

Quality and outcomes can improve when we understand our employees and can use applied psychology to raise their total long term performance. While some employees may eventually succeed and some may eventually fail, having multiple paths to encourage performance provides adaptivity. Matching that with communication and strategy and one can manage larger organizations through new adaptive methods.

Great Lakes Ship Wrecks-100 Year old 238 foot Shipwreck

100 Year old cargo ship found 800 feet under the water. Huron. More information on the 238 foot Huronton at the The Great Lakes Historical Society

We had a boat problem last year which is getting super annoying as one of our team got a new and bigger boat and he didn't have time with repairs. Mine is too small for going out too far. Maybe this summer we will be more motivated in the Queen City search in Delta County. 

Huronton Shipwreck from The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum on Vimeo.

Hate Crimes and Hate Crime Reporting Michigan-MDRC

Hate is a dangerous thing for nations that seek to draw in the most talent and economic development. Whether that is antisemitic, anti-muslim, anti-white, anti-black, anti-gay or any other it takes away from our collective sense of togetherness (You may not agree with everyone but you don't have the right to hate or act on that hate.). There are times and places where different rules apply to different people and we should fix such situations where extremism has come to define legal values and outcomes. 

We have a Constitution and Bill of Rights that supports freedom and that doesn't matter who someone is, how they worship and or their skin color (These are the supreme laws of the land. Not all people believe in them just like they don't value the oaths they take. Good thing they are not the norm.). Laws should always reach, albeit imperfectly, toward a higher moral order and greater unity of purpose. That often starts with recognizing hate, reporting it accurately (for research), investigating it, and holding it to account. Those that can't do that should not be in positions of authority; not in this or any system that strives for justice.

Yet sometimes when such behavior, which normally would be considered dangerous and grotesque is not reported in order to help one's friends, ideologies, clubs, or social groups, we have a lack of authenticity. That in turn becomes a violation of societal trust and again in turn takes away from the performance of the whole (economically and socially). People know intuitively the difference between right and wrong as well as those who talk out the side of their mouths (We are hopefully on the back end on the popularization of hate among some groups. We should always keep a watchful eye least they begin to manipulate the system). Universalizing our values can only bring benefits of unity and greater human capital development through environmental enhancements.

If your wondering what hate is and when to report it you can watch the video below. Selling higher values to those who have positions of authority who support hate is a difficult thing sometimes; especially in power over situations. While such distorted values might not be the norm in most places, they still persist in some and that is a danger to everyone (Think of the next diverse generation and how they may view free pass systems). I could go on and on about a hypothetical story (the thought experiment of a family targeted for 5 years because of the exploitation of hate and authority) of hate but the point is that we have a duty to protect our society from those who are doing wrong and correct when hate manipulates our system.

This is why I support better mechanisms or reporting and holding to account the destructive values that damage our unity (Just in case your wondering my values. I'm a light R who values Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech. To me, that is a deeply conservative value that shows a sense of moral conscious and connection to our historical line of development. That is what makes this country great. We can all worship and practice the way we see fit. There are some who sold out those values. January 6th and hometown groups that supported, protected and encouraged hate. I have a moral, religious, and ethical duty to support our democratic and universal values as a society and a people. Not sure how many others feel the same. R, D, or I. Being an American dishwasher is better then selling out one's values. I actually think I mean that on a deep neural level. Moral Sensitives 💁 )

National Debt Rises to $33 Trillion Raising Alarm Bells and Concerns (A few questions?)

The news is all the buzz over debt and its impact on our economy. Debt over the past 2 decades exploded to $33 Trillion (U.S. Treasury) is starting to cause some serious headaches. People are concerned that the cost of that debt and the servicing of that debt could impact other factors in economic and quality of life. Finding a method through the madness is not easy and there people out there with different theories on debt but solutions seem difficult at best to be found.

Cotton Office in New Orleans

Degas 1873

As a representation

of how global economics

influence adaptation

of industries nationally.

The article is just a discussion on some ideas and thoughts. 

The Current State:

The Fiscal Times has a quick snap shot it Deficit Rises to $1.7 Trillion in 2023: CBO

-The federal government revenues were $4.4 trillion from Oct 22' to Sept. 23' year, $455 billion (9%) less than the year before.

-Oct 22' to Sept. 23' year was $6.1 trillion, $141 billion (2%) decline from last year.

-$33 Trillion total national debt.

Consolidation:

From an article in Capital Matters we find that consolidation might help. Inflation Matters

-Debt at 94% of GDP.

-Suggestions long term debt roll over and consolidation (Might be only a short term solution if that long term debt is not worked on.)

Consumer (Business) Debt:

Reason put together an article on Fiscal Control and Inflation that discusses reducing consumer debt.

-Short term negative wealth effects consumer debt reduction lead to slowing demand driven inflation. 

-Can we extend that concept to businesses as well for a higher effect if needed?

Congressional Budget Office has information related to what is has approved and the work it has done. 

A Couple of Studies:

There is a little older study that seems to give some support that increases in debt also raise inflation and the cost and perhaps the size of that debt. Public Debt, Money Supply, and Inflation: A Cross-Country Study There is also a blog article on the difference of impact on demand and supply inflation and Inflation Shocks and Public Debt. Not finding something that definitively answers inflation questions and that may be part of the reason why a comprehensive strategy hasn't been created.

Reducing Debt and Increasing Wealth:

A few questions to ponder that don't have definitive answers because there is complexity in the economic decision and not enough research to fully ferret out cause and effect.

-Does reducing debt decrease inflation and in turn the cost of that debt?  

-Would allocating more (unknown percentage) reduce resources in the short run but increase resources in the mid and long term? 

-Does consolidation, adjustment of spending to reduce debt, and reallocation of "saved" resources to net positive industry-government investment (i.e. innovative transactional clusters) impact total national and personal wealth (perpetual sustainable economy)?

-Can industry innovation, human capital development (broad based and biased free) and technology integration create centralization to the highest value of the supply chain in a way that increases wages, profits, and net wealth positives?

-Could a review of the effectiveness and positive benefits/detractors of government programs save 10-15% of government cost while not radically reducing outcomes?

-Is debt a hindrance to transactional costs and in turn reduce the greasing of underlining economic mechanics of growth?

No definitive solutions here yet but a few ideas to ponder. What do you think?

Steve Scalise Drops GOP Bid for Speaker of House

Steve Scalise drops out because he can't get the full vote form fellow GOP members. Some are arguing whether there are anyone who can take on this role. What we do have to ask ourselves are we dealing with one or two parties within the same party? We have to watch how people group up in their votes and what they are requesting from leadership. Either way we need a fully functioning government to make decisions during tricky times. It is best to set non essential issues to the side and find someone who can get the votes to ensure we can function at fuller/full capacity.

27 American's Killed in Hamas Israel War

American lives are precious, all lives are precious, there is no religion or value system that can justify the loss of the innocent. I pray for the return, safekeeping and evacuation of any American still in harm's way. May we someday find a way to create lasting peace in the Middle East. This is a difficult and dangerous situation for so many people. My heart goes out to those who are under extreme duress and danger. Our prayers are with you and your families. 😪