| There are three types of speeches: the one you prepare to give, the one you give, and the one you wish you would have given. — Unknown |
One of the many skills an EMS manager must master is the ability to speak in front of people. Informational group meetings, union discussions and one-on-one employee interactions are all opportunities for a manager to communicate effectively — or ineffectively.
I’ve never shied away from public speaking and always felt I was pretty good at it, but naturally there were times I regretted some of the things I’ve said. As a manager, I believe in being direct and truthful, even when the position is an unpopular one. Sometimes that “truth” was misunderstood by my audience, or perhaps there was a better way to phrase it. Then there were times when I was just plain wrong — when it wasn’t the truth after all.
I look back at some of those “golden moments” of failed communication with some regret, but there are always lessons to be learned from missteps. So I will include some of my grievous communication errors in hopes that you will draw something positive from this highlight reel of the things I wish I hadn’t said.
“EMT salaries will remain low because EMTs are a dime a dozen.”
I boldly delivered this line 15 years ago when asked by an employee during a meeting why they couldn’t get a raise. I was confident that the science of the “invisible hand” of economics and supply-and-demand theories would prove my statement true — but saying it aloud wasn’t very smart.
As the entry-level position in our industry, EMTs have traditionally been poorly paid. But instead of pointing out the “science” behind denying a salary increase, a better answer would have been to discuss the progression and additional certification steps an EMT could take to receive better pay within the industry.
Today, organizations realize the importance of employing and retaining EMTs. Having a pool of future paramedics to choose from has resulted in pay increases for certified paramedics, and EMT salaries have followed suit (even if there is still a large pool of EMTs from which to choose).
Regardless, I still feel the need to defend my statement to some degree; I still contend that supply-and-demand plays a major role in compensation increases. EMS personnel have benefited from shortages exasperated by two-year curriculum requirements and longer education cycles. Over the years I have heard many EMS personnel discuss pay increases in the following terms:
EMSPersonnel + Increased Education = Higher Salaries
But I think the real formula has another variable:EMS Personnel + Education Paramedic Shortages = Higher Salaries
EMTs should be encouraged about their opportunities in this industry, as long as they have the continued willingness to progress through the system. Looking back, I should have been smarter in my encouragement of my EMTs — it took substantial work to convince them that I truly valued their contribution.
“I am not responsible for your morale.”
As a young(er) manager I always hated to hear employees complain of low morale. It implied that this nebulous concept of “morale” was something I had in my control to fix. I believed that a person’s morale — the spirit of a person or group — was more an issue of their self-perception than my managerial duty. Even though I had a responsibility to provide a work environment conducive toward good morale, I believed each person was personally responsible to maintain their own morale.
When I uttered the phrase (and I did it several times) in front of employee groups, I didn’t realize the backlash I would receive from employees who felt I was being callous to their well-being. It was not worth my attempt dissecting the semantics of a philosophical distinction.
I clearly had underestimated the effect of work environment issues on employee satisfaction. EMS managers must realize that managing the personnel process and employee satisfaction is as much an art as it is a science; sometimes monitoring morale must take the highest priority.
You won’t be thought of as “professionals” until you stop acting like “tradesman.”
Geez, I cringe at some of the things I’ve said! I don’t think I even need to explain or defend the error behind this one.
While some of you may feel that it would be implausible for you to ever utter phrases like these, you’d be surprised at some of the communication errors we make daily. As an EMS consultant, I have the opportunity to see a great number of systems in action, with hundreds of manager-employee interactions. Communications problems are always near the top of their list of concerns — we all make mistakes.
As participants in a very complex and important field, we should take every opportunity to learn from our mistakes and strive to improve our public speaking and personnel interaction skills. Every facet of being an effective leader or manger depends on the ability to send a message and to have it understood — the first time.
Steve Athey has worked in the ambulance industry since 1971 and has managed large and small workforces across the country. As he enters his second half-century, Steve spends most of his time trying to make amends for the many mistakes he made in the first 50 years.
