Moving the Fire Service to the Next Level
Over the past decade, fire organizations have faced an environment characterized by increasing complexity in operations along with rising expectations from clients and the public. With the recent sagging economy, fire departments around the world are confronted with a thorny confluence of tightening budgets amid increased demands for services. The resulting tension creates challenges for those on all levels – from front lines to executive levels of leadership. These competing forces present a risk to the operational resilience of the fire service.
In response, the industry is inundated by calls to improve culture – mostly through better leadership or increased safety. While not incorrect, these conversations often lack depth and fundamental insight about how culture and operations intersect.
For example, leadership is not simply a desirable trait that generates effective teamwork. Although essential for carrying out the mission, leadership accomplishes much more: effective leaders communicate the core cultural basis that fills the gaps when situations are vague or ill-defined. Strong leaders are the face and embodiment of the operational culture.
MCS offers a range of services and products to strengthen operational culture and improve fire department performance:
- Consulting services to institute or strengthen doctrine
- Training programs to set a foundation for first-line leaders
- Simulation and exercise development to increase readiness
- Advanced training to improve command skills
Through experience building leadership and command skills with more than 20,000 fire leaders worldwide, MCS offers a comprehensive perspective in the context of a proven framework to assist fire departments in advancing to the next level. As the most successful firm focusing on organizational development, MCS has set the standard for affective domain education and practical training across the firefighting industry.
