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Since the publication of the 2023 HMICFRS report looking at the values and culture in fire and rescue services, the spotlight has firmly been on the quality of leadership in services and the culture that leadership is creating. The fire and rescue service is far from the only sector in which leadership and culture have significant room for improvement. An arguable difference with fire compared to many other sectors, however, is how serious the consequences can be when leadership and management are found to be lacking.
The Grenfell Inquiry part one report, for example, spells out loud and clear that despite the fact that the firefighters who attended “displayed enormous courage and a selfless devotion to duty” a “chronic lack of effective management and leadership” at London Fire Brigade (LFB) in the years preceding the tragedy were a key contributor to more lives being lost. These are findings that the brigade accepts and is working to address.
Thankfully, events such as the fire at Grenfell Tower are extremely rare, but leadership and culture are nonetheless critical factors warranting much more focus in the day-to-day fire context. The fire and rescue service is a critical institution for the country and, if nothing else, the direction of global weather events suggests that we will become increasingly dependent on fire and rescue services into the future. Yet already fire – in common with all public services – is under growing pressure on resources, people are already stressed, and things are only likely to get tougher. No services can afford to be complacent.
Key performance leverage
The bad news is that there are lots of factors that threaten fire and rescue service performance which are largely outside their control – such as increasing adverse weather events, funding, workload, and other external pressures. The very good news, however, is that most fire and rescue services have within their control the opportunity to leverage an incredibly powerful factor – their own leadership culture. Decades of research show that enhancing leadership culture has have a transformational impact on what people are able to achieve at work, despite the pressures on them, as well as how sustainable this performance is because of how they also increase motivation, wellbeing and commitment.
To explain further, the 2023 HMICFRS report found: “bullying, harassment, and discrimination; lack of fairness and diversity; and reporting and handling of concerns, including allegations of misconduct” in more than half of FRS organisations. A follow up report, the State of Fire and Rescue, published by HMICFRS in May 2024 found that some services’ grades had fallen further in relation to values and culture, whereas others had improved. The overall picture seems to be that many, if not most, services have significant potential to improve leadership and culture.
What is exciting is that when they are able to do so they will be able to more fully harness the latent potential of their people – and, therefore, not only survive but genuinely thrive in spite of an increasingly challenging landscape.
How culture transformation happens
The question is how do fire and rescue services turn the culture around, or work to ensure it becomes more positive? The biggest influence on culture in any organisation is how senior leaders behave. For some fire and rescue services where the senior leaders are deemed unsuitable for the future or unable to change the culture, the post holders will need to change. South Wales Fire and Rescue Service is a well-publicised example of where this was believed to be necessary. Following findings that the culture of the organisation was characterised by sexual harassment and misogyny the Fire Authority, Chief Fire Officer (CFO) and two deputies have been replaced.
In an unusual but not unheard of move, the new CFO of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service is someone who has no prior fire experience. Rather, Fin Monahan has enjoyed a distinguished career in the RAF as a fighter pilot. When interviewed for Emergency Services Times, he demonstrated his people-focused and values-based approach to leadership, saying: “I have very clear values: respect, integrity, courage – both physical and moral – and selfless service… I have always looked after my staff and allowed my career to look after itself… I look after my troops. I empower to the lowest level possible.”
Monahan’s appointment also illustrates a more fundamental point about effective leadership, which is that it needs to be understood as something different than having the right (and often typical) professional competencies and experience. This point is also made by HMICFRS in its 2024 State of Fire and Rescue report: “effective leadership requires a set of skills that is common throughout different sectors.”
Since taking over, Monahan’s focus has been on enhancing the values and culture through a clear plan with colleagues which he told Emergency Services Times, aims to create: “inclusive facilities that help us deliver our best, support when we need it and the confidence to ask for that support, as well as recognition of a job well done.”
It is also true that changing the culture doesn’t always depend on changing the people currently in senior roles. There are many things organisations can do to create more values-based, people-focused cultures with the leaders they currently have through the application of fire-specific tools such as the FRS360, as well as other interventions.
Part two of this article will provide evidence-based advice for fire and rescue services on this approach and practical tips for enhancing leadership and culture.
For a summary of the culture review, carried out by Fenella Morris KC, read Fire chief says he is ‘profoundly sorry’ as damning South Wales culture review is published.
