EMS1 asked readers on Facebook, “What is the clearest sign that an EMS agency has healthy leadership?” Readers shared their personal experiences with low turnover and leaders who pitch in, with some lamenting that healthy leadership is something they’ve never seen.
Low turnover and a full roster
The most common answer was about the workforce itself. When staffing is stable and morale is high, commenters said, leadership is probably doing something right.
- “Longevity, retention, and morale are all high.”
- “Retention. People don’t leave good employers.”
- “Nobody wants to leave. People generally stay working at businesses that have strong and positive leadership.”
- “Low turnover. A waiting list to get hired.”
- “When people leave the agency, they’re doing so to go to bigger and better things, not just to escape their current job.”
- “Employees don’t want to leave; they see EMS as a viable, long-term career.”
- “They’re consistently fully staffed.”
- “Burnout rates are lower.”
Healthy leaders pitch in and lead from the front
Many readers said healthy leaders don’t ask crews to do anything they wouldn’t do themselves, from picking up shifts to mopping the station.
- “They lead by example/from the front first, in everything. Short staffed? Pick up a shift. At zero? Fire up the reserve or first respond in a supervisor vehicle. Station dirty? Grab a mop as you’re directing others to clean. Have something to correct in a crewmember? Try and find something to praise along with it.”
- “I am a firm believer that clinical leadership needs to lead from the front. And by the front, I don’t mean stepping in front of staff, but showing up and being available to help, advise, to be blunt, flex clinically. If you can’t lead by example, you lose credibility.”
- “Be the same person you were before your promotion and only put on that supervisor hat when it’s warranted not just because you can. And be the supervisor who’s still not afraid to park his chief’s buggy and jump on a rig to help staff a truck.”
- “Do what you expect your employees to do. Arrive on time. Uniform sharp. Patience.”
- “Admin that hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to work the box while fighting sleep deprivation.”
- “The whole organization realizing we shouldn’t leave ‘the leadership’ to the higher ranks. Everyone should sharpen their leadership skills and be the leader they want to have. Be a good partner, support each other, hold each other accountable and, for goodness’ sake, communicate with each other!”
Respect, trust and fair pay > perks
Commenters said leaders earn trust through respect, autonomy and follow-through, and that perks are no substitute for appreciation and a living wage.
- “When employees feel appreciated! Not with pizzas or pats!”
- “Definitely not a pizza party instead of raises.”
- “Everyone is respected, appreciated and not micro-managed. Paid well and no one has burnout.”
- “When everyone at the agency is empowered, expected and behaves like leaders. That and a living wage.”
- “Employees wanting to work and actually being allowed to own things and feel useful.”
- “Let’s start with things actually getting fixed when the medic reports it.”
- “They can actually defend the value of the profession, instead of sitting with their hands folded in agreement with administrators that insult its work.”
- “Mandatory training is also offered at night, so night shift employees don’t have to destroy their sleep schedules.”
Pride and morale show up in the little things
Several readers said you can read an agency’s leadership in its rigs, its stations and the attitudes of the people who work there.
- “They have happy providers and customers.”
- “Clean trucks, clean station and energetic people, all because they have pride.”
- “When the employees want to come to work and do their best to make the whole agency look amazing. Not just exist.”
- “Employees who show up 10 minutes before start of shift.”
- “Even the appearance of their uniforms and units will give you insight. Happy employees take more pride in their appearance and put more effort into it.”
Some medics said they have never seen it
A sizable group of commenters questioned whether healthy EMS leadership exists at all, pointing to politics, nepotism and promotions of members without much time on the street.
- “Never seen it. 30 years.”
- “I have never seen one.”
- “What is this mythical unicorn you speak of?”
- “How would anyone know? It’s never existed before.”
- “Dunno, never seen good leadership in 20+ years. I have seen nepotism and people who never spent time on a bus fly through the ranks and mandate exhausted workers while they take their chief’s car home at 5 every day, get paid to go to conventions to learn skills they will never use and hand each other awards and medals, but no real leadership.”
- “When you find an agency that does, let us all know…”
The EMS Pulse takeaway
Most readers measured leadership by what happens beneath it: whether people stay, whether the roster holds and whether the person in charge is willing to jump on a truck.
