Captains

[Smokey Bear]

What is more important in a captain.

experience or leadership?

obviously both in the same person if possible but if it wasnt possible which would you prefer?

[Pipster]

If it had to be one or the other, I'd prefer leadership.   

You can have someone who is very experienced, but if they show no leadership, and no one wants to follow them, then that experience doesn't really matter!

If you have a good leader, they can admit that they don't have the experience, and can use leadership skills to draw on the experience of others, in a way that values all those involved for whatever skills / experience / leadership they bring to the Group.

It all sounds so easy when it is written down!! 

Pip

[alphaone]

I'ld have to agree with Pip. Experiance is important, but if you are a captain, or even a liuetenant or senior, and have no leadership skills, no one will want to follow you. A good leader can also recongise were they need assistance and will ask for it and use those around them to effectively accomplish a task.

Ideally, in a captain, I would like both experiance and leadership, but reality is not always going to allow us to have what we want.

[bajdas]

Leadership in any officer....this will help to gain respect from the crew.

Because the leader should not be 'doing' the actual work, they should know the overview of completing the task, but do not need the fine detail. Then they can anticipate what the crew require next and thus meet the crew needs with minimal delay.

[CFS_Firey]

Another vote for leadership - but I would also say training is important - if you're from an RCR brigade, the captain should be RCR trained (as opposed to RCR experienced).

[safireservice]

What is more important in a captain.

experience or leadership?

obviously both in the same person if possible but if it wasnt possible which would you prefer?

Debating whether you should run for captain then?

[Smokey Bear]

nah just interested in peoples thoughts.

Interesting to see what people look for when voting in officers.

[5271rescue]

Leadership is a good,the hard part is that members dont really see or know what the captain does away from the brigade.They attend meetings,get loads of mail and have to deal with the what if's.  OHSW/SOPS?COSO are all what one is expected to know and it does not happen over nite. So my vote is for leadership.

[Firefrog]

I agree that leadership is very important in a captain. But it would be pointless having a fantastic leader that has no or little experience.

So I say a good captain will have copious amounts of both...

[ltdan]

Interesting question:

I would go for leadership.  I have seen it in brigades before with officers knowing how to do it and have all the experience but do not have any leadership skills.

You see the troops scared in what they do.  They are hesitant in making decisions as firefighters due to the fact they are scared in what the captain might do or say.

Their are a lot of captains in the service with leadership and their are a lot of captains with the knowledge....and their is  extensive amount of captains which can do both.

But the minority ones always stick out.

[bajdas]

...But the minority ones always stick out....

From CFS/SES Leadship course.....six percenters.

Is it a requirement for newly voted in officers to attend leadership or similar courses ? No one is perfect so I believe refreshers are always required.

[mack]

postition holders are meant to have leadership qualifications per there brigade SFECs

[TillerMan]

Leadership... there are always plenty of people to go on trucks.

[mengcfs]

Spent a week studying this at a developing future leaders course in Sydney, which was run thru the Australian Institute of Police Management and AFAC. Our syndicates gave a presentation at the end of the week and all agreed that experience, communictaion and leadership equals success. To answer the question chalk up another leadership from me.