From apprentice to master, the science, craft, and art of incident command.
What makes a competent IC?
Think about the company officers and chiefs you have worked for. Which ones demonstrated competence in the role of incident commander (IC)? What made them competent? Is this easy to describe or is it like Supreme Court Justice Potter Steward’s characterization of pornography “I know it when I see it”.
At a minimum, competent ICs have sound foundational knowledge and skills with an understanding of fire behavior, building construction, strategy and tactics, and incident command. Cognitive psychologist Gary Klein, originator of the recognition primed decision model, identified that ICs with expertise are skilled at recognizing critical cues (factors) and patterns that allow them to activate action scripts (standard actions) which are assessed using mental simulation and models.
How does an IC develop competence and become an expert in science, craft, and art of incident command? Good ICs have experience, but not all experienced ICs demonstrate the same cognitive skill and expertise.
The Importance of Why-The Limits of Observation
In ire Protection A Complete Manual or the Organization, Machinery, and Discipline of the Fire Brigade of London, published in1876, Eyre Massey Shaw, Chief of the London Fire Engine Establishment wrote “In order to carry on our business properly, it is necessary for those who practice it to understand not only what they have to do, but why they have to do it…”.
One of the first steps in learning to be a competent IC is to watch the company and chief officers operating in that role. Some ICs provide a good example (and others do not), and we can learn from them both. Observation provides some excellent cues to what competent incident commanders do but doesn’t answer the why (and in some cases the how) questions that help us develop the ability to think like an experienced IC.
Experience is Important
Most firefighters and officers would state that experience is an essential component of becoming a competent IC. Maybe it would be better to describe this as experiential learning (because simply being there is not enough). Experience provides the opportunity to build the capability to recognize important cues and patterns and when something is not quite right (anomalies). Recognizing patterns and anomalies are key elements of Dr. Gary Klein’s recognition primed decision-making model that was developed studying experienced fireground commanders. However, it is important to remember the saying that “experience is a hard teacher because the test is first and the lesson afterward!”
Declarative, Procedural and Tacit Knowledge
Declarative and procedural knowledge is explicit. Information that can easily be explained, documented and shared, like facts in a book, presented in a lecture, or in an on-line learning environment. Development of declarative and procedural knowledge is important. Imagine functioning as an IC without knowledge of fire behavior, building construction, and firefighting tactics. However, expertise also depends on tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is a web of intuitive and experiential insights. If IC #1 recognizes changing conditions and anticipates potential for impending flashover, that is likely an application of their tacit knowledge to recognize this pattern of conditions (rather than a thoughtful analysis of the reasons for increasing smoke velocity, lowering neutral plane, and darkening smoke color).
Training generally focuses on the transfer of important explicit knowledge but transfer of tacit knowledge presents a much greater challenge. Early my career, after being blown out of a building by a backdraft, I was amazed that firefighters and officers who could tell me the signs of impending backdraft were unable to recognize the same conditions on the fireground. They had explicit knowledge but lacked the tacit knowledge to recognize this pattern of conditions.
Three Levels-The Apprenticeship Model
Historically, mastering an art or craft means having comprehensive knowledge, superior skills, and the ability to teach others. An apprentice begins knowing nothing, watching and copying others. Once you have developed competence, the apprentice progresses to become a journeyperson. The origin of this designation dates to the Middle Ages, when a journeyman would travel around the country working for different masters to further develop their expertise. When a journeyperson had demonstrated mastery to the current masters of their guild, they were able to take on apprentices and continue training others in their art or craft.
In his book Expert: Understanding the Path to Mastery, Dr. Roger Kneebone uses the apprenticeship model to explain the process of becoming an expert in diverse disciplines ranging from tailoring to medicine. How does this apply in the fire service? Firefighters begin learning their craft in a probationary firefighter academy, gaining foundational knowledge and developing basic skills. They expand and refine their knowledge and skills when assigned to a fire company working with and being mentored or coached by more senior members and their company officer.
When a person transitions from firefighter to company officer, they don’t start completely over as they retain their task level expertise as a supervisor, but they initially function at the apprentice level as an incident commander, developing expertise as IC #1. There is another great leap when a company officer transitions to chief officer rank. The role of a company officer, who as IC #1 is the only person on the fireground who must (briefly) work at the strategic, tactical, and task levels and chief officers who may be a tactical level division or group supervisor or serve as IC #2 at the strategic level are significantly different. The new chief officer also begins to some extent at the apprentice level. Dr. Kneebone described his experience with this type of transition when he changed medical specialties from being a trauma surgeon in South Africa to being a general practitioner in England. While he was still qualified as a doctor, the focus of his work, requisite knowledge, and skills were quite different.
Developing Expertise
As an IC, progression through the three levels of competence; apprentice, journeyperson, and master require focused effort to gain the explicit and tacit knowledge required to develop expertise. Traveling this path requires integration of formal training to gain the necessary explicit knowledge, but also a concerted effort to build tacit knowledge. This requires personal experience as an IC and learning from ICs with higher levels of expertise, focusing on not only what they do, but also on how and why.
Where are you in your development as an IC: apprentice, journeyperson, or master? What are you doing to increase your mastery (regardless of what level you are at)? If you are a company or chief officer, what are you doing to improve the competence of the people who you work with? As an IC you should be on the path of continuous improvement.
Deliberate practice is an activity designed specifically to improve performance, often with the help of a coach; requires repetition; feedback on results is continuously available; mentally demanding and often makes us uncomfortable. If you don’t push outside your comfort zone, you will never improve. Deliberate practice is the only way to achieve expert performance! Deliberate practice using simulations and tactical decision games can increase your mastery as an IC. In addition, feedback on your performance in training and actual incident operations from company or command officers with expertise as an IC, can further improve your ability to think like an IC.
Different Types of Expertise
Watch for a subsequent post addressing the differences between routine and adaptive expertise, differences in types of deliberate practice, and why this matters.