That is the first piece of leadership that I have seen come out of the fire department in a long time. It is good to hear that everyone is behaving now. It sounds like people want to move past the shit show that was. It is worth a reminder, that the “winning side” wasn’t squeaky clean and bears a responsibility in that mess. I guess the simple fact that a letter like this is needed, says that the organization has been feeling that pressure. I expect this will be as close as we ever get to an acceptance of responsibility, which makes healing difficult. I understand the prevailing narrative within the organization is that it was the fault of others that are now gone. But I think we all know that it takes two to fight.
Here is a snippet from my letter to the Trustees from when I quit, a little over a year ago,” It has been an honor to serve the community of Gabriola on the GVFD. But, never in my life have I been involved with such a deeply dysfunctional organization. There is animosity between the board and operations, within the board itself and now between the department and the community. This is toxic to the organization. I feel like a kid caught in a bad marriage. We seem to go from one nasty squabble to the next. This behavior is unacceptable, polarizing and toxic. The irony is that everyone wants the best for this place – yet there is an undercurrent of animosity and some very disrespectful treatment of people. People need to be treated with dignity and respect – everyone. There needs to be more dialogue, especially between people with differing opinions because we need to remember that everyone wants the best for this place. Everyone has a valuable contribution. People need to be heard and understood. Fences need to be mended.”
I would like to take a moment and talk about how I frame the idea about who is responsible for the shit show that was. For me, it’s not a binary thing. It’s not like one side was right and the other was wrong. I see it as a continuum. One side deserves X% of the responsibility and the other side deserves Y%. I think that this is a much less divisive framework than the binary one. Based on what I have witnessed, the winning side should take 50% of the responsibility, the losing side 30% and 20% undecided. That is where I stand. I can understand and accept that a lot of people won’t agree with that. If someone else has it at 50%/30% the other way, I can respect that. Even if they judge it at 80%/10% against the losing side, I can respect that. I disagree with it because it doesn’t line up with my life experience, but I can respect it, as I understand that everyone has their own life experience. The judgments that I have a problem with are the binary ones, one side was right and the other wrong. And I especially have a problem with the judgment that the top manager and Trustee Chair have zero responsibility and it was all the fault of others. Because, it is the responsibility of the top manager and board chair that the place does not devolve into a shit show. This was them failing at their job.
The thing is, Will Sprogus the Fire Chief, who is the top manager of the organization, was integral to the squabbling. I watched it. I was #3 in the department at the time. I had a front row seat. The prevailing narrative, that the problems were all the fault of others that are now gone, is about protecting Will from having to take on any responsibility. That is a grave injustice. That shit show was a failure of management. I would argue that management fueled it. At best, management failed to diffuse it. Management was at the center of it. It is the top manager’s responsibility that the organization doesn’t devolve into a shit show. Yet he wants a free pass on it, by pointing the finger elsewhere. I’m outraged by that. The fire service is supposed to be an honorable institution. The honorable thing to do, would be for the Fire Chief to take some responsibility for the shit show that was.
I have the same argument for Paul Giffin, the Trustee Chair. The prevailing narrative, that the problems were all the fault of others that are now gone, is about protecting the Trustee Chair from taking on any responsibility. That shit show was a failure of the Trustee Chair. I would argue the Chair fueled it. At best, the Chair failed to diffuse it. The Chair was at the center of it. It is the Chairs responsibility that the organization doesn’t devolve into a shit show. Yet he wants a free pass on that, by pointing the finger elsewhere. The fire service is supposed to be an honorable institution. The honorable thing to do, would be for the Chair to take some responsibility for the shit show that was.
Everyone is playing nicely now. That is awesome. But, the process of maintaining order matters. It is the responsibility of the top manager and the Trustee Chair to maintain order, and the way they did that (or didn’t do that), devolved into a shit show. By not accepting any responsibility for that shit show, Will and Paul are saying that their processes for maintaining order were and are okay, it was the fault of others. But those processes weren’t okay as things devolved into a shit show. Maybe those processes are okay today, because according to Erik, things are peachy.
There are plenty of ways to manage an organization. I predict that the path forward is to install submissive Trustees so that Will and Paul can run the place as they see fit and if anyone gets in with different ideas or priorities, they will be fought, vilified and then blamed for the problems. People will have to “bend the knee”. And even though this scenario will work, people will continue to get hurt. Because people who step up to the Trustee position, will generally have the expectation of doing the Trustee job. They need to be allowed to contribute in a meaningful and appropriate way. According to Erik’s letter, it sounds like this is happening now. The real question is; does that stick? I predict no. I hope to be wrong.
It pains me to see what has happened to this important community organization that I was once proud to be a part of. It has certainly lost my respect.
Leave a Reply