Providing professional and personal leadership development for the Incident Controllers of today and tomorrow.
There were monkey bars in the playground at my primary school. Old fashioned steel ones where the brightly coloured paint had cracked and peeled, having been baked to a crisp by the hot Australian summer sun. Those monkey bars were often too hot to hold onto or too rough on the palms of your hands... Continue Reading →
Silence… . . . That awkward gulf of emptiness between two people during a conversation… . . . It kills me. I’m not very good at surviving the uncomfortable moment when a conversation stalls. For as long as I can remember I have always jumped in to fill the gaping chasm of nothingness that forms... Continue Reading →
I have a confession to make. I watch Married at First Sight. I know, I know, I can feel your judgement from here. I’m not addicted. I promise. I don’t go so far as to cancel all personal engagements for 10 weeks to rush home and sit glued to the television, but I may tape... Continue Reading →
Sometimes as leaders we are asked to step up and lead a difficult program of work, a divisive change to practice or a solution to a controversial problem. As a commander in a hierarchy of an organization, we have a responsibility to contribute to the vision and mission of the Service, achieve key objectives and... Continue Reading →
A long while ago I read a meme on Instagram or Facebook that said something along the lines of, “Once you start to see people’s behaviours as an extension of themselves rather than a reflection of you, you start to live”, or something like that. It was social media, so I moved past it to... Continue Reading →
When you apply for a new job you may be asked to undertake an EI (EQ) test – Emotional Intelligence. The test is designed to gather information how well you will work with others, your ability to use non-verbal cues to read situations and make assumptions on how you will likely work through challenging personnel... Continue Reading →
As I write this week’s post my colleagues in the office are sitting in the lunch room in rapturous hysterics. The giggles have quickly turned to full snorts and gasps for air, the room now peppered with the sounds of table slaps and bursts of single words being said from faces streaming with tears that... Continue Reading →
I had a lengthy and rewarding conversation with a Unit Commander this week about the challenges of leading a Unit in the every-changing NSW SES landscape post Organisational Transformation. On top of a full workload, running a Unit can sometimes like a full time job and then some at the moment. In thinking about the... Continue Reading →
At the moment I am coordinating several recruitment activities for the Zone. Combining that with the recent experience of applying for jobs during the organisational transformation, this week I have been reading on the challenging concept of ‘unconscious bias’. Unconscious, or hidden, bias is defined as 'a normal human prejudice' about people or groups of... Continue Reading →
I often hear people refer to the NSW SES as their second family. In building a team we often look upon members as another family unit. In this week’s post, Simon Sinek talks about what makes a great leadership. In one example he asks, would we punish a family member for coming home with a... Continue Reading →
INSIDE THE INCIDENT 